Journal 3

“Video in the Age of Participation”
By Glenn Bull

The explosion of YouTube in the past year is an example of digital videos growing impact on the technological world. The possibilities for digital video continue to increase as a result of increased bandwidth and compression standards that make it possible to stream video on demand over the Net. Movies and videos have been used by teachers in classrooms for many years; however, new digital video technology allows teachers to quickly locate clips and makes it easier for them to integrate the short video segments into the lesson plan. There are a number of sources for free classroom oriented video clips such as the Discovery Education website which offers video resources in a format that provides connections to explicit curriculum objectives. Some sites even allow teachers and students to edit and remix videos into a format that is more conducive to classroom learning. Digital video resources may also help schools save money on resources such as educational video tapes because the teachers can use free sources from the web.

1) How can I use this technology in my classroom?
I have a math professor at Saddleback College who is create digital video tutorials to add to his class website. As a future math teacher, I would love to integrate similar tutorials into my classroom. I think it would be advantageous for students to be able to view math problems being solved and explained at home while they are doing their homework.

2) How will this technology affect general school learning?
Although I believe textbooks will continue to be the primary source in schools, I think there is definitely a growing place for digital videos in classrooms. Digital video will allow many teachers to seamlessly integrate videos into lessons without wasting time to setup a VCR and tape. Moreover, short digital video segments will allow teachers to provide quick examples without wasting an entire class period showing VCR tapes.