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How Teachers can use Video Sharing for Teaching
By: Eric Durrand
 YouTube, you think, is that web site where people post silly videos of
themselves or their pets, and not an educational tool. It's where you can see
people juggling, amateur moviemakers trying to break into the public
consciousness, and funny videoclips of teenagers lipsynching popular songs. But
a quick search of YouTube's hundreds of thousands of video clips will reveal
many educational videos, from popular How To guides
to K12 teacher
groups focused on recorded lessons and instructional videos. There is even
this
amusing videoclip explaining to students of the I.S. 109 school of Queens,
NY why they have to tuck their shirts in when they come to school.
The truth is, video sharing online has great educational potential. Posting
lesson summaries in video form is extremely easy to do, if you have a web cam.
You can also post recordings of fun scientific
experiments, interviews, or selected clips from educational TV programs you
might show in class. Video, perhaps more than any other medium, has the power to
engage, enlighten, and fascinate your students. And by using a popular medium
like YouTube, one of the most popular web sites of all time, you are fitting
into your students existing habits and surrounding, making it easy for them to
access your material, and projecting a more updated image for your class or
school.
"YouTube is not necessary for good teaching," writes Christopher Conway from
Inside Higher Education, "in the same way that wheeling a VCR into the classroom
is not necessary, or bringing in PowerPoint slide shows with images, or audio
recordings. YouTube simply makes more resources available to teachers than ever
before, and allows for better classroom management. Rather than use up valuable
time in class watching a film or video clips, such media can be assigned to
students as homework in the same way that reading is assigned."
Finding interesting videos for your class on YouTube is easy. Simply search
your topics, be it Martin Luther King with his "I have a dream" speech, or a 3D
tour of the solar system - you are likely to get hundreds of results, with the
most relevant ones on top. Adding a YouTube search to your lesson preparation
routine can spice your materials up with fascinating visual sources that were
unavailable before.
Another option is to upload your own videos. With a simple web cam and the
free MovieMaker utility included with Windows XP (or iMovie in a Mac), you can
edit the recording, add subtitles and effects, and save it in the right format.
With the regular YouTube account, you are allowed to upload up to 10 minutes of
movie time per clip, or up to 100MB. To be able to upload longer videos, you
must apply for a Director account, which you can get pending authoritzation.
Uploading the file is very simple. You can type in a title, description, and
keywords, and choose the category you would like it to appear in. You can also
choose whether to make the video public, or to allow only invited individuals to
see it. Once the video is uploaded, you can send a link to it through e-mail, or
embed it in any blog or a web page.
Whether in class or as a homework assignment, YouTube videos can enrich your
lessons, bring lessons to students who are home sick, and capture students
imaginations. While YouTube huge library of videos isn't always educational, a
smart usage and supervision of students use can have a positive impact on your
students.
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