Week Eleven Reflection Question

Why is important to preview and evaluate videos?

It is important to preview all videos before they are show each year to your class. You should watch each one to make sure the information is relevant to your lesson, engaging, of good quality, and updated with relevant and accurate information. According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald, all videos should be tested in the environment it will be shown. For instance, if the video will be shown in the classroom, the teacher should play the video in the classroom it will be shown to the students in to determine if all students will be able to see the video and hear it. That means the teacher should move to all parts of the classroom to ensure the video can be seen and heard.
Teachers can use the guidance, provided by Lever-Duffy and McDonald on page 348. This helps you to ask questions about the video as you are watching. You have to make sure all aspects of the video will add to, enhance, and clarify your lesson. You have to make sure the video is of good quality and current. There is nothing worse than watching an educational video from the 1980s (well, there is) – students will immediately think they have nothing in common and cannot be relevant to them. The teacher should make sure the video is interesting and engaging.

What tools should you use to be sure a video is communicating the intended message to your students?
The teacher can use discussion grouping after the video and listen to ensure the intended message was received. The teacher can also stop a video throughout and ask key questions to make sure students are getting the intended message. Effectively evaluating the video should help you determine if the intended message should be obvious to the students.

What are alternative systems?
Alternative systems are simply different ways of delivering instruction than the traditional method. Alternative systems of delivering instruction are now referred to as Distance Learning. They are technology-enhanced approaches to students who are “separated from their teacher by time and/or location.” This approach uses technology, such as, email, Internet, Blackboard, blogs, discussion boards, etc.

How might they enhance traditional education?
The use of technology to enhance instructional delivery in a traditional setting can seem daunting to some teachers, but the positive outcomes for their students can be well worth the effort. Special education students with a visual impairment can benefit by using a computer monitor for a visual aid. Teachers can use the computer to show something they cannot physically show in the classroom, such as, an art gallery in New York. This approach will also help students see what the possibilities are and how they might be used when they get out into the workforce. I know in my previous employments I have had to know how to use teleconferencing and videoconferencing and had to learn it OJT, but that could be something easily used in the classroom. If students are at least exposed to technology maybe they won’t be as skittish in using it. For instance, suppose you know an expert in forensic science, but due to budget and time constraints the person is unable to actually come to your class. You could have a video conference with the expert and your class.