I'd be willing to bet you look at 'the YouTube' to find a How-To video. My son repaired their clothes dryer after watching several videos. My husband learns about cooking different cuts of meat on the grill in new and delicious ways by watching videos. When I want to learn about a new tech tool or program, I watch a video.
If you enter a search into Google, chances are you are going to get a link to a video relating to that search. In this time of staying at home, I'd bet more videos have been watched than ever before.
I've been encouraging teachers for the past couple of years to create mini lessons using a video platform. I have loads of tips and suggestions for how to make them effective. I have a multiplicity of resources which offer suggestions for ways to have students show what they know after learning about a topic by creating videos.
So, today, our tech coach team offered webinars to teachers showing them how to use a simple video maker and providing links to those resources that I've been curating for the past couple of years. The first webinar was mid-morning today and the spaces allowed were maxed out as soon as the webinar began. Requests started coming in asking why they couldn't access the live webinar link. Over 300 people suddenly saw the reasons for creating a simple video to help students learn - and that was just in the first session!
During the second webinar session at mid-day, I was watching the numbers grow for participants to join the webinar and they were growing by leaps and bounds beginning thirty minutes before the webinar even opened up to accept participants. There were over a hundred in the waiting room when I clicked the Admit All button a couple of minutes before it started! I kept noticing more and more being added as we were giving the welcome information. By ten minutes in to the second webinar, I glanced at the numbers and we had admitted 283 and I stopped counting and just accepted requests as I continued to talk. There was a mid-afternoon webinar but I didn't get a report on it before I logged off for the day. I'm sure it was quite busy as well.
What is it about video that has us intrigued? What is it about video that appeals to all of us? Is it the fact that we crave that visual connection? Is it that no other means besides face-to-face really suffices when it comes to providing information and teaching different concepts? Is it because we know that when we see something we quickly learn how-to.
I remember when our first granddaughter was younger. She came to her mother one day and said she needed to borrow her tablet or phone. My daughter asked why she couldn't use her own tablet. She was told that it wouldn't work. Soon Mom discovered why.
It was filled to the max with videos. Lillie hadn't downloaded so many videos. She had created them! There were videos for how to style your little pony's hair. There were videos for how to line up your little pony's for a parade. Loads and loads of how-to videos!
Today, I shared resources such as a Storyboard Template, ways to app-smash with videos, and several blog posts which provide suggestions for student video creation - ways for students to put their own creative spin on a video much like Lillie did for her little pony how-tos. I am anxious to see how teachers and students will put this information into practice and intrigued to learn whether the fascination with video creation will continue to grow even after we are not staying home.
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