Tweaking the Classroom

Lets have a digital, collaborative and visual extension of the classroom.

How can we extend the conversations happening in the classroom so that students have higher retention and greater social interaction with the material? How can we do what iTunes has done with select university content and do it for whatever content we’re compelled to do so?

I submit to you that it does not have to take a ton of time nor does it have to take a pile of money. The tools for video recording are cheap (e.g. viddler.com or vimeo.com), as in free and easy to use. The tools for conversations online are cheap (e.g. wiki’s or blogs, etc.), as in free and easy to use.

What are we waiting for? Teachers have the intuition to share. That is part of why they teach. Social media and certainly students in the current media climate are compelled to interact and ideate in the digital space. Further, they are online almost all the time. Lets use the tools they are already using to assist in learning and retention and conversation.

Let’s start giving this stuff away for free! Lets have the conversations with the people interested in having them regardless of the topic. Teachers, share your content in video form. Students, start sharing what you are learning in school in the social space. The people interested will find your stuff and we’ll all be better off for it.

Toss your stuff my way. I’d love to know about it.

Check these links as some, but not all, of the resources I know of that could help the endeavor.

http://www.youtube.com/user/tbrunelle
http://www.timbrunelle.com/
http://www.mcad.edu
http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english
http://www.37signals.com/

Tags: 37signals, ideas, learning, mcad, sharing, students, Teaching, tim brunelle, video, visual, visual learning, wiki, wiki's