Simply a beefed up filmstrip?

All of us remember sitting in class watching a filmstrip as a monotone voice described a picture that was projected onto a screen at the front of the room. Embedded in our minds are the beeps that signaled it was time to roll the strip to a new frame. Are videosharing sites simply a more advanced version of the filmstrip we loved to hate as students? Or, are they much more?

Videosharing sites can provide students and teachers with many more interactive learning opportunities than tradition methods allow. Here are some of the advantages that I see in using videosharing sites:
1. Teachers have a wealth of information at their disposal on any topic. Many of these videos are extremely professional in their creation and are better done than I could create on my own. Why reinvent the wheel?

2. Sites such as TeacherTube and YouTube are a great resource for teachers that may not have access to certain teaching materials. In particular, as a former science teacher, I found many chemistry demonstrations that I used to show a particular type of reaction that I could not show using chemicals located in my school.

3. Videosharing sites have many great clips that could be used for professional development when speakers are unavailable, funds to go to conferences are limited, or teachers are teaching in remote locations. I have used these sites for my own professional growth. As a new elementary teacher, I am nervous about certain elements of our division's balanced literacy program. Using TeacherTube, I was able to view teachers teaching a guided reading lesson and was able to see how one teacher used a think aloud strategy in her classroom. This was a great, quick and easy way to familiarize myself with some key concepts without having to attend a conference or read lengthy books.

4. Students not only are consumers of videos but they can become contributors by creating and uploading their own videos based upon a curricular topic. Students can use videosharing websites as a means to display their new found knowledge of a topic. They could become "experts" in a field and using a videosharing site would be able to share their video with the world. Viewers of the video would be able to comment on the student's work. This would provide them with authentic feedback in a timely manner. Classrooms could create partnerships with other students in different schools and share information via video uploads. The possibilities are truly endless.

5. Students are able to receive daily, if not hourly updates on current "hot" topics by using videosharing sites. Michael Wesch states on his YouTube video An Introduction to the Anthropology of YouTube that 9000 hours of video are uploaded to Youtube everyday.
History teachers can provide students with up to date information on the world's events. In fact, politicians are now using sites such as YouTube as a way to campaign during election times.

There are, however, some considerations to consider when trying to use videosharing in your classroom.
1. Many school divisions have blocked videosharing sites from their school computers. While concerns about students viewing questionable content are legitimate, this is a bit like throwing the baby out with the bath water. If this is the case in your division, Joyce Valezna offers seven ways to get around your school's block of videosharing sites. Many of these are very simple to use. One site she suggested that I found helpful was to use Kick YouTube to easily convert your YouTube clips to a usable format. All you do to use this service load the address of your favorite YouTube clip and then place the work kick before youtube in the address. So simple!

2. It takes time to search and find meaningful video clips. Because there is so much information posted on videosharing sites, it can be difficult for time-pressed teachers to sort through the thousands of potential video clips available for a given topic. My advice...start small. Use videosharing sites to search for one topic at a time. Create a playlist of videos for each topic so you have several to choose from.

3. School can often be graveyards for old or obsolete computer hardware. Our school, for example, does not have what I would call "cutting edge" technology. In an attempt to save money, we purchase old refurbished equipment or receive free equipment from our province's crown corporations. Needless to say, there can be many frustrations experienced by both teachers and students alike as they try to edit and upload videos with computers that are 10 plus years old. As a result, many students have resorted to doing what work they can at school and then finishing projects using their home computers. There are many free video editing applications that students can download at home.

Videosharing is here to stay. In fact, its popularity will only grow. Students are now uploading clips of every aspect of their lives. As teachers, we need to embrace this technology, work with the limitations given to us, and see the full potential videosharing sites offer our students.