Emerging Technology 3: Youtube

It seems like I am committing heresy suggesting that youtube can be used in classroom for educational purposes. But how canone not look at this technology and not realize the huge potential for learning. Many students, if not most, can use youtube much better than their teachers, but we as educators seem afraid of it. There are undoubtedly dangers that exist with it. The comments section comes to mind immediately. Even given the dangers, It is too valuable a resource to block and ignore. Our students use it everyday, we must utilize it towards their education.

Having students make youtube videos on a specific topic makes traditional research papers seem very boring and outdated. I have students do research papers on a founding father, next year this will change to a youtube video.The research will still be done, sources will still be cited, even e-notecards can be taken. All the elements of the research will be there, but with a product they can present, share, and post. This will gain much interest and will produce a product that the students will be proud of. I can also envision students taking two sides of an issue and debating it on a video. This could take many forms. The students could each have five minutes to present their arguments, or they could go back and forth-responding to each others points. The possibilities are endless.

An even simpler use of youtube is simply watching the videos. The education side of youtube has an ever expanding list of videos on virtually any subject. I use this some today, but have always been afraid of the obvious danger and stigma of youtube.

In the social studies classroom, our subject is a big as the universe and everything in it. If we are to teach our students even a little bit of what is out there we must not be afraid to use every tool at our disposal.

Emerging Technology 2: Photo Editing - Picnik

In a history class, the challenge is always how to make the past come alive. We all know what that means when we visit historic places or listen to a speaker with first-hand knowledge of an historical event. The problem with teaching history in the classroom is the limits of the school building and the walls of the classroom. One way to overcome these obstacles is through the use of pictures.

With the use of photo editing sites like Picnik, a class could compile pictures of historical places, people, or things and create a class project. Individual students could use family vacation photos to make a display for the class to view. This would be a great activity for younger grades as a digital "What I did for summer vacation." I could see a geneology tree being done with the use of Picnik.

I am going to try this year to begin to make a library of pictures on Picnik for use in my history and geography classroom. I will ask teachers and other staff members to share their historical photos and photos of the world. After tagging these photos and organizing them I will have the students put together a class poster the last week of school. Stay tuned