Module 5

Hi All

Tonight I completed module 5 which covered pods and vods. Following the instructions in this module was pretty easy and the explanations for podcasts and vidcasts was well done. The websites we were directed to such as Teacher Tube, School Tube, ABC and YouTube were fairly user friendly.

Overall, I think these applications have great potential for the classroom. Teachers often get locked into showing students videos and DVDs owned by the school. But the Internet provides a whole range of video and audio resources for the classroom. With this you are virtually unlimited and could find a resource for just about any topic. Furthermore, documentaries used are usually fairly long. But most podcasts and vidcasts focus on a particular topic and go for roughly 5 minutes.

Mostly I would use this to: introduce students to a new topic to engage them and help them to recall their knowledge of a topic before we begin; to use at the beginning of a lesson to introduce and explain a difficult concept; to engage them in the material and help set them on task for further reading in their textbook; to request that students find relevant information in the casts using a few questions; and finally to help them make connections to the real world.

Already I have set up a YouTube account linked to my iGoogle account and have selected some videos for my upcoming commerce topic on economics, which can be a difficult topic for students. Hopefully, using some of these videos will simplify some of the concepts.

I also found that some of the videos not only could be played in the classroom, but I could use them to get ideas on how to go about teaching/explaining a topic to a class. For instance I watched a video on simplifying economic terms and they explained inflation and marginal benefit using the purchase of a tape and pizza. This could be easily replicated in the classroom!

Overall, I think this type of resource has enormous benefits for the classroom. My only concern is the time taken by teachers to set up such resources for the classroom. At the moment our school does not have such facilities in each class. To run such a session, a teacher would have to hire out the equipment from the library and take time out of lunch/recess/previous lesson to set up the equipment. However, soon our school will obtain the resources in each classroom to make using this technology more easily accessible. I am looking forward to the time when I can walk in the classroom and within seconds have a video up and running from the web and the students engaged.

Can't wait!

PS Here is a link to my favourite video from YouTube: Understanding the Financial Crisis for Kids