And Now for a Little Comic Relief

There is simply way too much out there to discover, so instead of facing overload, I turn to humour. Web and L.I. Brary offers a fun skit for library use versus using the Internet. This is a take-off on a popular ad series, is a library infomercial, and was originally created for a community college library. Enjoy:)

The Journey of Movement is a Continuous Act

To do research on who and where to start with in this provocative presentation world of learning by interacting with videos is in itself overwhelming. It certainly is the next step in the right direction to the boring old teaching lessons of the past. Let's look at some of the steps involved in adding a video clip to a blog.

The addition of videos onto a blog should be an easy undertaking according to the initial hits you get when searching for the how-to's. My journey has not been as successful as this would suggest. One suggestion to use YouTube clips is to download the program RealPlayerCafe.com but as you try to do this, there is an error message saying it cannot be completed. Try again - it could be a glitch in the system - no luck.

Move onto Plan B. What do other servers suggest? As I try TeacherTube, I get their selection of videos, not even the choice I was requesting - even after creating an account. I really wanted to include the clips themselves and not just URL links. If I am unsuccessful in simply downloading a video clip - I hate to think what's involved in creating my own and uploading it -how & to where? Some sites require you to change the file type to an mp4 version. I have never even downloaded music onto an mp3 player and now I'm to tackle mp4? OK here goes. I bring up the KeepVid webpage to download a clip - just copy and paste the URL of the chosen video and it will automatically convert it for you - so they say. The URL is selected and I choose download and make some choices about how and where to save. Now let's see if it works. Ok, I've tried it an of course there is an error uploading the video clips - so I will have to revert and try an alternate route. Sorry this isn't turning out the way I wanted; it's just part of this huge learning curve.

Of course there'll be other problems too - it figures. I can't hyperlink my articles either so now I have to learn HTML and write some programming so I can add active links. Sorry about the video clips being imbedded into the text - that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Travel, books, food - what's next, humour?

The Best Way to Travel is In Your Own Home

How can I go places I'd love to go to and still be comfortable? I've got it - I can travel to places through books, I can experience what it is like in other countries through books, I can choose where to go beforehand through books. I can't possibly read that many books, so I went to YouTube for some inspiration about viewing books. An awesome idea is to videoshare book talks. RMS Library Media Centre has a great collection to share. Here are a few examples. Another example to obtain more of a technological connection is the Skeleton Creek book trailer. This one has a great connection with books and technology. This video introduces us to the book component to read as well as an online version to follow. What will they think of next? Other inspirational ideas can be found in Video Tools & Sharing, some of the ways in which I will be able to incorporate video clips in my environment are through: share student work (with permission of course and only using first names or pseudonyms), use video clips in presentations, teach creative commons licensing, staff pro-d on applications, teach research skills, share this technology, create and share library orientation videos, create and provide tutorials and share videos about how to do research. I'm sure more applications will arise with aggregate use.

If a Picture can say a Thousand Words, How Does a Video Clip Compare?

Pictures get you thinking without words. Videos are auditory words but still can get you thinking. The images can conjure up any number of thoughts and are very powerful. These powerful learning tools/videos can be found on many servers including: YouTube, TeacherTube, SchoolTube, and SlideShare (sort of) just to name a few. Videos have so much more impact on the learning environment than any one teacher can provide - so why not use them? Dr. Joyce Valenza will even be incorporating them onto her wiki Video Pathfinder. She also makes suggestions as to how to access YouTube at school where it is blocked in many schools including mine. In the article When YouTube is Blocked, it offers solutions for access at school. Option 4 seems to work well; in the URL, you add the word kick between the www. and youtube.com. and voila, the same page comes up. I'll be using this trick at school and sharing it with my colleagues. Some questions to grapple with: Should I share the unblocking with students? What are the pros and cons if I do this? There is a reason YouTube has been blocked at the school level. Am I willing to be challenged on allowing access should problems arise? Am I enforcing a filter on intellectual freedom for the students if I don't? As I researched the accessibility such sites, I found an article Everybody Else Is Doing It! by Mary Ann Bell where she states "so many people...are up against considerable odds in their efforts to access Web 2.0 sites, I think it is an understatement to say that many educators have a lot of convincing to do" to allow for interaction on Web 2.0. We need to take a stand and band together to create change. Is this some indication that education is slow to change?