Is TeacherTube a Bad Idea?

I'm experimenting with posting directly from diigo -- I've annotated and highlighted from the original post from my friend Shmuly Tennenhaus.

My friend Smuly is a youtube expert -- he's been on many nightly news programs and in newspapers (see the New York Times article on him.) I'm still turning over the thoughts from his blog post that he shared.. he has made a few good points that I had to go back to teacherTube to see.

We have to use teachertube on horizon because it is the only video sharing service that is unblocked in all of our schools. We are cross posting to youtube for those schools that allow youtube access.

SchoolFinder Blog » YouTube Versus TeacherTube Annotated

My notes:

• He has been cited multiple times for his videos and has been on more news tv shows than i can count. He does know video! - post by coolcatteacher


• Many schools do block it for bandwidth reasons. - post by coolcatteacher

Some highlights from the article:

"Video-sharing can be very useful in the classroom. And many schools do block access to sites like YouTube...

This is more than just semantics. If the name of the site makes ME cringe, how will it ever appeal to a teenager who shops at Abercrombie and has Timbaland streaming from her iPod?...

For example, maybe YouTube can make an education domain that does not have access to the rest of the site. Google would like to be a player in the education space. As would Yahoo. And Microsoft....

3) TeacherTube is ad-supported. (Yup; I am not sponsoring the site!) The ads unfortunately are anti-education!

a) University of Phoenix Online is all over the place. Yes; they are into education etc. Here are the FACTS: UOP overall graduation rate is 16%. The national average is 55%. And University of Phoenix Online? Their graduation rate is 4%! Ouch.

b) Check out the screen shot of TeacherTube. That’s an ad for a get rich scheme site. Check them out. The landing page has a guy without his shirt on. The guy does have nice pecs. Still, I doubt schools would be excited with the association."

This leaves me wondering, we've got to give some method of making money to these businesses. If educators aren't paying for a service then the business either has to: 1) sell it to us or 2) sell it to advertisers, or option 3) Sell upgraded services to educators.

There are costs involved.

The rule about free stuff: there is no such thing as free stuff!

I'm thankful for companies such as wikispaces who give us great service for free. I also like that schools can purchase upgraded services from them.

I think that companies that serve educators need to take a long hard look at what they do. My honest opinion: Google Adsense and education just don't mix. Period.

Contextual advertising will often give innappropriate options for students to BUY term papers, or "date sexy women in Qatar" (the ad that almost killed flat classroom when at the time Ning was google adsense loaded.)

We just need to think about it educators. It is free but is it the right thing?

We should consider what we're doing. I don't have answers and I'm not saying run away from TeacherTube which I've supported from the beginning. I am saying that I think it is time to evolve and think about some of this.


(Oh and this blogging from Diigo thing is cool.)

tag: Diigo, Ning, Godtube, Teachertube, youtube, Shmuel Tennenhaus, digital storytelling, education, teaching

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I love this kindergarten video as students envision if they were president

This is your inspiration for today! Whether you are from the US or not, this video does two powerful things: 1) It helps the kids envision themselves as making a difference and 2) it puts things in perspective for us.

I have a renewed sense of what is important. What do you think?

tag: education, teaching, digitalstorytelling

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Favorite Inspirational Youtube Clips and Youtube in Education

I know this is a promotion for the new Indiana Jones Movie, but I love the quote at the end:

Indiana Jones' son "You're a teacher."

Indiana: "Part time."

(hat tip to basler on twitter) The romanticized part of me wants to think that there are a lot of us out here who teach and then do really exciting things on the side. And I could talk about that.

But really, I'm just excited about a really cool movie! Actually, the Indiana Jones movies and Star Wars movies got me through college. When I would study for 18 hours a day, I would put these on my trusty VCR and play them in the background so I wouldn't have a pity party about having to study so much at Georgia Tech.

These movies are an anchor for me. They are part of who I am. Maybe this is why I love to use movie clips to teach. Some of my favorite clips are:

Samwise Gamgee's speech from Lord of the Rings -


Yoda and Luke Training

"Try not. Do or do not. There is no try."

I tell this to my students. Often, some of them, when they miss a paper or forget homework, they say, "I'll try." I've found that this is part of their excuse to not do something. "I'll try" usually means, "Mrs. Vicki, I'm saying this to get you off my back, I'll do it later when I feel like it."

Goal Setting
I use this with my students. My boys particularly respond to this from LouHoltz. It is a little long, but it is amazing. I feel the same way as Lou. I've had some horribly low points as well. I usually just use the first 3 minutes, the audio is a bit off after the initial opening clip.



A Clip from the movie about Ghandi


We discuss freedom and the importance of speaking out for what is right. I love that movie!

Albert Einstein explaining E=mc(squared)



The point of this movie is that Einstein explained simply a very complex formula in a 57 second movie clip. If my students and I who pursue academics cannot explain things simply to someone not in our field, then we are limiting our effectiveness. The art of communications is paramount and being able to communicate and simplify is often the mark of those who are pivotal in their field and indeed break out of their field to influence all humanity.

Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech" -- the full version



A Call for Youtube to Do the Right Thing for Education

I have a point for this epic posting of video (and I could go on, I just pulled some of my favorites.)

1) Youtube has some great resources.

2) Youtube has valid educational uses.

3) With a rating system (G, PG, PG-13) or even an E rating for education, we could allow this great resource through our filters and filter by rating, not completely blocking the site. Now, we have no choice and many of you have to go home to read this blog post because you cannot see the videos.

4) Humans are deeply influenced by video, particularly those with an emotional anchor in their past. I used a disparate listing of video in the hopes that each of us would find one video that really pulls at our heart.

5) The effective use of video can give us breakthrough moments with our students. I most often find that the use of video has the greatest impact on my student writing of anything. If I can get them emotionally engaged, I can teach the importance of voice.

6) Youtube is something I use a lot in my classroom. Every 20 minutes I like to change the pace to keep attention and focus. (I find youtube second only to unitedstreaming -- my favorite for educational videos and documentaries -- however it is a pay service.)

Youtube will become Dead Tube for Educators if they don't wake up
Although youtube is one of my most useful tools, it is also one which I curse under my breath several times a week because it requires my visual attention to the screen of my students if they get off task.

Sometimes, I block youtube when it is a distraction and I just need to get my work done.

But youtube could solve this problem -- they could allow people to self rate and then crowdsource the authenticity of those ratings.

Right now, youtube has the most videos and as much as I'd love to use teachertube.com. However, copyright issues and issues such as these continue to plague them. Since they have been bought by Google, they have not shown the responsiveness to these issues.

I agree with edutopia's take with youtube... right now

"You get What you Look For."

And therein lies the problem with youtube, doesn't it?

Speak out!
Speak out about your thoughts on youtube in education. Perhaps if enough edubloggers say something about it, they will begin to listen.

I think that often once edubloggers talk about something that they feel that they've covered it. This is not true! Effective companies are perusing technorati and google to see what people are saying right now!

So, edubloggers. What do you think we should do about youtube in education?

tag: youtube, education, learning

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