#20: Hollywood, Bollywood, and Old Broadway

Not.

Actually, this Thing is about video, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll see your name in lights (except if you’re playing around with Flickr stuff), or strut down the red carpet for the Academy Awards in that gorgeous gown, or earn beaucoup bucks as the latest STAR. Don’t draft your acceptance speech just yet. Yup. We know you could’ve been a contender, but that’s not the point of this Thing!

The bad news is that PRINT has serious competition these days, and the really bad news is that the competition is winning. Just take a look at CNN.com. I have to really search for the news in text; the page is just riddled with those little camera icons, and much to my dismay, occasionally I see video as the default with a little link that says TEXT, as if it were some poor relation, somewhat shabby and out of date. Sniff, sniff.

So much for the bad news. The good news is that every day incredibly clever people are creating captivating video and uploading it to the web to share with us for free. And the REALLY great news is that many of these incredibly clever people are our students! Nudged on by good teachers, these students might be inspired to explain or demonstrate complex ideas in innovative ways that help other folks learn. If not, a lot of the video is just plain fun.

The point of this Thing is to find these videos, not create them (although your garden-variety cell phone or digital camera can do video these days). Techcrunch says there are two options for finding videos: raw or refined.

The granddaddy of all video-sharing sites is YouTube, but it's difficult to separate the wheat from the [umm] chaff. Luckily, YouTube enlists its users in ranking and rating the user-submitted videos. I found a minute about a yellow lab puppy uploaded by edpryan last October 26th on the first page of the Featured Videos. It has 4 1/2 stars and has been viewed more than 11,000 times. It's cute, but my Jack is just as cute -- just a bit bigger now :-)

If you're looking for user-developed "instructional videos," check out TeacherTube. I found this one-minute project from a Google Teacher Academy and "Technology Fear Factor in Education" by CoolCatTeacher Vicki Davis. Clever. [Just a few hints: The URLs for these videos are ginormous, but the links are available as a TinyURL built right into the page. Use that, especially if you want to email a link to a friend. Note that you can also embed a video player in your blog posts or in a web page.]

Then there are video search engines or video aggregators like blinkx, Google Video, AltaVista Video and Yahoo! Video. Note that many of these sites have "channels" or Advanced Search capabilities that allow you to restrict your searches to a particular kind of video, a specific source, or a topic. And HOT OFF THE PRESS -- on Wednesday, WeShow appeared, billing itself as a search tool to find "the best videos everywhere." Modest, aren't they? Or subscribe to Open Culture which keeps tabs on multimedia available free on the web that has (in their view) educational and cultural value.

Discovery Activity:

Explore a couple of video sites by looking at the Most Popular or Most Discussed videos. Or check out the Most Recent. Who knows what you'll find:

1. Using one of the video search engines or video aggregators, look for clips on both serious and not-so-serious topics. Don't forget to play as you explore!
   
2. Some sites allow you to subscribe to feeds for new videos or specific topics. Look around the pages for the familiar RSS icon or the word "Subscription."


3. Blog about what you find. Remember that you can embed a video player in your Blog post either by using the Edit HTML button or by using Blogger in Draft.

Isn't this fun? So much to discover, so little time!

#15: Thinking about "2.0-ness"

Listen to this podcast [1:58] ---> powered by ODEO

I'm sure some of you are just bursting at the seams with pent-up thoughts about "Web 2.0-ness" and its implications for teaching and learning. We've seen little hints of exasperation or confusion in some of the blog posts, and we find them very exciting! Recognizing that we haven't explored some major tools yet, like wikis, podcasts, videos, and online productivity tools, maybe it's time to reflect a bit.


Discovery Activity

Thing #15 asks you to blog about one or two key issues about 2.0-ness and education. What's bugging you? You can use any of the tools we've introduced so far to find blogs on Web 2.0 or learning 2.0, but here are a couple of interesting items:

• A thread at Britannica Blog beginning in June, 2007 initiated by Michael Gorman in the Web 2.0 forum


• Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning? By Bryan Alexander published in EDUCAUSE Review in April, 2006
  
• Pay Attention from TeacherTube or the more raucous Technoloy Fear Factor in Education by Vicki A. Davis (CoolCatTeacher)

Or perhaps you've used del.icio.us or Technorati to find some key discussions in your discipline. What are the Web 2.0 issues in learning in the sciences, or mathematics, or literature or for librarians? Is there a difference between Web 2.0 issues in college and in secondary schools?

Don't forget to use links in your blog post to those others who have sparked your thinking. For example, rather than just adding a comment to Alissa's post on collective intelligence or to Veronica's on School 2.0, why not buld from their ideas in a post of your own?

So much to think about . . . so little time!

#7 Blog about Technology

For this thing, just blog about any interesting technology you've used, seen, been exposed to or heard mention of. Also, please comment on some else's blog entry.



I used SitePal to create this animated speaking character (using a limited free trial) and asked my daughter to provide the audio. [As of July 17, this link has been deactivated due to the end of the free trial!]

#4: Sharing your blog

Listen to this podcast [3:56] ---> powered by ODEO

The last activity this week is to share your blog with the rest of us. The easiest way to do this is to write a comment right below this entry and tell us about your new blog. (If you login to make your comment, your name should link to your blog.) Then we'll add it to the blogroll to the left. If your blog already appears in the list on the left, we've already found it!

Then read the blog entries others have written. You might find ideas that get you thinking in a totally new direction. If so, you can write another blog entry! Can you see how entries and comments and links build upon each other in this read/write web?

If you're confused, that's okay too. It's part of learning, sometimes an important part. Write about confusion!

But most of all, play around and have fun!

#3: Creating a blog

Listen to this podcast [5:41]--> powered by ODEO

Now that you've explored this blog and thought a bit about learning, it's time to really get started. Blogging isn't just about reading. It's really about writing.

Creating a blog using Blogger* takes just three easy steps:

1. Create an account
2. Name your blog
3. Select your template.

Once you’ve created your blog, here are two important things to note:

To add posts: The maintenance interface that you will use to add posts, edit or change the step-up your blog is accessed online at http://www.blogger.com Be sure to write down your login and password. (Remember? That was part of the first thing last week!)

To view your blog: Your blog address is http://(xxxx).blogspot.com, (xxxx)=the unique identifier you entered in Step 2. Be sure to also write down your blog address.

OK -- Now, it’s your turn...

Discovery Exercise:

1 -- Set up a blog for yourself through Blogger.

2 -- Add a test post or two. Then write an entry about the 7 and 1/2 lifelong learning habits, especially which one is easiest and hardest for you & why.

3 -- Have fun!!!!

If you're an early bird and have already completed this step, write another entry about learning. It's a great topic because we can explore it from so many different perspectives.

* Use of Blogger is only a recommendation. If there is another blog hosting site that you are more comfortable with, please feel free to use it.