YouTube, TeacherTube, and the Future of Shared Online Video

Happy March everyone... the first day of Spring has came ;)

This week we discussed shared video's and online learning. On my oncourse posting this week, Dr. Bonk mentioned several good point on the pros and cons of online video sharing. Here are a couple from him? What do you think?
Pros:
1. Motivates students--uses technology to which they are familiar and excited to learn with.

2. Connects concepts in books to the real world (not always, but often).

3. Allows for quick and repeated replay and review of concepts.

Cons:
They might not be accessible due to a firewall.

2. They links can rot or go dead. Link rot used to be more of a problem 10 years ago then today, but it remains an issue.

3. Students might become too reliant on video and not read the book.
In my opinion, I think, the pros out weight the cons. We do have to consider copyrights and other important issues BUT I think that we are at the point of online video sharing on a daily basis. Several students relay on video's via YouTube to learn and share points of interest. We certainly are able to share information freely, why not learn from it?

Wikis and Wikipedia!

Over the last week, we have talked about Wiki's and Wikipedia. The different uses and how people use these two technologies. Many think that Wikipedia is a good starting point for doing research but not the sole source of information. I agree that Wikipedia provides a good background and it can aid in students researching certain topics. Wiki's are good for brainstorming or talking with communities about issues that you both find interesting. They provided good feedback for class discussions and opens up opportunities for new discussions. Overall, this week was a good discussion.