I also continue to advocate the use of tools like youtube over teachertube. Teachertube is fake. I realize it helps to subvert districts which block but it misses a real audience.
That's like saying the you shouldn't drink Pepsi because Coca-Cola was the original. Isn't it about personal preference? Sure YouTube serves a much wider audience, but TeacherTube has a niche of providing a place for educators to find/posts videos that are intended for educational use. TeacherTube does not miss a REAL audience, it is for a SPECIFIC audience. The fact that content filtering software does not block TeacherTube is a moot point.
There is a difference between "walled garden apps" and EduApps freely available on the Internet. For example, some people might say that we should be using Second Life while others might advocate Multiverse - which can be downloaded and run on a local server - blocked from use by outsiders. Multiverse is definitely a "walled garden". Do students get an idea of what to expect from virtual environments though? Absolutely. Do they get a full experience by interacting with people from around the world? Depends on how the Multiverse is set-up, but probably not. However, both applications have value and should be explored for educational uses.
And what about MOODLE? MOODLE has wikis, forums, chats, etc. built in, but they are typically located behind some sort of username/password. My district locks our MOODLE to our students and faculty - does that make it FAKE? I mean, just because the apps are not available to the general public, are they not worthwhile? Does it not support teaching and learning and provide students with authentic learning experiences?
So what's my point? EduApps have a valid role in teaching and learning. We should evaluate them just like we would mainstream applications and apply them as most appropriate for our students, in our schools, and within our communities (both physical and virtual). We should utilize technologies as they become available because we are preparing students jobs that haven't been created yet (paraphrased comment of Richard Riley - also see Did You Know?). How do we know what they are going to need to know? The only thing we can do is prepare them for a lifetime of learning.
Transparency: I work in the same school district as the creators of TeacherTube and while I do support their efforts, I support the efforts of all people creating new Web 2.0 applications.
5 comments:
Brian,
I should clarify what I mean by fake. I would argue that if the advent of teacher tube was to provide a place to post educational content then fine. The problem I have is that if it is used to post things with the intent of a global audience, I'd say it's second rate perhaps not fake but certainly not where the kids hang out or share videos.
How many kids use teachertube? Their preferred choice to search and post videos is youtube so if you really want your students to have an audience, why not use they tools/services they use. Why kid ourselves and students by posting work to teachertube when only teachers and those schools who block youtube would ever go. It's like having kids perform a play in a classroom when just down the hall is a theatre that seats 1000 people that might show up if they knew there was a performance.
That's what a mean by fake. Eduapps might be find for educators because they offer a niche but to think that students will see them as reasonable alternatives to apps they are already using....I doubt it.
Its hard to say what apps will become the "IN" thing but I think I have to agree with you - certain EduApps are for teachers to share information within the educational society - to think that they would ever compete or even the replace mainstream apps used by millions is unreasonable.
Thanks Brian for forcing me to clarify. I certainly have nothing against teachertube but like many things, we try use apps and ideas like using a hammer to do all our construction work.
Interesting choice of words...the creator of TeacherTube likes to say something similar - (paraphrased) "We must make sure that we have the proper tools in our instruction tool kit, because if we only have a hammer, we treat every kid like a nail - and they are not all nails."
Thanks for your reminders, guys. They make sense.
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