Social media has allowed anyone to become a video producer. The result is an explosion of high-quality teaching videos. Thirty years ago a teacher might show a PBS video in class every once in a while, mostly just as a break from the usual routine. But today there are thousands of videos from which to choose.
Some teachers are resistant to showing videos in their classrooms because they think of them as cheating. Teachers get paid to use up class time, and filling it with something made by someone else seems like shirking their duties.
But this is wrong. A teacher’s value is not in the information stored in their head, but rather their ability to pull together the best learning resources to produce a desired outcome. The modern teacher is (or should be) more an aggregator than a producer. Why are thousands of teachers all reinventing the wheel by creating individual lectures on the exact same topic when someone else has already produced an excellent video on it?
Think of videos as a way to bring the best learning resources to your students. One of my favorite resources is TED talks, which are wonderful 20 minute segments by famous thinkers on a variety of topics. My motto now is “If someone can say it better than you—let them.”
Below are some excellent videos on learning itself which are well worth a view. They opened my mind on what teaching really is, and what is possible.
I have also included some repositories of free lesson and video material. I hope that these will provide you with some good material and ideas for use in your classes.
But first, for your holiday enjoyment, another example of the power of social media.
Eric Whitacre is a composer who wrote “Sleep” in 2000. A young girl sent him a video of her singing it, which gave him an idea: Why not invite anyone to send in videos of themselves singing different parts of the song—Bass, Soprano, etc,—which he would then combine into a “Virtual Choir.” The video isn’t about teaching with technology, but it’s nothing short of way-cool. Take a look at the finished piece »
As usual, I welcome your comments, criticisms, and cries of outrage in the comments section of the blog.
Videos on Teaching
Jeff Javis—This is Bull….
A discussion of how traditional education is built on a model of the transfer of knowledge from instructor to student, but that more and more people are reversing the flow by making education a collaborative experience.
Dan Meyer—Curriculum Makeover
An interesting presentation that explores the intersection of instruction, multimedia, and inquiry-based learning, and how the way we teach students isn’t preparing them for problem solving in the real world. While presented by a high school math teacher, the concept applies to most any subject in college as well.
Links to Video and Lesson Material Repositories
Open Courseware Consortium, Open Learning Initiative, OER Commons, OpenLearn, Academic Earth, Video Lectures, Einztein, Apple iUniversity, Scitable, World Public Library, Video Lectures, and Lecture Fox.
John Orlando, PhD, is the program director for the online Master of Science in Business Continuity Management and Master of Science in Information Assurance programs at Norwich University. John develops faculty training in online education and is available for consulting at jorlando@norwich.edu.
This Post Has 7 Comments
if learning is a web where everyone has a piece then it should be collaborative and everyone can learn from each other.
From my own personal experience I know I have learned a lot about home renovations from DIY videos so I don't see why I couldn't apply that elsewhere.
I am a little surprised by this comment: "Some teachers are resistant to showing videos in their classrooms because they think of them as cheating. Teachers get paid to use up class time, and filling it with something made by someone else seems like shirking their duties."
I can understand the need to keep video use at a reasonable level, as in beware of showing a bunch of long clips all the time (even at the very nice TEDTalks 18 to 20 minute timings students get restless so think about breaks even at that length to debrief and discuss if possible), but I always thought most, if not almost all, faculty and instructors saw videos as excellent resources and use them in the same way they would use in class readings (even in many cases the same as out of class readings). So I would be interested with this conclusion for my initial reaction is to disagree that are indeed a fair number of faculty who hold this position as to make it an important issue to address. I think the bigger issue(s) are how to use them without misusing them.
I totally agree with all the rest though! Videos are an excellent resource and I especially think so when you can really incorporate them into the overall flow of the presentation. So maybe I'm misreading this statement about faculty views and maybe I'm overestimating what you mean by "some."
I am surprised by the comment about teachers getting paid to "use up class time…". That smacks of the (hopefully) outdated "Sage on the Stage" model. Certainly the 'teacher' must be competent in a subject area, but given the vast knowledge that is available online, why wouldn't a teacher want to bring other resources into the classroom. I have used and written/produced videos with great success; sometimes providing information/ideas, sometimes posing problems for students to ponder and discuss. As Robert points out, if they aren't too long, video adds variety and helps minimize the 'snooze' factor of endless lecture.
Finally, I can say that as a student, the advent of YouTube has more than saved my bacon when learning challenging subjects. I have had several "teachers" who really weren't very effective and it was the wealth of video-taped lectures on YouTube and other sites that helped me grasp the subject I was trying to master. Frankly, YouTube and other video repositories were critical resources for me through college and are still some of my favorite resources for supplemental teaching material.
Lastly, I hope any teacher who is just tying to fill time will rethink what the purpose of teaching really is.
Pingback: Gail's Technology Blog » Creating videos in Jing
I am a middle school science teacher, and have always enjoyed watching programs like NOVA, Nature, etc., and bringing them into the classroom for students to view. Our district allows recording such programs and using them in the classroom, as long as the lesson plan shows the relevance of utilizing this resource. Problem is, school administrators I have worked under have always found ways to discourage the use of videos. If you use them at all you are considered a slacker, pure and simple. NOVA is a wonderful program to show students how science really works. They get to see science in action. After viewing the program a thoughtful and relevant writing assignment is a good way for me to determine student writing competency. It really is a shame to think of such a great resource being wasted because of the attitudes of a few school administrators.
Pingback: Video Resources « amandarodriguez2110
I am a community College teacher, and I believe that videos augment the learning process. I do worry about becoming to dependent on videos. Any suggestions on how to uses videos effectively in the community college setting?