It's funny how you have a day where you come across one thing several times... today for me it was YouTube. I've been thinking for a while that I should check it out and hadn't got around to it. Today I've been thinking about the pros and cons of Youtube and exploring the same.
So firstly Barney Zwartz in his blog The Religious Write explored the issue of the melbourne skaters who filmed a terrible encounter with a Melbourne Catholic priest and posted it on Youtube. You can read it here. This raises all kinds of questions for me about the appropriateness of publishing material with no checks and balances. Whilst not condoning the disgraceful language used by the priest, it would seem that the kids have baited him in order to film it. They are hardly innocent here. Another incident like this happened at a Melbourne School earlier in the year when kids staged a bullying incident and put it on Youtube - the media got wind of it, blew it out of proportion and a great deal of damage was done before the kids admitted that it was a hoax. Incidents like these make me wonder about the issues related to such technology where there is no controls over what is published.
However, we had a notice from our Deputy Principal today to say that Youtube was being unblocked for staff at school (up until now it was a banned site at school) and that we were free to explore the educational possibilities. So, I've had fun finding Chinese learning tools on it tonight. Try searching "Learn Chinese" on Youtube and you'll see what I mean. Some ordinary stuff, but also some really cute videos and cartoons in CHinese, produced for teaching purposes which I'll certainly be able to use in the classroom.
So what this says to me is this: Youtube is just like MSN, Skype, Facebook, Wikipedia, and dare I say it, Blogger. All of these tools that allow people to communicate easily with people known and unknown are open for abuse and misuse. They are also wonderful tools with enormous benefits if used wisely. We need to explore these new technologies with our eyes open - and make sure the kids do the same!
SB
2 comments:
Very thoughtful and incisive, my love...you cut right through the rights nd wrongs and get down to the heart of the matter, which is about how we use technology, and whether or not "anything goes" is permissable in the apparently never-ending pursuit of celebrity.
Much food for thought...
Love,
BB.
In the case of the media blowing the proportions out of the bullying case. They should have done their homework and got the answers before sensationalizing it in the news. They are paid professionals and to not check your sources and information is correct before putting any type of media up is not professional at all. I would say even though the video the kids made was not proper, it was up to whatever media outlet covered it to make sure their information was correct.
This article does touch on the basics of what can go wrong, but I would say Youtube as a tool can be used in an amazingly powerful way, such as teaching as you have already stated.
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