Video is the new... everything.

After browsing through this weeks reading resources I began to think about how much online video I actually watch. From the video resources we have for our class, to German language tutorials I watch to better my language skills, to music videos and funny clips I am on the Internet a lot. A whole lot. As an educator I now use the Internet as a vast resource to find material including video clips that I can share with my students. The first article that intrigued me was the Educause article. We all want to make presentations for our students that keep their attention and will be memorable for them. This article uses the TED conference videos to show why these productions are so successful and interesting. The speakers are concise and too the point with what they want to convey to the audience. They use technology and screen sharing to show the audience what they are all about. I enjoy watching TED for these specific reasons. I am beginning to understand that if TED talks can use technology in this way, why cant my students?
Pew Internet reports that 71% of adults will use a video sharing site. And 92% of the people poled within the 18- 29 age bracket use these sites. It was almost startling to think how many people actually use these sites for entertainment, learning and communication. Of course we all know how great open learning can be especially the Open Course Ware system from MIT. Obviously the way our students acquire information is changing, I myself own a tablet and now read almost exclusively from it. The idea that learning with be only online was something I began to think about after reading Marc Parry's article about Alexandra Juhasz's book that is only available online and her technology only class. She had her students make videos instead of writing papers and had them watch online seminars and videos.   I have never really seen a class like this before. I believe the core idea behind all of these articles this week is that the video sharing world is an opportunity for our students to collaborate on a level that they never have before. The video projects that they can create can be shown all over the world and can start some pretty significant discussions.