Video Podcasts
I just read “The Vod Couple” from T.H.E. Journal this month and it sparked so many ideas. Basically, these two chemistry teachers, over a couple of years, have gone from teaching a typical lecture/homework type course to having students watch the lecture in video podcast form the night before and then complete labs and activities during class. They use a “Mastery of Learning” model where students complete the activities and take/retake the assessment until they show they have mastered the material.
First of all, from a student’s perspective, I would SO PREFER this style of learning. I hate taking a course where you get to class and the professor just disseminates material or rehashes what you read for class. It assumes that you haven’t done your work, and makes you feel like you are wasting your time.
But how could this model be used at the elementary level? Obviously we can’t have 3rd graders watching a video of your science lesson the night before and showing up to do the worksheet. Not exactly hands-on! But what about as a communication tool with parents? And as a review for students who need it? I could see taping important math and science lessons and having them available on the class web site so when mom or dad is helping with homework, they can watch with their child how it was presented in class. This would help so much in areas - like math - where we teach basic concepts so differently than we did when our students’ parents were in school. I wonder what copyright issues would result in teaching a lesson from a published textbook online?
What about our anchor lessons in shared reading and shared writing? What better way to show parents what connecting/predicting/visualizing look and sound like in your classroom? Imagine having a homework sheet with a link at the bottom that says, “Watch Mrs. Markelz do this online at www….”
Lots of ideas. Lots of potential pitfalls. Hopefully some of them will be solved before I get back in the classroom!
