Comments on: When Video Doesn’t Work

By: Arthus Erea

Arthus Erea — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:17:49 +0000

@Chris: Sound like a teacher isn’t necessarily a bad thing. :)

Even if it was you, or Christian, in the comments making those points I would still vehemently be opposing it. I have never been a fan of the blatant overuse of video and will always argue for the proper use, even if it is my best friend who is abusing it.

By: Chris Lehmann

Chris Lehmann — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:52:08 +0000

@arthus at the risk of sounding like a teacher, allow me to suggest that your vehemence on this issue may, in fact, have something to do with the fact that Doug Belshaw is the commenter.

By: sam shah

sam shah — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:33:17 +0000

Thanks Arthus. (It’s Sam, by the way.) I actually read that page and its comments earlier today when I read Dan’s post. I guess I might have misinterpreted Dan’s post entirely.

I thought he was talking about the benefits & cons of using videos as teaching tools in the classroom… and he was just using those videos from the comment section as further evidence for his more general conclusions that he made earlier in dy/av.

By: JackieB

JackieB — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:06:41 +0000

It seems that some videos are now searchable.

By: Arthus Erea

Arthus Erea — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:41:03 +0000

Sasha, videos like this: http://www.dougbelshaw.com/2008/07/12/i-am-spart-arthus/#comment-875573

By: Sam Shah

Sam Shah — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:25:24 +0000

I’m going to ask a naive question, because I’m possibly not tuned into the ed-blogosophere as I need to be… but:

WHAT VIDEOS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?

If we’re talking about (making and) showing video clips in the classroom, are there examples of what everyone is so concerned about? I’ve lost being grounded in this discussion. It all seems pretty much in the air for me.

Clearly we’re not debating the merits of a video like this (which I think we could all agree is pretty educationally valueless):

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XmcalSDhblM

But are there actual examples anywhere of what kinds of video this whole discussion is based on? I feel somewhat sheepish asking this, but better to ask than to remain ignorant…

PS. Have fun on your trip to wherever Dan! Huzzah! Gotta love summer…

By: The Video Verdict: Check Plus! « Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:20:13 +0000

[…] making the decision to email my friend the video instead of articles gets at the heart of the problem that dy/dan and others are grappling with: when is video an appropriate teaching tool – and is it […]

By: Doug Belshaw

Doug Belshaw — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:07:29 +0000

@Arthus: Well I think we actually agree about video done properly. So I'm going to leave it there. :-)

By: Arthus Erea

Arthus Erea — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:06:34 +0000

@Doug: Give me a break.

In that blog post, the issue was discrimination against people, not a medium. There is a huge difference between saying you want text comments and saying you only want comments from people over 18.

Besides, this does *not* keep people from using video. They have the choice to do so by uploading it to YouTube or another site and then linking to it in the comments.

My biggest gripe with Seesmic is that there is no editing functionality. Yes, we should let people work with video. But that doesn’t mean we should make it easy to produce poor quality video.

For the record, I think when video is done well it has a lot of power. Unfortunately, most video isn’t done anywhere close to well.

By: Doug Belshaw

Doug Belshaw — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:21:32 +0000

@Arthus: I find it bizarre that you're arguing against diversity and choice in the edublogosphere. Isn't that exactly opposite to the position you took in the comments section to said blog post? Perhaps the video of me didn't add anything to your conception of me and my ideas, but it was certainly enlightening to actually see you. You're probably absolutely right about people abusing video, but the answer isn't to stop them using it, but to demonstrate good practice and how to use it effectively. I'm certainly not saying that I did so in the example we're discussing, but I'm all for the appropriate use of video. :-)