TeacherTube takes the Web by storm
Gone are the days of classes spent in the audio-visual rooms and of
teachers lugging in film projectors and dimming the lights. Educational
videos today have moved past film showings and Sineskwela marathons. Teachers have moved on to video clips, video streaming and user-generated content.
In the U.S., some school districts pay to have access to established
services like Discovery Education, which has a streaming website that
accesses professional videos from its partners like BBC America, PBS
and the Discovery Channel.
Online video-sharing sites like Google's YouTube spawned off even
more sites for videos, this time targeted towards the academe (students
and teachers alike).
One such site is TeacherTube. It is a video-sharing site much like
YouTube in layout and function, but is solely devoted to educational
videos. Some of the videos are made by students, and some by teachers,
but the underlying concept is still there: it was created so educators
can share their media and develop an online community.
Founder
Created by former principal Jason Smith
of Texas with his wife and brother in 2007, the website now has
approximately 220,000 regular users and more than 54,000 videos. Every
month, the average number of visitors is 800,000.
Videos
These videos cover everything from PE
exercises to Monet's painting techniques. Some are student projects or
classroom demonstrations, uncannily showing what students are working
on around the world.
Played on a 3x4 inch screen, the videos use Adobe Flash Player, and
can be emailed to friends, embedded in blogs or linked to other
websites. They can also be downloaded or flagged for unnecessary
content, giving fellow educators the responsibility to review other
peers' works.
The Stars
An example of a popular video would
be that of Dr. Loopy's, a persona created by elementary school
librarian Doug Valentine. Dr. Loopy is a goofy scientist with a neon
wig and a lab coat, and talks about things like igneous rocks and water
cycles. Suffice it to say he's quite popular with the students and
fellow teachers, with more than 341,000 hits on his videos.
David Watson, on the other hand, uses TeacherTube to celebrate
student work. Because students nowadays are used to creating media and
content, he ended up jazzing up his class' science experiments.
His seventh-grade math class once created a video called “Bungee
Barbie,” determining how many rubber bands would be needed to attach to
the doll's legs for it to successfully bungee jump off a jungle gym.
The video shows the students graphing results, calculating slope and
dropping the doll to the ground, amid great cheers at their success.
Some teachers rap math lessons, and incorporate songs and visual aids as well.
Change
TeacherTube is but one website that
serves as an example of how technology, and specifically social
networking websites, can change education, teaching and learning.
Students can watch these videos again and again until they understand the lesson fully.
There are tangible differences in excitement and interest too.
Lesson plans and educational gimmicks have evolved to ones that
incorporate technology, so teachers all over the world can share and
learn from one another.
Sources:
de Avila, Joseph. “Teachers Tap Video-Sharing In the Classroom.” Retrieved May 26, 2009 from
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120649011463564023.html?mod=pj_main_hs_coll
Melago, Carrie. “Educators get TeacherTube.” Retrieved May 26, 2009 from
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2007/12/09/2007-12-09_educators_get_teachertube.html
Siegchrist, Gretchen. “TeacherTube - Free Online Educational Videos.” Retrieved May 26, 2009 from
http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/educationalvideosonline/p/teachertube.htm
Unmuth, Katherine. “Teachers' lessons go viral on education video website.”Retrieved May 26, 2009 from
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/010509dnmetteachertube.3899c4e.html
(Published 08 June 2009, Smart Communications, Inc.)
