The best thing about Wikis and You Tube is the endless amount of information available on literally every topic. The worst thing about Wikis and You Tube however, is the exact same thing, endless amounts of information. The key is how you parse though it. If these 2 existed in the early days of my undergrad life would have been both simpler and more complex.
I found both to offer very credible information on topics. In the case of Wikis, I generally use them as starting points to go deeper into a topic. To me it is like an onion with hundreds of skins. Peeling back the right one to get to what you want and following that path. There is definitely extraneous information at every Wiki but, again, narrowing the field of a particular and following that path leads to great research opportunities. I never start and end at a Wiki. I use the wiki to give me more food for thought.
I use You Tube for similar research. During my Elementary Literature course at times I found it very helpful to research a book and find a video of someone reading the book. It gave me a great deal of help in understanding the appropriate cadence and inflection when reading the book to students.
I use You Tube a great deal in my professional and personal life as well.
Professionally I can nearly always find videos on how competing technologies are used in a classroom. This helps me prepare a features and benefits presentation of the products I represent and a better understanding of how we measure up to other products.
Personally You Tube is a go to for me for all sorts of things like creating a blind hem on a sewing machine or learning a particular cooking technique. It is all out there, you just have to be patient when researching the content.
Hi Sue,
ReplyDeleteDigging through the layers can be a tough task. When searching for a video on Youtube you can run into a number of issues; dead videos, description doesn't describe the video appropriately, longer videos are in multiple parts. However, there are times where you can find really great resources for your classroom. I love using the videos for background knowledge.
Amber, that is so true. Finding unique pieces that supplement the lesson really opens the imagination for the students. Using You Tube is great and applying patience to the search process pays off big in the end.
DeleteYouTube and wikis are a great way to a lot of information on numerous topics. YouTube videos can be great for introducing a lesson, or even as a review for a lesson. I teach high school mathematics, and I have found that at times students can forget pieces to a lesson when they get home from school and are working on their homework. Recently, the students have been using YouTube a lot more, to help them understand a new concept.
DeleteThe idea of reviewing mathematic concepts and equation solutions on You Tube is great. Looking at it in a book is one thing but, seeing an equation solved is so much more helpful. High school algebra and geometry would have been so much simpler for me. I needed to see things done over and over. Watching the progression reinforced for me the steps in between and pulled it all together. Are there specific channels on You Tube that are better than others for this?
DeleteMost definitely! Seeing a problem worked out step by step with verbal instructions is easier than just interpreting a book, for many people. I have found that Khan Academy has some great videos on numerous math concepts, and they post the videos through YouTube.
DeletePlus, videos that teach math in fun ways helps. I've used this video to teach the Pythagorean theorem. The kids love it.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGJ8XKb07T8
That is great I like it! Very relatable for the students I'm sure.
DeleteSue
ReplyDeleteI think the example you gave about research in Wikipedia being like digging through a union layer is great. Both Wikipedia and YouTube are great, if you can find a reliable resources. But I'm not sure if what is great for us as teachers is great for students. As teachers we know what to look for to see if a source is good or not. As students I'm not sure that they have acquired this yet. It seems like it would be very confusing. However I think its good for us as teachers to sift through and find something that may help students but not sure that the students should be allowed to use them as sources, that is until they get to a point where they can recognize what's right or wrong.
Tracie, I know what you are saying. Being able to apply practical life experience to parsing through wiki and You Tube data is critical. Students can be distracted by the littlest thing and can also be led astray by something that seems too good to be true. Just because it is on the internet does not mean it is true.
DeleteLike all of us are saying both wiki and You Tube are good for fast resources but they always need to be change before we use them in our classroom.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the benefits of finding videos from more controlled sources that are educationally-based: they know the distractions, and remove them. Someone creating a YouTube video may not be able to remove suggested videos from the sidebar, or have a knowledge of what's distracting to viewers. Well-produced videos from, for example, Discovery Education, take those things into consideration.
ReplyDeleteI have heard about Teacher Tube as well but, have not used it. Is that source more of a "pre vetted" arena for good class room videos or is it more of a You Tube for teachers posting for teachers?
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