Education Week: Digitized Video Sources Are Increasing

In a recent Education Week article titled Advent of Digital Video Triggers Shifts in School Market by Andrew Trotter( Vol.27, Issue 12, Page 10)) video is referred to as a core resource that can clarify concepts for today’s media-oriented children and draw them into their lessons. I strongly agree.

The article goes on to mention that many video providers are beginning to provide their materials online which saves them from shipping hassels plus serves the ever growing number of customers who want to view video streamed over the Internet.

One provider mentioned---Hot Chalk in partnership with NBC News---opened an an educator-friendly archive, with two-to five-minute video vignettes drawn from 70 years of archival coverage, organized by curriculum topic and augmented with extensive curriculum-planning resources. Per the article there are close to 130,000 teachers registered for a free trial that will end in January. After the first of the year the service will cost $1,999 annually per high school and $1,499 per elementary or middle school.

Last year I used United Streaming for many of my video clips. The thing I liked about the use of the videos online is digitization makes it easier for the videos to be segmented. They can be viewed from beginning to end or particular clips can be shown that meet your standard’s requirement. Often during a lesson where I was introducing new content I would alternate between a video clip, the text, and a map I might have drawn on the board to keep the flow of content moving. United Streaming along with many other video companies provide the capability to search their site based on particular state standards.

Mr. Trotter’s article goes on to state that education video sites are now including competancies and concepts to go along with the standards, lesson plans, and calendar functions.

The one thing educators have to be wary of is the type of video sources they use and the time-tested advice regarding watching a video or a clip completely through before showing it to students still applies.

A few free sources mentioned in the article are:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Geographic downloadable podcasts
Videos from Wildscreen, a British charity based on Bristol.
TeacherTube is a site that provides classroom content and teacher-training resources

My articles regardings video use can be found here.
My article regarding a lesson involving Dr. King’s birthday using United Streaming can be found here.