Let's use video (and the internet) to reinvent education

Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.

One Idea on How to Fix Our Broken K-12 Educational System

I found the following idea from http://www.ideasforourfuture.com/ pretty interesting and wondered what others think (It is listed under TOPIC 4). I recommend reading and discussing the pros and cons of the other ideas on the site as well with your peers, colleagues, and classmates. These would be great problems to tackle in our schools.

This problem deals with the question "How can we Fix Our Broken K-12 Educational System?" PROPOSED ANSWER: Recruit Our Top Teachers and Produce EXCITING World-Class Lessons on Video and use them in both the online and face to face classrooms of the world.

Big Ideas:

• The idea starts as an ingenious new reality TV show, selecting the absolute best K-12 teachers (for every grade and every subject) in the USA.
• the winning teachers (one for every grade & every subject) will be professionally video recorded in their actual home classrooms for one entire school year
• The half-hour videos, one for each class period, will give the home classroom teacher equal time per hour to introduce, pause the show, elicit classroom comment and answer questions. The videos won’t be a "threat" to the home teachers; rather, CS will relieve them of having to insure required material is presented, as well as relieving them of having to prepare their daily lessons.
• In-class teachers will be inspired by the excellent teaching examples and by the possibility of someday becoming celebrity teachers themselves.
• CS videos will be universally available (i would add online) for take-home use (repetitive viewing is crucial) and for family entertainment.
• CS will bring top quality education to the poorest urban ghetto schools and the tiniest country schools all over the country. They will be made available to prison inmates to view (and finally get a quality education) rather than watching ordinary TV or video games. The videos are a natural for the internet and will also be shown on dedicated CS TV channels as "edu-tainment", similar to Nova, Cosmos, Discovery & the History Channel (but much more exciting to watch).

What do you think about this idea? Pros and Cons? Why haven't we leveraged our best teachers in the world in such a systemic and organized way?

Did You Know 4.0

This is another official update to the original "Shift Happens" video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://mediaconvergence.economist.com and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com.

The Social Media Revolution and the Tower

This short video is worth 5 minutes of your time. It accurately captures the revolution that is social media. The desire to connect, to know, and to be known seems hardwired into our DNA as humans. Social media facilitates those connections. Does anyone else see an eerie similarity between the social media revolution and the Tower of Babel revolution, which took place thousands of years ago? What motivates our collective desire for connectedness? What motivates your desire to be connected? hmmmmmm

Now something funny - Microsoft's Vision of the Future (Parody)

Do you spend a lot of time thinking seriously about what the future will look like. Take a few minutes and have a laugh at this parody of Microsoft's vision for the future.
*Some implied swearing but nothing audible (its beeped)

YouTube EDU Brings Free Education to the Masses

Learning: YouTube EDU Brings Free Education to the Masses

YouTube has just released a new sub-site called YouTube EDU, aggregating thousands of free lectures from over a hundred universities across the country, including MIT, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and oh-so-many more.

Very Cool BGSU Blackboard Video Tutorial Resource

My team at BGSU developed the following cool resource for the university, which was highlighted by the Ohio Learning Network today - check it out - http://www.oln.org/rss/rotd.php?id=269

20 Tech Habits to Improve Your Life

I found this article to be helpful and thought you would too. I especially thought that the hulu tv service was pretty neat. You can watch movies such as Jumanji, Liar Liar, and other big time movies and tv shows for free online. Maybe another good reason to chuck the expensive cable plan in favor of online media. I think hulu is a foreshadow of where tv is heading into the future. Again, hulu is just one tech tool mentioned in this article so there is plenty more where that came from. Check it out...

PC World - 20 Tech Habits to Improve Your Life

Technology is supposed to make life easier, but it doesn't seem that way when you're struggling to wrangle 289 new e-mail messages, dealing with a hard-drive crash, or suddenly realizing that you left an important file on the office computer. Thankfully, plenty of tools can help. We'll tell you which ones are worth trying, and we'll also suggest some practices that you can incorporate into your workday to use tech tools more effectively and efficiently.

Medieval Technology -

I know this vid has been around for a while, but it is pretty funny and worth sharing. Enjoy!

Unleashing The Tribe: small passionate communities

"Here's where we are now" on what makes communities tick online,
on mobile, in face-to-face settings, and why understanding this is so
important for learning"

edublogs: Unleashing The Tribe: small passionate communities

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Looking into oovoo for video chat and conferencing

I am downloading oovoo as I write this blog post from scribefire. I am a fan of skype so I am curious to see how oovoo compares. As a person constantly on the hunt for the best educational technology to enhance distance learning, I look forward to checking it out. A few things I am looking for include, ease of use, set-up, functionality, and how seamlessly it can be integrated into an LMS. Group work is a big deal at the university and if oovoo makes it easy for a group to have a free video conference online, then that would be helpful. Currently Skype only allows 1 to 1 video chatting and a 10 person audio only conference call feature.

From the website:

Free Video Chat and Video Conferencing from ooVoo

ooVoo is the next evolution in online communication — a remarkably easy way to have a face-to-face video chat with friends, family or colleagues, no matter where they are in the world.

ooVoo Video Chat is remarkably easy to use: easy to download, easy to install, and best of all:
it's FREE!

[screenshot of oovoo]

'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

Take a break and watch this funny clip!


'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

Voices of Learning Video

This is video from some of the "voices of learning" at the Learning events in Orlando, and contains some solid nuggets of information regarding the application of technology to enhance learning, retention, and production.

Did you know 2.0 video

This is a great video that reveals the changes that the information revolution is having on the world. How is your university or institution adapting to these changes?

Check out Jing

This is a post about the new product Jing. It is free right now so if you've ever wanted a free screen recorder, now is the time to check it out. As an instructional designer or online instructor, screen recordings are priceless and Jing just made it that much easier. In a very short amount of time, I can capture, upload, and share what I've captured in seconds. Click the following link [http://screencast.com/t/4kaZjJnl61]to see how it works, then go to http://www.jingproject.com/ to check it out yourself.

If you want to embed Jing in a website or blog, it appears you should keep the screen recording size under 640X480 since unlike YouTube videos, it doesn't automatically resize the whole recording.

BGSU Online shout out

I wanted to share this video testimonial about Becky Tirabassi's experience as a distance learning student at Bowling Green State University. I am the Assistant Director of Distance Education at the university so if anyone has questions about our program, feel free to contact me or visit our site:

Blogs in Plain English

Anyone looking for a good video to explain to others why blogging is so powerful. Check this one out by the folks at the Common Craft Show.

Web 2.0 and Your Own Learning and Development

Here is a good informational video by my friend, Stephen Downes, about how Web 2.0 supports interaction, usability and relevance in online learning. After watching the video, go to the discussion board for discussion. Discuss Web 2.0 and Your Own Learning and Development

All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

This Video is hilarious! Take a break and have a laugh at our techno crazy world.

Wikis in Plain English

I really enjoyed the video these guys did earlier on RSS in Plain English. They are back with another really easy to understand video on Wikis. This is nice because I have recently incorporated the use of a wiki in my BGSU Online Faculty Training Program so instructors can get familiar with using a wiki. I like their description of why they created this video, "We made this video because wiki web sites are easy to use, but hard to describe. We hope to turn you on to a better way to plan a camping trip, or create the next Wikipedia" Enjoy the video--