A VISION FOR VIDEOSHARING

I won’t lie…this week I was somewhat intimidated by our latest topic of Web 2.0 as we were asked to learn about video sharing! You’d think I would have been more excited considering my revelations and enthusiasm for photo sharing but I’ve always felt a little more uncomfortable behind a video camera. Luckily, digital cameras are equipped to take short video clips too thus giving me a sense of familiarity and reassurance that I can do this!

So I began my research of video sharing by going on to the most popular sites used by teachers such as Youtube, Schooltube and Teachertube to see what videos for educational purposes (or NOT!) were out there and being shared right now. Of course I came across everything from teachers videotaping lessons in various core subject areas, students who’d created short video stories, lectures of a more serious nature on technology in education and hilarious parodies of librarians (I loved the Cookie monster in the library video!)

With a little more insight into what all these videos were like, I decided to begin some reading on video sharing opinions and ideas by “educators” on the net. I also visited Joanne’s trailfire suggestions for video sharing. Needless to say, I was blown away by the lecture on Youtube by the anthropologist, Michael Wesch on An Introduction to the Anthropology of Youtube. Some of the statistics he stated “9000 hours of video are uploaded to Youtube everyday and 88% of it is new or original material” made me realize how much video (and video sharing) is a part of the culture of our digital learners. It only makes sense to make it part of their education and teach them how to use this tool in an effective way to learn, share, collaborate and more! My favorite term that Professor Wesch used in his video was “participant observation”. Since I’ve begun this course learning about Web 2.0 tools I have been somewhat “forced” out of my comfort zone into becoming a “participant observer”. (Don’t get me wrong…I’m loving it and learning sooooo much!) I truly believe the only way to learn about all these Web 2.0 tools is by participating in them, experimenting with them and observing what they are like “by doing” not just by reading about them. All of the aforementioned being how we want our own students to learn…which brings me back to video sharing in education!

In my quest for learning about video sharing as a means to increase our students learning potential and “engage them”, I’ve sorted it into two categories:
a) by viewing the amazing archive of incredible video footage out in the world wide web (analyze it, respond to it, share it, etc.) AND
b) by creating the video clips and movies to share with others (practice what they’ve learned, create, collaborate, etc.)

Although this division of “categories” helped to sort my thinking, I quickly came to realize that they are really one in the same when it comes to the concept of video sharing. When you are using such sites as Youtube, Teachertube, Schooltube, or Classroom 2.0 students have the ability to be using that service to both watch, analyze, create, comment on and share. Another interesting blog I read entitled A Teacher’s Tour of Youtube written by Chris O’Neal, reinforced my belief that there was definitely a place for video sharing in the classroom. Lessons could be taught in critical thinking and analyzing about authenticity, appropriateness and copyright infringement.

So I wanted to begin examining videosharing sites more closely and wondered what else was out there for students, which brought me to a blog posting entitled “The Ultimate Comparison Guide to Online Video Sharing”. I realized at once that there was no way I could possibly examine all the possibilities for the students and would have to rely on colleagues in the technology field, my fellow TL classmates and the more popular video sharing sites as my starting points. So Youtube, Schooltube, Teachertube and Classroom 2.0 became my sites of choice (for now!).

However as I began to explore these sites more closely, I came across many of the hurdles that were mentioned in an article I read entitled “Teachers tap Video-sharing in the Classroom” written by Joseph DeAvila. I found “weeding through the clips to make sure they are relevant for my class was very time consuming” even with tags and related videos to help you. It takes time to sit and watch them all for quality and relevance. (Although when you find that profoundly moving video, it feels like time well spent!) Another hurdle I encountered (not surprisingly) was the fact that Youtube and Schooltube (that was a surprise!) were blocked by my school divisions server. I was especially disappointed by this when I wanted to share a video with my staff that was on Youtube. (Thank you Darren for finding the video, “A Vision of K-12 Students Today”) With a little investigation I soon discovered that it was possible to download videos onto CD or save it to a memory stick using a service called KeepVid. The video was an effective tool for my staff, who are very reticent to make technology a priority in our school. The blocking of Schooltube was particularly surprising considering what I’d read about it on Barry S. Brit’s Myspace post entitled “Using video and social networking as tools within education”. According to Brit, Schooltube videos must be approved by registered teachers, follow school guidelines and adhere to the STN code of ethics. When I accessed Schooltube at home, I realized a school must become a member (FREE!) but I wonder if that is even an option for our school division. Something I’ll need to further pursue.

However, Teachertube was accessible as well as Classroom 2.0. I was really pumped to try a video with my class and work through an upload onto one of the sites but simply ran out of time so I thought I’d try my own webcam video blog at home and discovered our computer is not hooked up with a microphone (a hurdle I have to overcome with my husband as we discuss upgrades to our system…wish me luck!). One site that I could play with was animoto.com. At first I considered this more of a photosharing site as you use pictures from your digital camera and then upload them into the program, at which time they are turned into a video with music you have picked out from their library. Animoto is not a free service ($25.00/year subscription) but my husband and I loved it and signed on with videos produced for our family and friends to enjoy! I posted one below (nervously, as these are photos of my beautiful girls at the lake this summer) but a proud mom with growing faith in the world of social networking and security settings. Couldn’t you see the students in your classroom going crazy for this style of videosharing?

With my new found knowledge (although far from an expert as I still feel the need “to participate” and create), I began to consider the possibilities for my classroom. I discovered a few ideas from another posting by Barrie Brit entitled “Video Use in the Core Curriculum”.

Some of the ideas I thought I could see myself using were:
-video taping a T.U.S.C. meeting (The Ultimate Speaking Club)
-a news report on current events
-“Be the Science Teacher” and the students teach the class an experiment
-Oral Book reports or literature circle discussions
-Poetry readings
-French presentations
-Advertising…making book commercials, etc
-Exploring videos of students in another country
-Videotaping myself teaching a lesson and sharing it on my blog for parents or practice for students have difficulty learning a certain concept
-And the list goes on…

As a final thought on video sharing, I still share and understand the concern and angst of parents as they worry about their children being videotaped or photographed and shared on the internet (particularly as a teacher in the elementary setting). As the educator excited about implementing these new tools in my teaching it is critical I address these issues when introducing photo or video sharing opportunities to ensure I’ve received written permission and have performed a careful examination of the privacy settings to restrict our audiences to only those that the parents have approved. With that being said, in the words of Barry S. Brit, “…we can not let fear make us miss the boat. Your discussion on a certain topic will come to life as students are able to blog their comment, post pictures and create and share videos that take your discussion beyond the classroom and become links in a never-ending chain of learning, research, exploration and communication”.

Animoto (example of video/photosharing)

These are my beautiful girls enjoying the lake this summer!

A video worth sharing!

When I found this video at Classroom 2.0, I was so motivated to get into my classroom and make "some noise" with technology! I shared this video with my staff at our School Plan meeting to finally send home the message that technology needs to be a priority in our school!

Find more videos like this on Classroom 2.0

PHOTOSHARING FRENZY!

This has been a really fun week for me as I’ve explored an old tool and looked at it in a new way…digital photography and now the idea of sharing it with the world (or perhaps a small community of invited users). I am a huge fan of using photography in the classroom! Over the past few years, my objective was simple, to capture the students in action as they are learning, print off the images and share them with the class in the form of a poster or sent home (in print) in a newsletter. After this week of reading, exploring and experimenting with photosharing sites, it’s opened up so many new opportunities and ideas for me to expand my love of using photo images in my teaching practice.

I began this journey reading Will Richardson’s chapter on “Fun with Flickr” in his book, Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts and other Powerful Webtools. It is very evident that he is a big fan of the potential and vast warehouse of photo imagery possibilities that Flickr has to offer. The list of possibilities had my creative wheels spinning, from writing “Flicktion”, keeping up with current events, using it for sharing classroom learning with parents and more importantly with other schools around the world! So off I went to explore this famous “Flickr” site. It was everything Richardson had promised and more. There was so much information and various ways of manipulating Flickr images that I was somewhat overwhelmed at first. However, I dove in and created a Yahoo account just so I could experience it first hand. As you can see from my first uploaded image to my blog (below), I figured it out.

My exploration of photosharing sites did not end with Flickr. I began searching the net for various articles or thoughts on photosharing sites. I ran across a wiki from the online journal Classroom 2.0 http://wiki.classroom20.com/Photo+Sharing that listed a few other photosharing sites. Once again, I began my “clicking” frenzy as I began to investigate more possible sites for sharing photos with my students, parents and “community at large”. I found such sites as Webshot, Smugmug, Photobucket and Zoto just to name a few. I loved Bubbleshare ! It seemed very user-friendly, but what caught my eye was Scrapblog . I guess I’ll have to take a moment to admit my secret obsession with scrapbooking (even though I don’t have an ounce of time to commit to it). I am addicted to buying all the fabulous scrapbooking tools, paper and stickers available on the market! The summer is my chance to catch up on my daughter’s birthday scrapbooks and now I’ve started School scrapbooks for each of them too. But let’s get back to Scrapblog… with only one click, I fell in love!! My two favorite passions all in one place! I couldn’t resist! Below this post you can witness my first attempt to create a scrapbook on line. I wanted to share my new found knowledge with my students and parents (as well as with you) so I created a “virtual Open House” for those parents who were unable to attend our Open House on Tuesday night.
For those artistic and creative souls in your class (and there are many!), this is so much fun to play with and create! The numerous templates, stickers and editing functions could have your students busy and having fun for hours (perhaps a bit dangerous for those of us with limited time in the computer lab!!).

As I continued to investigate photosharing, I came across another wiki at http://www.teachinghacks.com/wiki/index.php?title=Photo_Sharing_in_Education which listed several even more great ideas as to how to incorportate photo sharing into our teaching practice.

Here are just a few of their ideas:
1. share, comment, and add notes to photos or images to be used in the classroom
2. embed your photos into your school or class web space
3. inspire writing and creativity
4. create a storybook using shared images
5. create a presentation using the photos, annotation and slideshow in flckr

I guess you can tell, I am really excited about this Web 2.0 discovery and the many possibilities it will have for me in my classroom (and future school library…here’s hoping!)

This week I also set up my RSS aggregator with Google Reader and uncovered some amazing educators and experts in the field of Web 2.0. One of my favorites was David Warlick. With all my research on photosharing this week, I came across some inspirational words from his Colearner wiki from his presentation entitled “Harnessing the digital landscape” http://davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage
“Never before has the classroom become so much a part of the world around us. Small digital cameras have affected how we look at war, love, family and friends, poverty, wealth, culture, and nature. Students can record their environment, share these images with each other and the world, and become archivers of their own experience.”
Photosharing has definitely allowed us the capabilities to expand our students’ learning from the pencil and paper, the textbook and the highlighter and the ego-centric nature of their four classroom walls to the global culture that is growing and developing around us!

With all the positive educational opportunities available for learning with photosharing, one has to play devil’s advocate and reflect on possible downsides. This brings me back to my constant concern with parents and their overprotective nature which will not allow photos of their children “on the internet”, which I can’t blame them. Fortunately, from what I could tell in my “investigations”, all of these photosharing sites are quite secure in their “sharing” choices (public or private…or specific e-mail addresses, passwords or groups). Now it becomes the teacher’s role to inform the parents so they can make the choice for themselves.
Another “fear” of course, is the inappropriate material that can ‘inadvertently’ surface when searching for photos on such image databases as Flickr. This has been a hot topic of discussion in our course work with EDES 501 this past week which has given me a whole other issue to explore. I definitely agree with my colleagues who feel it is a perfect opportunity to make it a “teachable moment” and educate our students on the risks and appropriate responses to unwanted images. Even with these few downsides, I’m still in awe of the capabilities that photosharing can have in our teaching practices. In the words of Richardson, “the power of the Read/Write Web is being able to create and connect content through publishing in ways we never thought possible”. So now it is time to explore those possibilities and make those connections. Photosharing seems like a good place to start for me!

Summer sailing! (Flickr practice)

Summer 2008 062
Originally uploaded by heather_eby

This is a typical scene on Lake of the Woods for my family in the summertime. After a long day of sailing, we tie up with fellow sailors for an evening of swimming and socializing! As they sang on Grease "Those suummerrrr niiiiiiights!!"

Example of Photosharing

BUSY PLAYING!

OK...I've been a bit neglectful of my blog BUT trust me when I say I have been busy!!!!!! I haven't been blogging but I've been playing! I just go from one click to another to another! I love it and I hate it! I can't believe all the wonderful information out there. I feel like I've been living in a bubble where technology and advancements in student learning have been taking place over the past few years when I read all the information out there. Yet on the other hand, I am definitely feeling the strains of information overload and lots of technojargon that is beginning to scare me. Yet I plug on... :)
So where do I begin...I guess I started with trying to find some blogs that I would want to include in an aggregator or RSS feed as Joanne had suggested we do as soon as possible. I read the chapter in Will Richardson's book on RSS feeds and began with technorati.com and found it very confusing. Links were taking me to other links and I found it unreadable (for me) so I moved onto bloglines as suggested in Will Richardson's book. It looked fairly easy to manage but I wanted to try to start keeping all my "Web 2.0 tools" together which brought me to Google reader as I already have an account with Google for my blog. (With all these wonderful free tools comes more e-mail accounts and passwords than I can manage or keep track of!)
Back to my Google Reader, I find it easy to use but tricky finding blogs and "feeds" that I want to include. Many feeds came with more articles than I was interested in reading which brings me to learning about TAGS. I haven't quite mastered that one yet but I think (hope) it won't be too confusing. So I've decided to keep my feeds simple by limiting it to everyone's blogs in our course as well as a few of the Web 2.0 experts and School Library Journal blogs to keep me reading and "current" on latest trends.
Today I played around with Flickr for awhile and found myself creating yet another account with Yahoo in order to subscribe and try it out. I haven't quite figured out how I would like to practice it but I love the idea of starting with some Flicktion as suggested in Will Richardson's book. Language Arts being my favorite "subject" to teach (no huge surprise as I bet many of us are as teacher-librarians or future TLs), I'd like to try it out on my students. There's nothing like putting what you've learned into practice. I've also been playing with the Flickreplacr Bookmarklet too! I'll see if I can get it to work on my blog...cross your fingers for me!

MY "PAPERLESS" PONDERINGS BEGIN!

The world of blogging and making my thoughts and learning experiences public begins! As you can see from my profile, I am a teacher and now I'm a student once again. I have set up this blog for my first course with the University of Alberta's online distance education program in Teacher-Librarianship, specifically for my EDES 501 course learning about Web 2.0 tools.
In all honesty, this is not my first foray into the world of blogging as I used a blog for the first time last year as my grade 5 classroom newsletter. As Will Richardson advised in his book, "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms", it's an excellent way to get your feet wet and get comfortable writing in a new format. Not surprisingly, it was a huge hit with my students' parents. My one hitch remained that many parents did not check the blog regularly and I was updating it weekly (a lot of work!). So I investigated further and found out about Google group e-mailing and set up an account for my parents and added them as members (with their permission) so that they would receive an update in their e-mail every time I entered a new post! I had unknowingly begun my "paperless" journey into the world of Web 2.0.
I guess I should mention that I was using Blogger.com as I was referred to it by a fellow staff member at our school. Now that I have begun this course, I also wanted to investigate other blog host possibilities but fell into a comfort zone once again with Blogger (after much reading and playing). However, I really enjoyed http://edublogs.org/as I found myself clicking on all kinds of links and learning something new at every click. Sue Waters (the Edublogger) shares so many different views and ideas on using Web 2.0 tools, specifically blogs in the classroom. I finally had to log off after "information overload".
Since I first started last fall with Blogger, they have made some changes to their formatting and added some new gadgets (although many come with unwanted Ads...blogger beware!)
As you probably noticed, I also had fun playing with my discovery of "wordle.net" while applying my header. It was a tricky job trying to get it to paste into the header but I learned a lot in the process. As my header words indicate, I am eager 2 learn and as the vocabulary shows, there is a lot out there to explore!
I've already started thinking about how this can work in the classroom (or my future school library!). I'm a huge fan of Literature Circles and Book Clubs and would love to start there with my students posting their responses and opinions. I know that in all subject areas the possibilities are endless. I'm anxious to hear how my fellow adult learners see blogs working in their different situations.