STREAMING VIDEO
CAROLYN BLACK
NEW
With the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act and the reality of bored students, teachers are finding they must find a balance between common practice and meeting the needs of students who have multimedia centers in the homes or bedrooms.
They can surf the internet, listen to music, watch TV, and play video games and more. Children come to school with a different set of experiences and expectations and are unhappy with the industrial age approach to education being used. (Brooks-Young, May 2005)
Students in a survey by the NWREL collaborative think classroom instruction would be better of teachers would vary their instructional methods and use more creativity. Suggestions included fewer lectures, less whole class instruction and more time for active learning. Digital video can be used to address these suggestions by offering students a media-rich classroom environment using a medium students know and enjoy. (Brooks-Young, May 2005)
According to the U.S. Education Department, the use of video streaming can help accomplish the following National Educational Technology goals:
1. All students will have access to information technology in their classrooms, schools, communities and homes.
2. All teachers will use technology effectively to help students achieve high academic standards.
3. All students will have technology and information skills.
4. Research and evaluation will improve the next generation of technology applications for teaching and learning.
5.
Digital content and networked applications will
transform teaching and learning. (
Once concern teachers have voiced is the time it takes to prepare
Interne based lessons. In addition to shared lessons, more student
projects and cooperative learning activities that are student centered can be
developed. (Millenoff, 2000) I found that there are various forms of
electronic lesson planners involving Internet content available to assist
teachers. United Streaming does have a
tool to help teachers with lesson planning.
The Institute for Teaching Through Technology and Innovative Practices
in
An independent study by The Center of Applied Research in Educational Technology gave its highest ranking to United Streaming. CARET’s new study, which examined third and eighth grade science and social studies classes in Virginia suggests that video-on-demand is effective because it leads to more attentive – and therefore, more knowledgeable and higher achieving students. The study also concludes that multimedia presentations are more effective than traditional lectures in increasing students’ interest and curiosity. Video streaming is also effective in reaching students of different learning styles.
(Meg McCaffrey April 2003)
In my two sophomore inclusion classes we read The Crucible in the first marking period. I am the Special Needs teacher in the classes. My SN students are generally visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. As a result, I use a multi-sensory approach as much as possible. When students can integrate knowledge from both verbal and visual representations, they find it easier to recall and apply it more easily. I try not to cover a large amount of material at one time. I do concentrate on imparting a strong understanding of concepts, in this case: setting, theme, and symbols. The hands on approach or Kinesthetic approach could be used if the student was researching United Streaming for a project or research paper. I didn’t have enough time to allow my classes to do that for these lessons.
Arthur Miller
wrote this play in response to his feelings about and experiences with Sen.
McCarthy and the Red Scare. I wanted my
students to understand this and that witch hunts don’t always have to do with
witches, but people’s feelings and opinions of other people. We introduced the play with a short clip
about Arthur Miller and his life and work from United Streaming. From this we were able to discuss witch
hunts, Communism and Sen. McCarthy. We
also showed the class a short clip about the Puritans so the students would
have some background about their life, society, religion and the tensions that
existed in
As we read the play, we showed short clips that matched the act we were reading. The students were asked to take notes of similarities and differences between the play and the film clips for class discussions and possible use in a future project.
When we completed reading the play, we asked our students to form small groups to research the other witch hunts that have occurred in history with each group giving writing a paper and giving a group presentation on their witch hunt.
The film clips really help to “chunk” information into pieces my students can handle. The regular students didn’t seem to have a problem and enjoyed the film strips just as my students did. I was able to pause the film strips to check for understanding, questions, or emphasize a point or concept. The clips can also be played again for students who require it. Absent students can be brought up date with class work with these film clips also.
I feel that one of the best things about using video streaming is that it is mobile! I teach six classes in six different classroom with three different subjects. As long as I have my laptop (or the room has a computer) and an LCD, I am ready to go. I didn’t have to make sure that another teacher(s) were using the film copies a TV and CD player to use. There weren’t any worries that I couldn’t get the film and equipment for the days or classes I needed them for. If I in a classroom without a computer or I am without my laptop, I have started downloading the video I used in this class to a DVD so it can be watched on a DVD player.
The assessments I used to see if I achieved the goals I set included a short quiz on the Pilgrims (from United Streaming), a journal entry on the Red Scare/witch hunt. We also held discussions with specific questions about content for the students.
As a closing, we used a short film clip on what effect the Salem Witch Craft Trials had on the village and how the witch hunt hysteria ended. We asked our students to compare this with the research they had done on their witch hunts and write about how they ended and their effects on people and places.
My inclusion teacher was a really good sport about letting me “take over” the technology part of the class. He also seemed pleased as with the students’ attention and enthusiasm for the clips and projects as I was. The projects were his design but we were able to adapt them so the clips could be used. The grades for the projects, journals, research, and presentations were very good. 85% of the class received a B or better, 12 % received a passing grade and 2% received failing grades. (Figures are compliments of my inclusion teacher.)
Some things that we as teachers should be looking for in video on-line are short, self contained lessons with add-on activities and materials, a variety of subjects in all curriculum areas, content developed for the school market which will ensure appropriate content, and video in a format that allows the provider to continually add to or update videos to react to events.
RFERENCES
Brooks-Young, Susan. (2005) Video Streaming: Harnessing a Unique
Capability. Today’s School. May/June 2005 from http://www.peterli.com
Cattagni, E & E. Farris. (2001) Internet Access In Us Public Schools and
Classrooms:
1994-2000.
Statistics.
11/l4/05 from http://www.njcu.edu/guarini/database/Alpha.htm
McClanahan, Meg. (2003) Praise for Video Streaming. School Literacy. April
2003 from http://www.slj.com
Milttenoff, R. (2000) Integrating Streaming Video into Web Based Learning: A
Modular Approach. Syllabus. August 2000. Retrieved from on 11/14/05 from http://www.njcu.edu/guarini/database/Alpha.htm
Prawer, Mark. (2005) Video Streaming for Schools. Today’s Schools, May/June
2005 from http://www.peterli.com