The (unstoppable) progression of IT

One from YouTube on the progression of information technology, researched (and presumably created) by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Bronman, and which I picked up in my RSS feed for Tyson William's superb blog.

Does it worry you, as a teacher -- and as a person? You might show it to you learners, and ask them.

"So what does it all mean?" it asks at the end. Apart from anything else, it means that -- as a teacher -- you can't just bury your head in the sand, not use technology and hope that it will go away. It won't. You don't have a choice any longer.

Sitcoms: consuming or creating?

Videoing on a mobile phone: making it less intimidating than a video camera

More from the very excellent TeachingEnglish.org.uk, this time on exploiting sitcoms...

A lesson...
Besides the likelihood that your learners are going to just love them, there is an awful lot of language you can get out of sitcoms, as the article on building a lesson around a sitcom suggests. When it comes to choosing a sitcom, my own suggestion would be that you don't choose it, but that your learners do. What they already watch (perhaps in their own language) and can tell you about is likely to be more popular than something you pick (unless it's Fawlty Towers, which is always a success!)

An activity...
There is also a Sitcom information activity, which includes a photocopiable worksheet with a gap fill exercise.

I've got my doubts about this one -- not so much about the activity itself as about whether or not that is the way we should be using technology. Photocopying exercises is one use we could make of technology -- the photocopier being part of technology -- but it has the students merely consuming, not creating.

The activity suggests the learners then go to YouTube and watch a clip of one of the sitcoms mentioned in the text; but that's merely consuming too.

If you get your learners to watch and create listening comprehension questions for each other, instead of merely watching, then you've got greater engagement, not merely entertainment.

Actually creating a sitcom...
A third idea on the same site involves actually creating a sitcom; now that's more like it!

I'd suggest that, in this last case, you really want to get your learners to video it -- that's creating, not merely consuming.

To get round the problem of people not wanting to be filmed, you might try filming on mobile phones first, as they appear less intrusive; and always remember that no one should be forced to act but that, if they don't want to, there are other roles such as directing and the actual filming that can engage all the members of a group... You could also record audio only, not video.

My experience of such things is people's inhibitions tend to drop, when they see what fun it can be.

VideoJug: a cool alternative to YouTube

Halloween? Kissing? Halo 3 Tips...? The "How to" video is on VideoJug

My colleague Carolyn Edwards has just told me about VideoJug.com. It's not quite YouTube but has stacks of "How to" videos on it.

As a lesson, you could probably get a lot of mileage out of asking your learners before watching "How to" go about a particular task; get them to make notes of the stages involved; then watch and, while watching, get them to tick in their notes which are mentioned in the video -- giving you student-generated, ready-made, photocopy-free listening comprehension questions.

As a follow-up, assuming you have access to a video camera (or video-equipped mobile phones), get them in groups to (first) storyboard a video of their own and (then) film it.

Your films could then be uploaded on to VideoJug or YouTube, and/or embedded on a class blog.

Not so sure the Love&Sex section is somewhere you want to take your (young) learners (like "Creative Kissing" or the hilarious Avoid Trapped Arm Whilst Cuddling In Bed) but with adults there lots of fun stuff there, and in the site's other sections.

Oh, and don't miss the Halloween videos...

Blogging, Storytelling, Video links

Two great sets of links, both of which came from recent additions to Larry Ferlazzo's amazing collection of links:

• Using Blogs to Promote Authentic Learning in the Classroom
• Digital Storytelling

Note also this link, which I discovered by exploring from the second of the above:

• Video in the classroom

How should you use technology in the classroom? Your learners should create things with it. It shouldn't just be you finding and printing stuff for them, or displaying it to them on an interactive whiteboard.

Make your learners creators of content, not merely consumers...

I don't remember who first said that, or where I heard it -- but that's the secret of using technology I believe.

Video storytelling

An article, from the excellent techlearning.com, on using the video in the classroom to get kids to tell stories.

Working with kids who were doing poorly, the author says that:

"... rather than have students silently read essays and short stories, I asked them to read the works in front of the class. Before long I couldn"t get them to stop. This simple act made a huge difference to them. It turned reading into performing"

More ideas on using video in the classroom from the also excellent teachingenglish.org.uk.