You Tube and "Banned"width...Frustration from the converted!

Videosharing week would be so much better if we were allowed to share videos freely in our school district. Unfortunately this is not the case.

Reflections on the process of learning about videosharing

Akin to Flickr YouTube was fun to learn although I must admit more time consuming. Much like the rest of the "connected" world I was already familiar with YouTube and the idea of video sharing but I had never attempted to upload a video to the site nor had I been a member, although I had previously watched many videos on YouTube. Well now I am a member and I've posted my first ever video called Videosharing Guru (see below)...although I'm not a Guru at all as outlined in the video. I like the search feature which always brings up amazing results if only too many. One instance is the "How to" videos. My wife has been teaching our daughter to knit and our daughter asked me to help her tie the yarn on the needle to get her started...I have no idea how to knit so...YouTube! Sure enough I now know how to cast on and have found a great site for introductory knitting from the video. I also like the ability to link videos directly from YouTube to my blog (or is that vice-versa?) and the fact that you can at least in a limited way customize the appearance of the video on your personal blog. I chose to put two videos on this blog to demonstrate that I found and can use the customize feature and present the second video now...



...this second video I made at a site that I discovered from the first...such is the "hyperlink" - does anyone else even refer to them as that anymore? - world that takes one idea or concept and leads to the next and so on...

There are some other features that are available on YouTube which I explored and thought were worthy of mention...the "Share" feature which allows one to share in any number of ways including a link to put into email or instant messaging or you can put an email address and YouTube sends it for you... the "Related Videos" section also is norteworthy because it instantly gives you videos with similar tags and can help explore a concept or idea more fully. One example of this was the number of "Confederation" projects completed by students...my favourite features "Johnny Mac" for our first Prime Minister...of coure the quality of some are better than others and this leads me to the amount of time it takes to find good videos in the sea of average ones.

An important note on learning about the tool is that I had to limit my time and try to stay focused on learning about YouTube as opposed to watching videos which I ended up doing a number of times...this is important because my students are also likely to let one video lead to the next and "stray" off task. As a Social Networking site ( SNS) YouTube is similar to Flickr, but for me at least I don't see myself becoming an active member. I will address this further in the next section on my Personal Learning.

You Tube and My Own Personal Learning

I use YouTube all the time personally. From guitar lessons to home improvements I have watched videos to learn a vast array of different skills. The number of videos is expanding at a tremendous pace and I have always been able to find a video that is helpful...one example is learning how to make dovetail joints in woodworking...I bought a new jig and tried to follow the instructions that came with it, but found that frustrating...Solution? YouTube! The Porter Cable jig I have was featured in a video which helped me see what I couldn't get from the instructions...very helpful! From this same video there were the "Related Videos" section and I spent some time following the trail of videos and going to different websites exploring more ideas of joinery and cabinetry related to bbut quite far from my original search.

The video at the top of this blog was found on YouTube...I searched for YOUtube banned in schools and it came up and led me to the site where I made my own video...this type of personal learning is a great benefit of YouTube.

YouTube and Teaching and Learning

Really in my school district this is a moot point as we do not have access to YouTube as it is blocked at the district level... having said that I see the great potential for the use of YouTube in education...students who are away could watch parts of lessons that were recorded and uploaded by teachers (many already exist and it does not have to be me presenting to my class for instance but rather I could link a particular Math concept video on my homework page)...visual learners can watch videos and learn in their best way...videos are a great way for students to demonstrate their knowledge in creative ways...the main thing for teachers to do is to lobbytheir districts to get access to YouTube so it can be used as a resource and as a presentation tool...my first video demonstrated that some districts allow access to schools and only the principal need sto be lobbied...others like my own district need to be lobbied at the School Board level...we need to let these boards know that although YouTube does have the reputation of "anyone can publish anything" we also need to change their way of "protecting" the children by avoiding potentially harmful sites to educating our children as Will Richardson writes "wouldn't it be better to teach students how to deal with less-than-salient content that they see when they get home?"

Photo Sharing Makes Me Want to Scream!

The Big A having fun!
Originally uploaded by ToddEDES501Student

...sometimes with joy other times through frustration!

Reflections on the process of learning about the tool

The first and most important point about learning about photo sharing is that it is definitely an ongoing process. There are so many features on these sites it is mind-boggling if not overwhelming at times. Here is an example... I have created two blog posts this week each one originating from a photosharing program...this one from Flickr and the previous one titled "Picasa photo sharing Part 1" from Picasa. On the Picasa upload I mentioned how cool it was to be able to press a button, "Blog This!", and be on my blog as it was part of the Google suite of products, well it turns out you can do virtually the same thing with Flickr...the key difference is the joy I had with Picasa was replaced with the frustration I felt with Flickr...I stumbled upon the Flickr "Blog This" button and thought "Cool!" so I pressed it and it took me to a screen that said I had to set up permissions with Google by logging into my account...which I did, this part was easy and seamless; it lead me right to a login screen and then returned me to Flickr where it gave me some layout options for the post I was creating...still cool, still seamless...then it dumped me onto a "you have now set up your blog account successfully" page and I had no idea how to get back to my picture or the "Blog This" button...I spent some time trying to retrace my steps throught the maze of hyperlinks until I again stumbled upon the correct way to "Blog This!" Now it is as seamless or at least apparently so to me as the link from Picasa. However this process took me a little over half of an hour.:(

Time was saved however as the learning of uploading and manipulating images is very easy on Flickr. The picture that I experimented with was easily placed on the map for "Geotagging" which is one of many ways that the photos can be categorized and organized. Placing photos into sets is a simple drag and drop and there is a sets tab at the top of the Organize and Create page that allows easy access to the sets that you have created and has a button to create new sets.

All of these features are intuitive for those people who have spent some time on the web and dare I say that they are easily learned. (Of course except when you are taken for a good ride then left on the curb ...I suspect that is Flickr's way of punishing me for using Google's Blogger for my blog!:)

I have purposefully left out any details regarding the social aspect of Flickr as I have yet to explore this area in any great detail, however, Davies & Merchant in Web 2.0 for Schools discuss the social implications for learning in some detail. Specifically they explore how tags can be used to find others with similar interests and use Merchant's Padlock example to indicate how you can "accidentally" become the member of an affinity group due to the content of your pictures or the tags related to them.

Photosharing in terms of my own personal learning

I see a great deal of potential for photosharing in many facets of my personal learning...from making new contacts to finding out (visually or through social interaction with others) about the places and things that are displayed in the millions of photographs on Flickr...Here is one example that I stumbled upon...while editing my picture on Flickr I noticed that under the heading "Addition Information" it labelled the camera that I took the photo with and that it was a hyperlink...so naturally being assigned to explore photosharing I followed the link... it gave me reviews of the camera, a graph of the use of the camera on Flickr and offered that I could "explore *istDL content" meaning look at pictures that others who own a camera the same as mine took...this could lead to social interaction to discuss technical questions with people who purchased the same camera...

Photosharing in Terms of Teaching and Learning

Will Richardson in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms(BWPOPWTC) outlines many uses for Flickr across a broad range of curricular areas. He includes vitual field trips, dissections using the labelling feature, geography when linked with Google Earth (although Flickr has its own map, but without the views -satellite, streetview, that Google offers), story starters, photo stories...the list really is endless and is dependent only upon the creativity of the user.

As a teacher and a teacher librarian I can't wait to put some of these ideas into my teaching... but first a technical point...my district's technology department is quite good in terms of having relatively up to date computers and such but I think I will need to use Flickr instead of Picasa because Picasa is a download and it will take some persuasion to get it included in the data sets which are downloaded to each of the work stations on our network...having said that I liked how Picasa found every picture that was on my computer and made them into an easy to use directory...much easier than the Kodak "EASY"share software which is also a downloaded program. So although I liked many of the features and the look of Picasa I think I'll use Flickr for the time being as we access it through the web without having to download a program to our workstations....photos can be stimulating for many students who are reluctant to engage texts. The textual work that accompanies the interaction with photos may seem less daunting for these types of students and can include sorting, tagging and observation type assignments. Certainly there are cons to using Flickr in a classroom setting...not all content on the site will be appropriate for school-aged children and parents would need to know what steps you have taken as a professional educator to deal with photos that students may encounter... Will Richardson(BWPOPWTC p.100) sums up this by placing the onus on the teacher to "take the time to become familiarwith the potentials and the risks of Flickr before you bring it into your clasroom, and make time to convey your expectations and teach appropriate use of the site to your students."

Picasa Photo Sharing Part 1...

This is a great feature...Picasa has a Blog This! button right in it that just happens to be connected to my Blog...makes me glad that I chose to use Blogger and that it is part of the Google Suite (Sweet)! So adding a picture to a Blog is seamless...The crop, edit and red eye were all awesome too...more in my formal Blog for EDES501! That's all for now!

On the second day...

Well it is day two of this course and I have printed and placed in a binder the assignment outlines, discussion questions, course schedule and reading list. Now I will embark on getting started on Twitter and an RSS feed...(I'm thinking Google Reader because I have a Google account for Blogger, but I'll see how that goes!) Then it seems that I have a lot of Blogs that I will have to subscribe to as well! Better get going!

..and in the beginning...

Well this is my blog for our course...I will be busy putting up pictures and making the space my own so I am going to do these things today I think!