OneAndOneIs2

Sometimes, there are advantages to being a geek.

Today was presentation day. I had to discuss effective ways of using video in schools, and half an hour to do it in.

So after asking about the existing experiences with videos in class observations, which went a lot better than expected, which was handy, I started with the obvious: Kids aren't too big on going home and reading a book, but they'll happily watch TV all evening - video is something they're already interested in. There's lots of science stuff in the news these days - climate change, nuclear things, etc. etc. and it's always good to relate the theory taught in the classroom with real life events, to make it seem relevant and worth knowing.

I went on to talk about how it can show things that you can't easily, or cheaply, or possibly demonstrate in a classroom. Volcanoes. Big explosions. Events that take place in the space of a second, or the space of a week. Events that are too small to be seen by the whole class at once time.

Here I used my first prop. I finally found a real, valid use for my infra-red webcam hack to highlight a way to use video devices to illustrate things that can't be seen with the naked eye. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, as I had only the minute or so before my presentation began to find out if I could USE this webcam or not, so I was quite proud of how I worked it in :o)

And I was quite surprised at how interested everybody was in it: Showing them the projector screen appearing blank because the image they were seeing wasn't infra-red, and pointing out how bright a blue flame was on the IR cam as compared to barely-visible to the naked eye, made for a really good example. So I was happy there.

I mentioned a few other things, and then went on to pointing out that as well as using videos that you as the teacher make or buy, you can get the pupils themselves making them for you. I dredged up some statistics about YouTube here: Over 100 million video views a day, over 65 thousand new videos added each day, over 70% of users aged 12-17.

Ergot the age range we're going to be teaching is the biggest sector of a MASSIVE video-making culture. So replace essays with videos as homework and you're laughing. And so are the kids.

Then I highlighted the huge advantages of ripping DVDs: To show them a one-minute clip of Blue Planet, I first went through the low-tech DVD method. Putting the disk in the machine, opening Windows Media Player, waiting for it to scroll past the copyright, navigating the menus to the correct episode, and fast-forwarding to the bit I wanted them to see.

Obviously, I spent more time getting the video to this point than I did playing the video.

Then I showed them the same bit of video, but this time it was ripped and embedded into the presentation. Instant playback of exactly the right bit.

Again, I was surprised at the interest in this idea. Because DVD ripping is something I'm well familiar with, I've always been aware of the possibility of extracting video from a disk and putting it somewhere more convenient. But it was new to my fellow students, so I fielded quite a few questions here as well.

And then I pointed out that they could answer all the questions I had posed about the video I had showed them, even though I had made no effort at all to make them pay attention to it - highlighting my point that video is a really useful tool for teaching, and ended by saying that video is inherently effective for teaching, there's no secret thing you need to do. There's just a few pitfalls you need to avoid to make sure you don't ruin it.

Seemed to go down pretty well, all things considered. I worried that I was talking (well, lecturing) too much, but the feedback was pretty good, so I guess I didn't.

Our presentations are all recorded, so if it ever makes it onto YouTube I'll give you the link ;o)