Journal #3

"Video in the Age of Participation" by Glenn Bull.

In this article Glenn Bull points out how popular video clips on the Web have become. He claims that more than 65,000 video clips are uploaded every day and the fact that Youtube sold for over 1 billion dollars reinforces his statement. He admits that teachers have Incorporated video in the class room before but now it is easier and more efficient. Bull lists PBS with its NOVA science programs and the National Geographic Society as two pioneers in this. PBS allows its shows to be viewed online while National Geographic has live feeds to areas of interest, one such as this is a watering hole in Botswana. Even though teachers have taken the initiative to include video in the classroom there have been few to no standards addresses this issue. The discovery Education unitedstreaming Web site has made things easier by connecting certain video clips to explicit curricular objectives.
Another advancement of late is the Discovery Educators Network (DEN) which allows for students and teachers with the capabilities to edit and remix licensed unitedstreaming content. This can only be accessed by those whose districts that join but if one is in such a district all have access. Bull sees this as the start of something that could spread nation wide. There is also more video sharing then ever before and with diligence may be able to bring such technology into every classroom.

Question 1: If standards were to be made who would make them and would this not create more money and attention going outside of the classroom? There is a chance that this would cause problems at first but anything new has to progress and this new technology is no different. If their is a trickle effect from the district still allowing teachers ample room for making decisions, teachers would be able to still custom plan their lesson plans. This may cost money but everything does and in time, once the kinks are worked out, it would have been more then worth the time and money.

Question 2: What kind of safeguards would be installed to ensure that only beneficial information entered the classroom? If only certain companies such as PBS, or National Geographic are accessed only educational material would enter the classroom. These decisions would have to be left in the teachers best interest and responsibility should also be with the4 teacher to ensure appropriate material.