Thing # 19: Web 2.0 Awards Lists

I already know a few 1st place award winners from this list and have tried them out in this class: Flickr, Pbwiki, and Delicious. So, I figured I'd try You Tube.

What is special about this tool is that it is actual videos. From all of the "Things" for this class, the part that was always most helpful to me was viewing the videos. There is something about listening to a person and watching them or what they are demonstrating. It must have something to do with the brain. I know the videos really helped me to learn what I needed to do on these activities. I am sure my students would also appreciate them. I will want to make the teachers in my school aware of the fact that You Tube exists and it can be used in their classes in several ways to help students understand many different concepts.

Just like in Library2Play, videos were embedded in the blog. Teachers could do this with some videos. The safest thing to do is contact the creator and ask their permission to do so, stating the audience and purpose. Teachers could also just provide the You Tube video link to students and have them enter on their computers at home to view the video through the You Tube Web site.
I have had several professors do this in my classes, and I enjoyed watching those videos as well. It is such a great way to learn, and so enjoyable. It feels like you are almost doing something fun when you get to view a video about what you are learning in a university class. And usually, there are videos that fit whatever topic you are doing in a class. It is amazing how many topics there are.

In my own setting, which will soon be a library, I hope to use You Tube to teach teachers about the Web 2.0 tools they can use to plan their lessons and to teach their students. They could watch a video about Flickr, Pbwikis, or Delicious. I loved all of the "in plain English" videos we have gotten to watch in this Library2Play part of the class. They really helped me understand what each tool was about, and how to do it. I know teachers would enjoy learning about tools this way. It makes it so much less daunting. I look forward to trying these things out with my teachers. I know they will appreciate it. And if anything is going to open their minds up to using Web 2.0 tools, these You Tube and other videos will.