When I was growing up, educational concepts like eLearning, virtual classrooms, learning management systems (LMSs), and Web 2.0 integration simply did not exist. We had computer class once a week, and then in our tweens AOL instant messaging was just becoming all the rage.
Technology for educational use wasn’t quite there yet for most of us 80’s babies. For example, the option of making a video for class project was always a touchy subject for some of us (like myself.)
I dreaded group projects in elementary, high school and middle school. If your group happened to include a student whose family owned a camcorder, you had it made. If not, there were always boring posters and other visuals you could make…but these weren’t quite as exciting.
Somehow, my group never included one of those hip students with no problems accessing video equipment. Though most middle-class families must have owned camcorders by then, mine did not, and it was always with a mix of gratitude (for sparing us another insufferable poster presentation), enjoyment and envy that I watched the video projects put together by my more high-tech, creative, and, well, usually generally better-off classmates.
Of course, in the fifteen or so years since then, a lot has changed. Video sharing sites and cheap video camera tools allow anyone to become producers of their own movies. And easy-to-use educational tools like LMSs and eLearning software allow educators and course developers to easily create videos to share with students, and resources to share with other educators.
For example, Coggno’s LMS and course creation toolkit offer an easy-to-use video tool with some interesting features for educators and course developers. Its simple format allows video creation with just a few clicks, making it accessible for both educators and students.
Creating and incorporating videos using an LMS can transform lessons, activities and even entire courses. And other robust tools in Coggno’s LMS toolkit offer a check-and-balance system. Learning content featured in videos can be checked for understanding using other course tools like quiz and assessment tools.
And for educators who are looking for a video-sharing website, but are wary of incorporating outside Web 2.0 technologies like YouTube into their classrooms, there are educational video-sharing sites such as TeacherTube.
TeacherTube, created in 2007 by a Texan superintendent, is one example of how Web 2.0 is creeping creatively into our LMS-based and online learning systems.
More and more teachers are using TeacherTube as an aid for lesson plans and a place to post student projects. TeacherTube now has over 50,000 videos posted, and also features activities and competitions for schools such as classroom makeover contests.
A video is an effective tool for prompting LMS students to interpret and analyze instructional material. And why not allow students themselves to create video projects, whether it’s for an online or traditional course?
Studies find that when students are allowed to take a piece of knowledge and create something with it, their understanding of the topic is much more thorough than if they were to simply take in the material.
Moreover, these days camera equipment is less expensive and more accessible to the general public. Using an LMS, students are able to upload their own videos to share their interpretation and creative expression of the learning material with other learners as well as their instructors.
Students can engage in an exciting and collaborative learning activity using LMS video creation tools and/or sites like TeacherTube. Tools provided by LMS systems like Coggno allow students and educators to develop creative and collaborative learning content within a controlled and safe setting. LMSs like Coggno offer a user-friendly video tool for creating engaging instructional videos.
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Coggno.com offers premier e-learning courses.
