When people first begin using the web it was mostly to seek out information and to ‘surf’ all the pages available on the web. Now, with web 2.0, anyone with access to the Internet has the availability to share his or her knowledge or comments via text, audio, or video.
YouTube is one of the most popular sites that allows people to share their personal videos with the world. I think that one reason YouTube is so popular is because of our desire for speedy information. Whether the information is educational or just a funny tid-bit, we want it fast and we want now. We can watch a 5 min video on a topic and then decide if we want to look into that topic further. Watching a video is much quicker, and requires much less effort than doing basic research.
Most of us are familiar with you tube and the educational potential it has. I was, however, a bit uneasy when I read the comment about the US having no shortage of teachers because of the educational information available on YouTube!! Are you kidding? YouTube videos aren’t screened for accuracy, the teacher who plans on using them has to do the screening. If students were trusted to use YouTube for learning they would leave with more pop-culture knowledge than anything else.
I love the idea of using YouTube to chronicle a journey or to share a lecture, like Fisch's Shift Happens, with people around the world. I have a friend who is currently traveling for two months across the Far East. She’s been posting her pictures on ShutterFly and using Skype to talk to family. I look forward to getting her picture links but after reading this chapter I wish she would be uploading video as well. I doubt I’ll ever get the chance to spend 2 months in China, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, ect. Who better to learn about this from that a friend who can share their experiences and stories at they experience them!? As for Wikipedia, I think it is a great tool to cure curiosity, but I still worry about the validity of the information. Since anyone can contribute you need to be very careful about monitoring when the information was added and by who, before you can truly trust anything. I guess the same goes for YouTube, and other Web 2.0 sites. Then again, what makes us think printed encyclopedias are so much more reliable than wikipedia? In a book I read last summer, a former contributor to World Book encyclopedia gave an interesting little endorsement for Wikipedia, which shows it may be just as reliable as anything else we use for research:
“Given how I cherished the World Book, one of my childhood dreams was to be a contributor. But it’s not like you can call World Book headquarters in Chicago and suggest yourself. The World Book has to find you.
A few years ago, believe it or not, the call finally came.
It turned out that somehow, my career up to that time had turned me into exactly the sort of expert that World Book felt comfortable badgering. They didn’t think I was the most important virtual reality expert in the world. That person was too busy for them to approach. But me, I was in that midrange level–just respectable enough . . . but not so famous that I’d turn them down.
“Would you like to write our new entry on virtual reality?” they asked.
I couldn’t tell them that I’d been waiting all my life for this call. All I could say was, “Yes, of course!” I wrote the entry. And I included a photo of my student Caitlin Kelleher wearing a virtual reality headset.
No editor ever questioned what I wrote, but I assume that’s the World Book way. They pick an expert and trust that the expert won’t abuse the privilege.
I have not bought the latest set of World Books. In fact, having been selected to be an author in the World Book, I now believe that Wikipedia is a perfectly fine source for your information, because I know what the quality control is for real encyclopedias. But sometimes when I’m in the library with the kids, I still can’t resist looking under “V” (“Virtual Reality” by yours truly) and letting them have a look.
– Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture, p41-42
Wow Whitney!
ReplyDeleteAwesome connection between the reading from this class and outside research. The professor of my EDU 521 class would have you in the "exceeds expectations" portion of her rubrics!
That's a crazy story and expands further on Bonk's question about Why do we trust encyclopedias? I guess I really didn't know what he had meant when I read that line for myself.
Furthermore, just to connect your comments from my posting to this one, we are definitely on the same page on this whole YouTube thing. I know the chapter had mentioned we could go on and essentially audit courses from Cal Berkley, and sure, that is nice to know, but to I actually see myself sitting down and voluntarily putting myself through it? No, not really, and I'm a "digital learner" pursuing a dual Master's degree... but then again, maybe that makes me unresourceful or plain naive?
Only time will tell, however I just can't picture some of my unpolished younger students attempting it either. However, there is one spot I can foresee myself utilizing a lecture like that in the future, and that would be in my future classroom. As far as preparing for my teaching career, especially as a first or second year teacher, I think i'll be eating my words and scouring for these video clips to help reinforce the lessons I am teaching.
~Jeff