Wowie, wow, wow (to quote Junie B. Jones)! Wowie, wow, wow!! Those are my first impressions of video-sharing after spending a week weaving my way through YouTube. I enjoyed it so much I got my husband watching with me (although this was not new to him) and then my eight year old daughter. This week we finally had to make the move from "light" speed to "lightening" speed so we wouldn't have to wait while the videos downloaded. Well there is no going back.
YouTube was first introduced to the world in April of 2005 and has grown exponentially ever since. A definition provided by Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube states that YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. There are many uses for YouTube listed by Davies and Merchant in their book Web 2.0 for Schools. A few are:
1. Watch videos
2. Respond to videos by leaving a written comment or rating
3. Watch videos and report them as offensive
4. Select any number of videos and embed them into other sites such as blogs and wikis
Up until this past week I could probably count on one hand how many videos I have watched on YouTube. When your life is busy with work, children, family and course work, you have little spare time and so I have stayed away from social networks such as Facebook and YouTube. This week I have checked out educational videos, music videos, movie trailers and videos on civic politics. I found the site simple to manoeuvre, and once we had high speed up and running, the rest was easy. It became even better after my husband showed me how to change the video into a full screen. Oh the simple pleasures of life. :)
In my exploration of YouTube I mostly followed the links provided in the Trailfire. One video really stood out for me - An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube by Michael Wesch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU. If you haven't seen it you really should go and check it out. After watching this video (twice - I had to share it with my husband) I felt I had a better understanding of what YouTube was all about. Wesch made some very interesting comments and observations. He talks about YouTube being a "celebration of new forms of community - global connections transcending place and time." and how Web 2.0 is about "linking people - in ways we don't even know yet." Isn't that true about the whole web 2.0 experience? I think my all time favourite quote was how he described Gary Brolsma, the guy in the suburbs of New Jersey who made the "numa numa" dance into a world phenomenon by saying that Gary is the "first guy on the floor of this global mixer." I just love the imagery this brings to my mind.
As I explored YouTube, I found my emotional experience to be much like Flickr. I became quite excited at this media format I was discovering for the first time. I enjoyed discovering all of the possibilities that YouTube provided. (And I only touched on a few.) As I wrote down my thoughts for this blog post I found myself easily sidetracked and another half hour gone as I surfed through more video. As much as I enjoyed viewing the videos on YouTube, I don't think you will find my face there. In this space I would much rather be a lurker than a full particpant.
Professionally I can see great value in having access to YouTube. As a teacher-librarian I came across an excellent set of videos by Bob Baker (no, not Bob Barker) on teaching information literacy covering a wide range of topics. It is recommended that if using YouTube with younger students (and wisely, I believe) that videos be embedded in a blog first so students and teachers do not accidentally come across offensive materials. (Davies & Merchant, 2009, p.54) In this way a teacher can transfer a video to their class blog and view and discuss the video outside the YouTube site. As you move into older grades, especially at the high school level, using YouTube gives rise to opportunity for discussion on how to deal with specific types of material. "We would like to feel that schools could play a role in discussing media with unpleasant messages so that students can learn something about how to deconstruct those messages and how to trace safe paths even in the face of undesirable and profane images and comments." (Davies & Merchant, 2009, p. 57)
For many of you, the use of YouTube in your classrooms is a pipe dream. The fear that our children will access inappropriate material has caused school districts across North America to implement the use of Internet filters. Is this a form of censorship or is it truly to create a safe place for our kids to learn? How are we limiting the scope of their learning if they do not have access to sites such as YouTube, Flickr, blogs, etc.?
If these sites remain blocked, can we ethically find ways to get around them. If we know a video is educationally sound, should we still use it to teach and engage our students if we are able to gain access to it through other routes? Joyce Valenza has an article called When YouTube is blocked (way more than eight ways around) which provides us with some alternate methods to using YouTube or perhaps ways of getting around filters. Many videos can be powerful tools to use in teaching and engaging our students, so what are we to do?
As teachers we do have access to TeacherTube but is it a replacement for YouTube? After a quick exploration, it felt like I was visiting its much poorer cousin. I searched the term "information literacy" and did not find any quality videos right off the top.
I believe that it is our job as teachers and teacher-librarians to give students the necessary skills to search the Internet ethically and appropriately. We need to provide them with a road map to journey the Internet without mishap, or to know what to do when a mishap occurs.
So where does this leave us? Personally, YouTube is a fabulous surprise and I know that I will come back to it again and again for both entertainment and to search out professional topics. Professionally, I'm not sure what role YouTube plays in our locked out district. I believe it to have great potential to teach and engage our students. If the videos are relevant, is there anything wrong in teachers using them even though the district has chosen to lock us out?
What would you do? Does the value of YouTube outweigh the decision makers of your district?
References
Davies, Julia & Merchant, Guy. (2009). Web 2.0 for schools. Peter Lang Publishing: New York.
Valenza, Joyce. (2008) When YouTube is blocked. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1410038141.html?nid=3714
Wesch, Michael. (2008). An anthropological introduction to YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU
Wikipedia. (2010). YouTube. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube
YouTube. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/
Posts
For the most part, district restrict access to YouTube for fear students may encounter inappropriate material. Embedding a YouTube video, many of which come from other sources such as previous TV shows, documentaries or movies, does not seem like a violation of school district policy. I am lucky enough that our superintendent realizes the value of Web 2.0 tools and gave the go ahead for schools to remove filters. (Some schools still have not.) Interestingly enough I am giving a workshop on Web 2.0 in the classroom to district staff. I asked them to make sure all filters were removed before my workshop. Eliza Dresang, well known for her theory of Radical Change in relation to reading, said "increased intellectual access sometimes provokes in adults the impulsse to raise more barriers-possibly a futile effort in the digital world." I would very much agree; therefore, we need to educate students how to navigate the digital world, not put blinders on them hoping they won't take them off the minute they leave the building.
ReplyDeleteNicola
Thanks, Pauline. I appreciate your comments about school districts blocking sites like Youtube...these are really important issues to raise and talk about. I was curious about your comment that you would rather be a lurker than a full participant in Youtube. While I can appreciate your reluctance to post a video of yourself on youtube, I wonder if there are times when you might want to do so (e.g. a video booktalk or a booktrailer that you could create...the booktrailer situation would not necessarily even have to include you in the video). Can you see yourself perhaps creating something to share with the world on Youtube? Are there ways to more fully participate in youtube that do not involve posting your own video? These were a few questions that came to mind as i read your comments.
ReplyDeleteJoanne
Hi Pauline. Well done on your post. I too discovered many possibilities with YouTube but like you I was easily distracted and found myself watching video after video. It is addicting I feel and self-control is definitely a necessity.
ReplyDelete