Journal #4 - If You Give a Kid a Video Camera (NETS 1 & 2)

Campbell, L. (2012). If you give a kid a video camera. Learning and Leading with Technology, February, 30-33. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201202

Summary:

When kids are given technology, they seem to run with it. They suddenly become interested in it and want to become better and more creative. This is the starting approach this article takes, and encourages us to adopt new technologies as teachers that could benefit our kids. We must ask the question: how does technology deepen the students' understanding of the content? What are advantages and disadvantages in using the tool? And what role will the device have? Once these questions are answered, find a creative way to use video in your classroom to teach the content. She then details different ways in which you can use videos to help out in the classroom, and details ways in which video can help with math, science, and social studies. Video is beyond subject-matter learning, it is about creativity and learning in a problem-solving way. An example is during the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, grade school children made videos of possible solutions and posted them on YouTube. This is an instance in which science was fun for the kids, and they were forced to be creative and think of the problem at hand to form a solution.

Question:

1. At what point does the video become a distraction and hurt their learning experience?

I feel that children will more often then not play around with things like video cameras more so then use them for constructive purposes. I don't necessarily agree this is a good use of technology in the classroom. It can be used responsibly, but the students should be monitored to some degree to make sure they are actually using it for a constructive purpose. We all have fun making silly videos about trivial things, but the real task at hand is using the video camera to enhance our kids' learning.


2. How do you implement these techniques of learning in classrooms in low income areas?


This idea seems very progressive and using technology has positive impacts on learning, but for some schools it just isn't possible due to budget problems. The beauty of using video in the classroom is that it only really requires a single camera and a single computer. Both of these items could be added to the classroom very easily, and there are options for buying cheap computers for teachers. There shouldn't be any budgetary issues in setting this up in the classroom.