As regular readers have seen, I uploaded a couple of student projects (and here) to youtube this week. I tweeted about them so each video had some views on them. The next day I told my class that I had a youtube video to share with them that I "found" yesterday. They were quickly excited when they realized it was from our classroom.
Their questions were for the URL address, how many views it had, and how do you make and upload a video to youtube. It was fun that I could show them that it already had 15 views and explained how I used twitter to share it. So I have thought a bit more about the power of this simple act on my classroom.
Traditionally teachers hang "excellent" student work on their bulletin board or on the hallway walls. We try to honor their work by sharing it with others in our buildings and parents when they come to conferences. Of course many of us are now using many forms of technology to showcase student work to the world including blogs, wikis, and hundreds of specialized sites such as voicethread..
But I really think youtube is in a special class of limited platforms (I would include Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace too). Youtube is "cool" to students. It is not some educational platform (which I am afraid is how students see blogs sometimes), but a cultural platform that people love to go to from around the world. Students want to put themselves on youtube.
I beleive I have just greatly increased the motivation in my class. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed that I only had one group take the Lego robot project to the next level and create their own program that performed a unique task. But I can almost guarantee when I show that video to my next class that they will be motivated to create something. I am sure students will start to ask me if they can put their projects on youtube and I will then challenge them by saying "If it is good enough, sure."
The irony in all this is that only I can access the youtube videos at school because the filter blocks it for students. On the other hand it creates a reason for students to go to our class blog at home and show it to their parents.
I don't think as teachers we should ever underestimate the motivating power of showing off student work to as many people around the world as possible!
I totally agree. I could not convince my students to like Voicethread but they do love youtube!
ReplyDeleteI will go on trying though for a teacher of English as second language it is essential to find an alternative to our three hours English a week and that's it. My blog is different though I use it as a back up for the lesson of the day. I will evolve to a more convivial one involving more pupils I will start as soon as we get back to school on Thursday. We are on holiday right now ;-)
Using different mediums as an educational tool is starting to be really helpful. And I agree that with the right uses, especially of types such as Youtube, may be helpful. There are resources on the internet about writing courses that offer program that evolves kids writing, creatively and again it is a virtual course. Revolutionizing and using technology to teach and spread information is such an attractive of learning. Keep up the post because I am learning from it too.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of publishing students work to larger audiences as both a motivating tool and as a way to inspire creative expression of the topics that the students are learning. In my blog, I asked several questions about how to evaluate "creativity" in school. Perhaps the best way to encourage and develop creativity is to put the kids work out there with work from others around the world. I can correct grammar and fluidity of arguments, but the rewards given to them by having folks comment on their work on the internet might be the best way for them to evaluate their own creativity. Thoughts? Feel free to join the conversation on my blog as well. http://profespringer.wordpress.com
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