Video archive
A Blueprint for 21st Century Engagement
This week, PBS Teachers rolled out its curricular guide for the 2008 election. It offers teachers a range of online tools created by the public broadcasting community to encourage civic engagement, embracing social media with each lesson plan....
Teaching Jeff Corwin a Lesson Through Student Video Blogging
What do you do when you notice a TV personality could use a bit of help speaking Spanish? For a group of South Carolina sixth graders, the answer is to create a video blog and offer up some language lessons...
One Story, 50 Tools, Infinite Possibilities
Educator Alan Levine has proven the adage that there’s more than one side to every story by demonstrating 50 multimedia techniques to present the same tale. The result is an extraordinary collection of online creativity tools, with demonstrations of how...
Infectious Enthusiasm at PodCamp EDU
The PodCamp EDU podcasting teach-in held this past weekend in Washington DC was one of the most fun, energetic edtech events I’ve ever attended. I hope it’s the first of many PodCamp EDUs to come, because the collective enthusiasm generated...
Social Media vs. Social Diseases
A group of nonprofit reproductive health organizations has launched a video blogging contest that challenges young people to talk about their experiences with sex education in the classroom, or their lack of it. The results are a collection of frank...
Overcoming Media Illiteracy among Media Literacy Educators
Now I know I have a habit of examining a lot of research reports in this blog. Yeah, I realize I overdo it sometimes. Today, though, please bear with me, as there’s a new report that examines what I believe...
Ten Questions for Presidential Candidates, Including One of Yours?
Move over YouTube debates, now for something meatier! A coalition of blogs and news organizations is using Web 2.0 tools to create another exciting experiment in interactive presidential debates. It might even be a chance for your students to pose...
YouTube 101 - Yes, It’s a Real Class
It’s one thing to use YouTube videos as reference tools in class, but what about teaching an entire course on YouTube? One educator is taking a crack at it this semester, and everyone seems to have an opinion about it...
The YouTube Debate: Shining More Light on Schools, Filters and the Digital Divide
You’ve probably noticed I’ve been harping lately on the relationship between the digital divide, civic participation and Internet filters. Thanks to this week’s YouTube presidential debate, others have been talking about the issue as well....
Do Internet Filters Undermine the Teaching of 21st Century Citizenship?
We all know that Internet filtering policies have the best interest of students in mind. But what are we sacrificing when we don’t allow educators to override filters at their own professional discretion? It’s something I’ve asked myself over the...
It’s Never Too Early for Student-Generated Political Videos
With the election kicking into high gear, there’s no doubt we’ll see some interesting uses of student-generated content in the classroom over the coming school year. But that doesn’t mean that some students aren’t getting a head start....
Getting Out the Message on Online Safety
I’ve often heard from educators and parents that there’s a lack of powerful messaging out there to help students understand the impact of cyberbullying and online safety in general. While it may sometimes seem like that’s the case, there are...
Will Schools Take Advantage of Online Political Video During the Election?
At the Personal Democracy Forum taking place today in New York City, participants are talking about open access to political videos online, particularly candidate statements and debate materials. The public is ready to utilize this treasure trove of civic educational...
Cardboard Camcorders Take Playground by Storm!
There’s a short video floating around the Net right now telling the story about a school where all the students started to make toy cameras out of cardboard and pretended to film each other, YouTube-style. It paints a fascinating, and...
Achieving a Consensus on Fair Use and Media Literacy
As more teachers began teaching students how to produce video and other multimedia content, the specter of copyright looms large. That’s why the Center for Social Media is trying to spread the gospel on fair use - and help develop...
The Student Becomes the Spy Master
A video of a recent tasering incident by a police officer against a college student gets posted on YouTube and creates a public outcry. With more and more students having access to camera phones, how do you balance maintaining discipline...
Should Educators Encourage Online Student Political Activism?
Earlier today I had the opportunity to speak at a forum hosted by George Washington University on the impact of online social networks in politics. It was the last place I expected to be talking about teachers and media literacy,...
Back to School: Five Predictions and a Waffle
It’s that time of year, kids - we’re going back to school. (Okay, I’m not going back to school, but millions of educators and students are, so there’s a good chance this applies to you.) In honor of the start...
Encouraging Student Creativity with Creative Commons
I’m often amazed by the lack of discussion in education technology circles about copyright. Sure, people talk about it occasionally, but given the increasing number of young people (read: millions of them) uploading their own content to the Internet, it...
City Voices, City Visions
Last week I had the opportunity to attend an education technology institute at WNED public television in Buffalo, New York. The purpose of my trip was to deliver a conference keynote, but I feel I got the better end out...
