Post #2 (videosharing): So, Who Really is the Teacher Here...?

So, who really is the teacher here...?

Apparently, thanks to rapid ascent of videosharing r/evolution the answer(s) has become quite clear: Everyone. Including that guy in Hong Kong who can explain differential calculus using the limit laws so clearly in a three minute YouTube clip.

Former journalist, publisher, and founder of TED, Chris Anderson, coined the phrase Crowd Accelerated Innovation during his latest TED talk. Anderson deftly demonstrates how videosharing can empower each person to become a teacher. The video is nineteen minutes, but if you really want to truly understand the revolutionizing power of videosharing...go ahead, I can wait.

My intent is to highlight a couple of points of interest from Anderson's talk (in bold) in an attempt demonstrate how the use of videosharing relates and intertwines among my personal and professional practices

1. The idea of Crowd Accelerated Innovation...

AS A LIFELONG LEARNER. Humans are at their best when they are inspired and motivated by a like-minded community. The idea of videosharing offers the opportunity for specific groups to share and learn. From throwing a stone in curling to how to put an alligator to sleep to the famous Did You Know 4.0 video and OK Go's This Too Shall Pass (with nearly 19 000 000 views!) it is hard to deny how easy learning and sharing has become. With the prospect that students can/do leverage videosharing for any assignment, teach their classmates, and develop a mastery of chosen topics it is obvious that learning (and education) as we know will be changed forever.

AS A TEACHER-LIBRARIAN. Instead of just showing book trailers on YouTube, I have begun a mission to create one a week (inspired by Joanne and my fellow EDES501 gang this summer!) and post them to the library website. The feedback from audiences have been encouraging as well as our teachers have begun to promote Animoto for slideshows among their students. Bye-bye PowerPoint. This form accelerated innovation has reached to the educational sphere and well as the personal.

IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR GRANDMA
DISCUSSION OF THE VIDEOSHARING IN MY OWN PERSONAL LIFE AND LEARNING

[Thanks to print] the world’s ambitious innovators and influencers now could get their ideas to spread far and wide. But now, in the blink of the eye, the game has changed again...what Gutenberg did for writing, online video can do for face to face communication...that primal medium to which our brains are wired, just went global...

AS A PARENT. I recognize the groundswell needing to come from education's biggest shareholders: our students. At the same time do teachers actively promote and model the possibilities videosharing and other digital tools?  As a parent, I expect that my children will have options to explore and demonstrate mastery learning. I do not expect them to write a four-page paper. I expect them to possess skills to reflect and communicate using a variety of methods: write an informal blog post on a piece of writing that moves them; create, edit, and share a video that demonstrates a degree of mastery of a specific subject; write, record, and share a podcast upon reflection of the book they are reading. I expect them to be given choices to share. I expect their teachers to lead by example.

AS PART OF MY PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORK. Videosharing may be one of the most powerful tools we have as part of our personal learning networks. From YouTube to TeacherTube to BlipTV, real simple syndication feeds offer me the chance to view motivational and informational video and video clips (Richardson, 2010). In the twenty-first century it should no longer be acceptable to opt out of continual and meaningful professional learning and development. Videosharing resources are a important part of one's PLN. More and more educators are developing their own PLN, and soon the day will arrive that any educator without an active PLN would be considered guilty of dereliction of professional duty. But why wait?

Reading and writing are actually relatively recent inventions. Face to face communication has been fine-tuned by millions of years of evolution . . . This is the connective tissue of the human super-organism in action.

AS A PROMOTIONAL TOOL. The creation of the our own school YouTube channel, LVRCinema, has been a tremendous success. With both school-wide and classroom activities recorded and posted to the channel students and parents (current and prospective) have first hand accounts of learning in the classroom, the climate of the school, the sense of community, and what it is that we do to support student achievement. With over twenty-five clips uploaded, over 800 combined views, and a handful of subscribers to the channel, it is obvious that this videosharing endeavour has proven well worth its weight in gold.
AS PART OF MY PLN. I have to think more about the idea of creating a "connective tissue", but shades of New York University New Media program teacher and lecturer, Clay Shirky, are evident in what Anderson is saying. They connect to both threads in Shirky's (2006) Here Comes Everybody (especially Chapter 3: Everybody is a Media Outlet) and his latest book Cognitive Surplus. I see great potential for videosharing and social communication within our PLNs and with our socially connected classrooms. Kist (2009) offers many suggestions for socially networking your classroom and one of the most powerful tools for 'teaching in the new media age' is videosharing.

We can't stop learning at age twenty-one...

AS PART OF FAMILY. The notion of lifelong learner continues to gather steam in educational circles as governments begin to mandate a change of direction (not without pitfalls and the like!). Videosharing has become an enormous part of this trend with hundreds of videosharing sites, the access to information, skills, knowledge, and learning is...well, limitless. With over 20 000 000 hours of video uploaded every day to YouTube (Richardson, 2010) what's stopping anyone from learning into our twilight years? My grandmother, at age 92 and an avid Toronto Blue Jays fan since day one, has been researching how to watch all the games live. Apparently, she has explored UStream. Imagine my shock when my mother shared that information with me last spring. Holy c@*p! That's totally cool, Grandma O! You're totally cool!

AS A PARENT. Recently, our childrens' Sunday morning phone conversations with Grandma and Grandpa just became even more personal. The addition of Skype to the 'conversation' has drastically changed the dynamics. And, I must admit that was speechless when my mother suggested last spring that "we should start Skyping" with the boys! Holy c@*p (again!)! Mom, you rock, too!

AS A TEACHER. As an educator in the twenty-first century, I feel obligated to practice what we collectively preach in our classes: learning is important; you're never too old to learn; you can teach an old dog new tricks. I am continually astounded as senior (and master ) teachers refuse to develop a PLN and model lifelong learning. Even their steadfast refusal to utilize TeacherTube, Learn360, and even YouTube, as complementary resources in their classes is simply astounding. I'm not sure of their fears or trepidation; no doubt we can help to alight those worries.

DISRUPTING CLASS
DISCUSSION OF THE VIDEO SHARING IN MY TEACHING AND LEARNING

Talented students don't have to have their potential and dreams written out of history by their lousy teachers...they can sit two feet in front of the world's finest...

AS A STUDENT. Videosharing has afforded me a tremendous opportunity to learn without a having to spend hundreds on travel, fees, and materials. I have often doubted whether paying $500 a course is even worth it in the advent of PLNs. I think that with so many opportunities to meet other TLs via social networks like Ning and Google groups, I wonder what post-secondary programs will need to do in order to keep themselves relevant. After only four years as a teacher-librarian, my PLN has been my 'teacher-librarian education' system. Many high-calibre post-secondary institutions have gotten into the videosharing realm: M.I.Ts open courseware, University of Berkley's webcast courses, and the Khan Academy offer alternatives to standard classroom learning.

AS A TEACHER. While I don't completely agree with Anderson's assertion above, I do think that the essence of what he says is paramount. And I do prefer: "For the first time in human history talented learners don't have to have their potential and their dreams written out of history by lousy circumstances." Videosharing is a self-fueling cycle in which we can all participate (I recommend watching the last two minutes of Anderson's talk). What better way to learn than to create and teach others? Demonstrate your mastery. Create a video to help others to learn. As producer for our live-to-air LVTV school broadcast channel--LVTV--I witness first hand the power that student-created videos have on the school community. The insightful articulation of an event that mere words alone could never capture. The recent documentation of our pep rally and subsequent school-wide participation in the 30th annual Terry Fox Run was a powerful message to the school about coming together (I had hoped to be able to share the Terry Fox clip created by production students, unfortunately, at this time it is not ready.).

AS A SCHOOL LEADER. In Disrupting Class Christensen, Johnson & Horn (2008) are somewhat prophetic insisting that while education systems, as a whole, are resistant to change, the changes that do/will arise and are endemic and originate from external forces like YouTube, Google, and Twitter and the groups of people utilizing them to share, connect, and learn; obviously, the answers that arise will be from beyond/out the education system. It is imperative that school leaders and department heads recognize the trend towards external forces as change agents. I plan to continue to 'disrupt class' as I now have a seat at the school leadership table. Let the revolution begin...

By 2014, 90% of content [on the Internet] will be video...

AS A TEACHER-LIBRARIAN. The effectiveness of video is the perfect fit for our brains. We are wired to best utilize information and content contained in video. Whether it's creating book trailers to promote new arrivals to the library or making video using Jing screen-capture technology on 'how to use digital databases' or even how to created an MLA works cited page, videosharing (in conjunction with screen-capturing) is a tool that must be leveraged by the twenty-first century teacher-librarian. Also, the money-saving feature of web-based videosharing services has helped libraries with struggling budgets to move away from purchasing expensive DVD formats which often become dated to mostly current and relevant resources (note: a similar movement began eight or nine years ago as the Internet and web-based knowledge forced teacher-librarians to make decisions which included have reducing non-fiction budgets and reallocated them to digital databases including video databases like Learn360). If the numbers are right, by 2029, no one under 13 will even know what a DVD is (Did You Know 4.0)...wow!

You have to show your stuff to the world...radical openness...

AS A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY TEACHER. Radical. Openness. Is there anything more unlike what most schools/classrooms look like today? And do we think programs like Race to the Top in the United States or the Assessment for Learning movement in Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, are going to make things more open, more collaborative? Or less? We are being dragged by the brutal force of 'technological progress'; and this is happening whether educational systems are ready or not. In his book, Disrupting Class, Clayton Christensen (2008) recognizes the need for external forces to play the agents of change by personalizing and, therefore, revolutionizing learning. Bring it on!

We’re a social species. We spark off one another.

AS A TEACHER-LIBRARIAN. Oy. Back to the drawing board for my library orientation class. I have to do better. I need to inspire and be inspired by both my colleagues and students. What learning is has definitely changed. The idea of education has changed. Children in the poorest places on Earth can learn in the absence of a formal teacher/guide. Sugata Mitra has shown the power of the Internet and how self-fueled cycle of learning is significant in 'child-driven education'. I need to evolve, and hopefully, inspire fellow colleagues. Every two weeks, I make it a habit to send video clips (especially learning-related TED talks) to my colleagues on faculty. And while only a handful actually open the email and view the video, the dialogue that occurs on the school Moodle is of the highest professional calibre. Kinda makes ya proud! To my pleasant surprise, the reverse has happened and fellow colleagues are to keen to share what they have found with the group. And although it is not exactly accelerated innovation in the truest sense, we are 'sparking off' of one another.

We watch 80 million hours of YouTube every day...Cisco predicts that in 4 years, more than 90% of the web will be video...

AS A TEACHER. Richardson (2010) recalls that more video has been uploaded to YouTube in the last two months than has been broadcast by ABC, NBC and CBS combined since ABC started broadcasting . . . in 1948. Videosharing has become the dominant medium for everyone from marketers to clerics. And yet, teachers as a whole, have not really caught fire with the power of videosharing. Sure, we're proud to view and show others Michael Wesch's famous digital ethnography videos created with his freshmen classes at Kansas State University. But how often do we give our own students the opportunity to create and share video productions? To demonstrate a mastery of learning in a meaningful way? A way that works for them. A way that allows them to utilize the tools and services that are available to them? To construct personal meaning through video? Teachers and the educational system of the 1900s can continue to quell the revolutions that occur within their classrooms (like banning cell phones) and schools, but it is the revolution outside the classroom that will be the true agent of change.

So, now, who's your teacher...?


References

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2010). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(9), 81. Retrieved from MasterFILE Premier database.

Christensen, C., Johnson, C., & Horn, M. (2008). Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Publishers.

Kist, W. (2009). The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the new media age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other powerful Web tools for classrooms, third edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. 

Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Shirky, C. (2010). Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Digital Age. New York, NY: Penguin Group.