Nicola Pallitt PhD (Media Studies) Centre for Educational Technology University of Cape Town Google in Education Summit SA 26 September 2013 Children as ‘produsers’: YouTube for Schools & learner-generated videos

YouTube & schools Many schools restrict learners’ access to video Issues: bandwidth + inappropriate content Challenge: students have access on smartphones, easy to use a proxy to bypass network restrictions Recent ‘bad press’: High School students in San Diego suspended for Twerking video 15 year old arrested for YouTube videos of phone app superimposing a gun over video, making a video of a mock shootout at school

YouTube for Schools Allows schools to access educational videos from Khan Academy, Standford, TED, etc Focus is on school-appropriate content – learners can only watch YouTube EDU videos & those added by the school Videos confined to the school’s network Access video playlists created by other teachers Focus is more on consuming existing ‘elite’ content than on producing own videos American bias? Need for local content in SA

YouTube for Schools Move towards teachers and learners as ‘produsers’ Produser = hybrid user/producer Replacing traditional production/consumption models. "the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in the pursuit of further improvement" (Axel Bruns, 2007). Prosumer = hybrid producer/consumer Implication for edu: A shift in pedagogic paradigms (Bruns et al., 2007)

YouTube for Schools Parents are weary of YouTube and need to be informed about YouTube for Schools Teachers scaffold social media literacies & responsible social media use in the process of setting a video assignment Great place to teach learners about copyright and ethical issues, such as informed consent (for High School) Foster sense of community, empowering Peers educating one another through video & engaging in group work

YouTube for Schools Free video editing tools: Windows Live Movie Maker, iMovie for Apple User-friendly, easy drag-and-drop logic Video cameras easily accessible - basic digital camera or smartphone Teacher can upload their own & learner-produced videos to YouTube for Schools If you wish to use learners’ videos on a school website or outside of the network, seek parental & other consent

Windows Live Movie Maker

Video projects… History: interview people about what life was like during apartheid & balance with research Geography & Biology: Video is good for explaining processes like climatology & plant growth English: learners divide into groups and perform key parts of a play or novel, video about parts of speech Maths: Students can explain and solve problems in their own words & languages … and much, much more! Can you think of some?

Project timeline Allow enough time for planning, video, editing: Week 1: Pre-Production (Research & Planning) Week 2: Production (Shooting on Location) Week 3: Post Production (Editing) Week 4: Written Report and Premiere

Assessing learners’ videos Have the learners addressed the topic? Are they using a range of media to tell a story? Does the video suggest evidence of good planning? Like an essay, a video has a beginning, middle and end & each has a function: Beginning: Does the student introduce or frame the topic effectively? Is the topic or question of the video clear from the start? Is the viewer being drawn in? Middle: Does the middle of the video elaborate on the topic by using a combination of images, sound, video and text to support the argument presented in the introduction to the story? End: Does the viewer have a sense that the topic has been concluded or a question answered? Are there credits acknowledging interviewees, photographers, etc?

Issues to consider… Introducing popular cultural activities into the classroom comes with challenges Learners associate the medium with virality/humour/spectacle and have to be taught about the ‘educational video’ genre Like a school essay, learners use video to tell a story Need to have an explicit brief, encourage learners to work together to plan and storyboard their videos

Here’s an OER to get going We hope you find this guide useful & would love to hear more about your student video projects & experiences with YouTube for Schools. Nicola: