I have always loved being able to pull in a video clip during instruction, especially when introducing new concepts. Many science topics can be difficult to visualize, which is why performing lab activities is so incredibly helpful and meaningful for students. Like labs, video clips are another way to "help the light bulb go off", as stated in the podcast by Wesley Fryer and Rushton Hurley, which focused on the video sharing site http://www.nextvista.org/. This website is one of four that we have been asked to explore and comment on. The other three websites are http://www.youtube.com/, http://www.teachertube.com/, and http://www.clipblast.com/. I will begin with Next Vista.
There are a few aspects of Next Vista that I really like. First and foremost, I like how each video is screened prior to being posted and that the video must meet certain criteria, such as being shorter than 5 minutes and including accurate information. I also thought that having the three different sections- light bulbs, global views, and seeing service- was a neat idea. I don't think I would get much use out of the global views, however, unless we are studying different climates around the world but even then, the videos would need to mention something about weather to make viewing them relevant. I could see using the seeing service section as a supplement to character education, which is something that I am passionate about, but they need to add more videos! The small number of videos is the biggest disadvantage of this site. I would use the light bulb section of this site most frequently, which is where introductions to various topics are made by both teachers and students alike, but there are only 8 science videos! The videos there were good, and I would really like to see more. I think this site was very easy to navigate and would be great for students to use once more videos are added. I would definitely include a link to this site on my webpage.
Next up is teachertube. I have used teacher tube in the past and like how it weeds out videos that are not actually content-related which can be a problem with regular youtube. I do not like that the videos are not pre-screened- they rely on viewers to flag inappropriate videos. I do like how under each video you can see tags and channels, which list descriptors for the video such as "high school science", "middle school science", "college-level science". This is a big help when you are trying to find a video that is appropriate for the grade level that you teach.
Youtube is another site that I have used in the past. I would not recommend letting students search for videos as there are too many inappropriate videos on this site. The use of youtube calls for careful searching and screening by the teacher. It can take awhile to find a video that can clearly and appropriately convey the concept/topic/message you are looking for. I used youtube to search for a song about the periodic table and one of the videos that came up showed a young man rapping about the elements. My initial thought was that this would be great and the kids would really get a kick out of it. After playing it, I realized that the young man felt it necessary to use inappropriate language while discussing properties of elements. Needless to say, this video was not played in my classroom.
Lastly, I explored clip blast, which I had not heard of previously. This site seemed pretty neat. The site brings in clips from other sites, such as youtube and teachertube, and it also includes news clips. You can also filter results. For example, you can choose to leave out clips that contain adult content. I think this site has potential to be very useful, but like with youtube, I think teachers should be careful about letting students do their own searches on the site.
All in all, I think video sharing sites can be very useful and helpful in the classroom if they are used appropriately. Videos should be thoroughly screened by the teacher before showing them to students. The only sites that I would feel comfortable letting students do their own searches on would be Next Vista and Teachertube.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment