Video Sharing

Video can be “a powerful educational and motivational tool” (Duffy, 2008, p. 124). In more traditional, behaviorist classrooms, video can be used by the teacher during direct instruction to enhance and supplement the content being presented to the class. As well, instructors striving to accommodate the varied Multiple Intelligences of students in their classroom may use video clips to assist those students with visual/spatial intelligence (Kagan & Kagan, 1998, p. 4.16).

When video sharing web sites are used to host student-generated videos, learning shifts from being teacher-centered and delivered, to being a more constructivist, student-centered learning environment. “Knowledge construction has become a key term in describing a more active student role in developing and creating their own knowledge” (Erstad, 2002, p. 429). YouTube and other web sharing sites offer students the opportunity to create learning communities, giving everyone an opportunity to contribute and have a voice. These learning communities, also known as communities of practice, consist of a group of students who come together to share their knowledge while working towards a common objective (Wenger, 2003). Value is given equally to both the content and the network of learners who discovered and shared the content (Duffy, 2008, p. 125). By engaging in the process of producing video that can be shared, students become aware that “knowledge is not constituted simply by individual effort, but collectively” (Lee, McLoughlin & Chan, 2008, p. 518). Social software tools such as web sharing allow students to become “active participant[s] as they construct a learning landscape rooted in social interaction, knowledge exchange, and optimum cognitive development with their peers” (Baird & Fisher, 2005, p. 24), thus supporting the community of practice learning theory.

Creating and posting student-generated videos also supports connectivist learning theory. “According to connectivism, knowledge is distributed across an information network and can be stored in a variety of digital formats” (Kop & Hill, 2008, p. 2). Connectivist learning theory further contends

the learning process is cyclical, in that learners will connect to a network to share and find new information, will modify their beliefs on the basis of new learning, and will then connect to a network to share these realizations and find new information once more. (Kop & Hill, 2008, p. 2)

Creating videos that can be converted into MP3 format and uploaded to video-sharing web sites allows students to contribute to information networks.


References

Baird, D., & Fisher, M. (2006). Neomillennial user experience design strategies: Utilizing social networking media to support always on learning styles. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 34(1), pp. 5-32.

Duffy, P. (2008). Engaging the YouTube – Google eyed generation: Strategies for using Web 2.0 in teaching and learning. Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 6(2), pp. 119 – 130.

Erstad, O. (2002). Norwegian students using digital artifacts in project-based learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18(4), pp. 427-437.

Kagan, S. & Kagan, M., (1999). Multiple intelligences: The complete MI book. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Cooperative Learning.

Kop, R., & Hill, A. (2008). Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past?. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(3), pp. 1-13.

Lee, M., McLoughlin, C., & Chan, A. (2008). Talk the talk: Learner-generated podcasts as catalysts for knowledge creation. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(3), pp. 501-521.

Wenger, E. (2003). Communities of practice and social learning systems. In Nicolini, D., Gherardi, S., & Yanow, D., Knowing in Organizations: A Practice-based Approach. New York: M.E. Sharpe.

Additional Readings on Video Sharing

Berg, J., Berquam, L., & Christoph, K. (2007). Social networking technologies: A poke for campus services. EDUCAUSE Review, 42(2), pp. 32-44. Retrieved February 12, 2009 from http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/SocialNetworkingTechnolog/40692.

Owen, M., Grant, L., Sayers, S. & Faceer, K. (2006). Opening education: Social software and learning. Bristol: Futurelab. Retrieved January 26, 2009 from http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications-reports-articles/opening-education-reports/Opening-Education-Report199.

Trier, J. (2007). Cool engagements with YouTube: Part 1. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(5), pp. 408-412.

Mullen, R., & Wedwick, L. (2008). Avoiding the digital abyss: Getting started in the classroom with YouTube, digital stories, and blogs. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 82, pp. 66-69.