The Bussiere Kids on YouTube!

In their You Tube debut, here's my kids Abi & Noah! Yes, it's true, they are talented just like their mother (for those of you who know Jillian, you'll know what I mean!).

DB

Video Killed the Radio Star!

Okay, I’m not really sure how the title fits in but I do kind of like the song…..well….perhaps video will one day kill the teaching star! Will we get to the point where do not need to attend classes or lectures, instead we can log onto our favourite video sharing site and watch our virtual educators in action? Will we be able to teach from home? That would sure solve some classroom management issues wouldn’t it? Hmmm….

Over the past week, You Tube & Teacher Tube are the two major video sharing sites that I explored. I had used both in the past both professionally & recreationally and as I posted in a previous blog, I’ve tinkered with and experimented with these 2 resources and now I’ve added to my repitoire and explored other sites such as Fora.tv, Big Think & Google Video. For a complete listing of video sharing sites, I found the Video Sharing page on Wikipedia to be quite helpful.

Professionally, I have found valuable resources on Teacher Tube especially. From clips on Terry Fox that I’ve used with students, to specific lesson ideas and explanation of concepts from other educators. The resources truly are endless. A few particular videos that I was able to use this past week in school were “A Vision of K-12 Students” and “Did you know 2.0?” both of which I posted on my blog earlier this week. “A Vision of K-12 Students” really captures a lot of what this course is really about. Here we have some amazing tools available but are we using them to engage our students? How do we engage our students? Will we be able to hook them by showing them video clips in the class? How can these video clips get their interest? Are we using videos as more than a simple hook to grab their attention? Can students use video sharing resources in their research & learning? These are all questions that we must ask ourselves as we look at the possibities that video sharing presents. Beyond the viewing of videos, what opportunities are available for the creation and sharing of videos for students. How could this affect the student who is too shy to stand in front of the class for a formal presentation? Could they now video themselves and share their learning with the class or even further, the rest of the world? Another great feature of video sharing is that many sites such as youtube also have the ability to include a blog or comment area to accompany posted videos. This provides the opportunity for others to comment and offer feedback on the posted video.

On his webpage “Creating Lifelong Learners” Mathew Needleman published an article “Why integrate Video Production in the Classroom”. In this article, he hi-lights 5 reasons to integrate video production.
1. Increased student engagement
2. Improved student achievement
3. Use of higher level thinking (blooms taxonomy)
4. Teaching Media Literacy
5. Closing the digital divide

In the past few years, more research is being published that indicates an increase in student achievement and engagement when students are immersed in technology. Needleman cites a website “Project Live in Escondido Unified” (http://apple.com/education/profiles/escondido/) that shows significant student improvement as a result of using videos in the classroom.

Anna Adam & Helen Mowers, in their article “YouTube Comes to the Classroom” School Library Journal 1/1/2007) state that “YouTube provides a platform for students to be content creators, not just content viewers. Just knowing that someone other is listening is enough motivation for them to speak out. It is our job to help students discover their voice…YouTube…along with other web 2.0 tools…can inspire students and support their digital learning style…YouTube…can help our students create content that is relevant and engaging.” The power of having students create using the web is tremendous. Not only are students engaged in their work, from previous experience working with kids creating on the web, they put more effort into their work knowing that their audience is the world, not just their teacher of their classmates.

There has also been the creation of video sharing sites that have a sole academic purpose. Sites such as fora.tv and Big Think are websites that post videos on social, political, technological and academic topics. These sites are unlike YouTube sites where anything under the moon can be posted for any or no purpose at all. Sites such as fora.tv and Big Think have even formed partnerships with colleges and universities throughout the world to post lectures on their sites to reach an even greater audience than those that attend these schools. “YouTube Professors: Scholars as Online Video Stars” by
Jeffery Young published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Jan 25, 2008 (EBSCOhost) explores how these sites are being used to spread intellectual freedom in more detail if you wish to explore this even further.

My final 2 cents

Those who think sites such as YouTube are just a collection of silly, inappropriate, pirated videos, are sadly mistaken. Video sharing sites are being used more and more for educational purposes both directly and indirectly. The ability to reach millions of people by a few simple clicks is an amazing example of how we can use the tools of Web 2.0 to teach, learn and entertain! Sure there are all the arguments about the thousands of inappropriate videos posted on video sharing sites, but the reality is that these videos make up a small percentage of the content available (a whole separate topic to explore).

So, what have I learned?
1. How to create my own video sharing spot on YouTube.
2. How to upload videos.
3. How to effectively find videos for educational purposes through several sites and use them in the classroom for students and teachers.
4. Video sharing sites are truly useful for education in and outside of the class for formal and informal education!
5. There is every topic imaginable available to explore through video sharing sites.
6. Time flies when you’re exploring video sharing sites!
7. How to promote video sharing within my school.
8. It has reinforced my belief of teaching students ethical use and understanding of the web.

Darryl

Final YouTube for today I Promise (I think)!?

This is the video I was originally looking for before I posted the others. It took some searching but here it is. If you look at any, look at this one. Every time I see it I go WOW!

It's titled "A Vision of K-12 Students Today"

Playing with Video Sharing

As you can see, I've posted a few of my favourite videos that I've used with both teachers and students. I have discovered the power of video sharing in the class and have used it in a variety of ways in the class. From Remembrance Day to HIV/AIDS lessons, to PD opportunities, the ability of video sharing sites such as youtube & teachertube to engage students of all ages is a powerful tool to further learning. I'm already thinking of a project with grade 2/3 students that I am beginning tomorrow where I plan on creating a video of their work and hopefully will post it on youtube so everyone can see it. I know the kids will get a kick out of having their work published and posted on the internet!

Darryl

The Miniature Earth/Global Villiage

This is another of my favourites that I tend to use with classes throughout the year. It gives us a little glimpse into the massive world we live in and the diversity that surrounds us. I've combined a few classes together for this lesson in the past so we can divide students according to the statistics so they are not only reading or listening to the message but can visualize what it means or might feel like to be the majority or the minority. 

This is titled "The Miniature Earth".

Imagine by John Lennon is a nice touch on this one!

Did you know? Shift Happens

I saw the original of this youtube video a few years ago at an inservice  and was fascinated by it. Here's the latest (however I think it is already out of date). The statistics are mind-boggling and it really makes one think about what we are doing in schools today to prepare students for the future. Are we preparing them? Are they preparing themselves? 

This one is called "Did you know 2.0?" Have a look!

Click! I’ve photographed you and now the world can see you! If I let them!

Can you imagine being in the eye of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans? What about climbing to the top of Mount Everest, the highest point on our planet? Perhaps you’d like to learn more about the Maldives, a country made up of 100’s of islands in the Indian Ocean south-west of India. What does it look like there? What do the people look like? How do they dress? Where do they live? What do they eat? What does the marine life look like there?

 

Now you no longer have to imagine, you can be there with a simple few key strokes and clicks of the mouse, you’re can see exactly what it is or what it was like. Never before have we been able to see so many images from so many different sources with such clarity and unbiased eyes. Flickr and other photo sharing sites, such as Picasa, enable you do thisl

 

Over the past week I’ve done some exploration of 2 of the most popular photo sharing websites available, Flickr & Picasa. Prior to enrolling in this class, I had spent some time “playing” with flickr. I had even gone so far as to create my own account, even though I wasn’t sure what I would exactly do with it. There was always the hounding voice in the back of my mind that said “don’t put your pictures on the internet”, but I think I have pretty much gotten over that.

 

I must admit that after reading the course content and the tools that we would be using in this class, I had thought to myself that this was the tool that I would be least likely to use as an educational tool in the class. However, after doing research and spending countless hours playing with and learning about photo sharing sites, my opinion of such sites has drastically changed. I now look at Flickr and see how I could integrate it into every subject area very easily. The availability of fantastic resources on sites such as Flickr, has made me rethink how I look at using digital images far beyond the snap, download and post project that I had seen and experienced before.

 

As I dove into Flickr, I found that searching for images could easily result in hours of time in front of the computer. As time is precious, I decided that if I was going to use this amazing on-line resource, I must go in with a very specific goal of what I’m looking for. Sure I found this site fun to explore but I was quickly thinking about how this could be used in the classroom? Well, what better place to start than google? I did a few quick searches that included “photo sharing”, “Flickr”, “education”, “lessons”, and was directed to a multitude of ideas of how to use Flickr in the class.

 

A feature that is very appealing to educators is that flickr allows you to control your account settings so that you can control who is able to view the photo’s you post on the web. For obvious safety and security reasons, this is an excellent feature when you are using Flickr in the classroom setting. This allows only students or family members of the school to access photo’s of what is taking place in school whether it be a field trip, school event, classroom work, visitors & speakers, etc. The ability to post digital images on the web with controlled access offers a wonderful “way to celebrate the good work that students do everyday”. (Will Richardson, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, p. 102). Flickr has also created an area called Creative Commons which allows students free access to non-copyright images (provided proper credit is given to the author/photographer/publisher). This also helps in teaching students the ethical use of images available on the internet.

 

The daily classroom applications that Flickr presents us with are limitless. From creative writing (Flicktion – love that name!) to documenting field trips, to communicating with photographers and publishers, the opportunities are endless. On his website The Strength of Weak Ties http://strengthofweakties.org/?p=62 David Jakes lists a few of the may used of Flickr in the classroom on his blog Classroom Uses of Flickr. Some ideas he posts include:

·      digital storytelling projects

·      creating slideshows

·      virtual field trips

·      creating visual arguments

·      illustrating poetry/stories

·      geotagging (geography)

·      visual documenting of school events

“Using Flickr in the Classroom” a presentation at the Illinois Education and Technology Conference (http://www.jakesonline.org/flickrinclassroom.pdf) provides a pdf that gives an excellent description of the in’s and out’s of Flickr in the classroom. Not only does he provide a long list of possible classroom applications, he also addresses questions and concerns that educators may have about using Flickr in the class.

 

One current initiative that many teachers at my school are exploring is PWIM (Picture word induction model) students could use the annotation feature to record their words, sentences and descriptions of the images available through Flickr via the creative commons or for the pictures they post to their own or the class Flickr account. Teachers would no longer need to have large pictures printed to post in their classroom (which can become very expensive) Instead, students could use Flickr to access photos and use the annotation feature to add their text. Another use would be for students to learn about another country. Students could easily access all kinds of information about the country and its culture via photo sharing sites such as Flickr. The list goes on with possibilities for the classroom and beyond.

 

Photo sharing websites have won me over and I can not wait to use them with classes and expose other teachers to the endless learning opportunities they provide.

 

Darryl

Intro Blog Part 2'ish

After tinkering with blogspot, I figured that this would be the blog of choice for my assignments. I have found the format and the ease to edit and manipulate things within this blog pretty easy for even rookie bloggers. I by no means consider myself an expert blogger but I have played around with blogs both personally and for school. 

In previous years I began blogging in a school related capacity with my grade 5/6 class 2 years ago. I used blogger but found that I was not able to preview student comments prior to publishing. Since I abandoned blogger, I haven't explored whether or not the capacity to do this has evolved with blogger. I turned next to blogmeister for my class use. I found this quite useful and was excellent because all of my student postings needed to be approved by myself prior to publishing. Because this was linked to my school website I felt this was the best blog option for the time. However, the layout was not the most visually appealing and lets face it, visual appeal is huge for kids. They want to see something that grabs their attention and hooks them (as do I!).  Other than that, blogmeister served its purpose for my classroom purpose and I continue to use it up to this year. I'm not sure which avenue I will explore this year as a t-l but as I stand right now, I'm still leaning towards blogmeister.

As I read through Richardson's book, I find myself thinking of how I have used many of the Web 2.0 tools in the past and how I need to reapproach learning using the tools available. In the past I felt at times I have used the tools for the sake of using them instead of thinking beyond and making sure that students are using Web 2.0 tools to further their inquiry of learning. As I begin to collaborate and plan with teachers, I find myself leafing through Richardson's book and Solomon & Schrum's book "web 2.0: new tools, new schools". 

I must admit here that I am a self-taught technology guy. I'm not really good with following instructions/directions, instead I like to skim through the directions, get started and explore and learn on my own. In some ways I have found this very rewarding but in other ways, it is frustrating because I  tend to be a little stubborn in my learning. I guess I'll make the analogy of the "male driver" who won't ask for directions. Instead of stopping and completely reading the map (or in this case, the instruction literature), I'll keep driving until I see something that looks right until I get completely frustrated! Don't worry though, I'm going to eliminate the not stopping for directions by purchasing a GPS before our family goes on our next big trip. For those of you who are already wondering, no, I probably won't read the instructions before I start using it, instead I'll "fiddle" until I get it to work. And if I don't, my brilliant wife will read the instructions and figure it out while I drive (after all, it's a long way to Phoenix from Regina!).

Well, my journey begins, or should I say continues. I'm looking forward to blogging over the next few months and keeping up with all our learning. I think Richardson sums it up very well by stating that the true power of blogs is that they are so easy to use. It is a simple way to write and publish on the web that is not threatening. As a result, the educational implications are far reaching. 

Until next time.

In the Beginning...

"The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can."

Robert Cushing

Well, this is the beginning, so to speak, of my Web 2.0 journey. As the anxiety builds beginning this class, I realize that it is a "good kind of anxiety" as I explore further many topics that I have "tinkered" with in the past. None the less, I once again wonder how I am going to balance everything that happens from now until Christmas (only 3 1/2 short months away). While I think about that, my wife arrives home from her school open house and asks me why the lights are on downstairs while I'm upstairs? My simple explanation that "I'm working" draws a familiar questioning look from her. I think about trying to explain to her that upstairs on my laptop I'm planning my literature group for tomorrow and trying to track down a resource that we discussed in a meeting today, while downstairs on our desktop, I'm logged into Web CT, checking home email, trying to decide which blog website I'm going to use and of course, most importantly, checking out the latest headlines on CBS Sportsline (by the way did you know Lance Armstrong is planning on making a comeback next year to pursue his 8th Tour de France victory? And Regina native punter John Ryan, who was just recently released by the Green Bay Packers signed today with the Seattle Seahawks? Priorities, priorities, I know) but realize I'd better just leave it as it is!

So what role does technology play in our lives today? Hmmm....let me think about that while I check my online banking. I certainly know that I'd be lost without our 2 computers, never mind only 1 computer and an iPod touch. Many questions bounce around my brain as I wonder how we best utilize Web 2.0 tools in our schools and in our personal lives. As I maneuver and explore the various Web 2.0 tools through this course I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the power that Web 2.0 can leverage in student learning and put into practice my findings. 

I am looking forward to this course and learning from all my classmates, instructors and the virtual world that surrounds me!