Online Video Projects

     I love the idea of engaging students in learning through the use of student-produced audio. I think that by giving the students a chance to be creative, it enhances student motivation and increases their interest in the assignments. Personally, I love assignments that allow me to be creative and interpret them individually. The idea of using student-produced videos would be an incredible option, as long as it was feasible, i.e. sufficient/available technology, relevant to coursework, etc. Some issues I noticed with the Phrasal Verb Video Dictionary was that some of the videos were lower quality due to the recording devices, while others were difficult to hear. Another issue that I noticed was that some of the definitions were not correctly used in the videos. For example, in the "on the ball" definition video, one student says, "On the ball, the teacher is coming." Another example where the students mixed up the definitions was "touch on." The students said, " touch on, I need to study," and in response, another student said, "Okay, I will touch on- it was great." I think the students confused the meaning of "touch on" with summarize in the video, whereas they could have used it in a clearer manner.  

     Despite the shortcomings, the Phrasal Verb Video Dictionary is a great idea! Since the class I observed is an ESL Low-Intermediate Reading course, this type of idea could be incorporated into a lesson and assignment to help introduce students to vocabulary that could come up in future readings. If I were to teach this type of class, I would try to incorporate a variety of activities to engage and hold the students' interest. Rather than simply holding class everyday where the students had to sit still and read, I would try to encourage the development of skills necessary to successfully read through interactive and entertaining activities. One way of incorporating video in the classroom with the students would be to have them complete various activities relating to course texts, such as conducting "author interviews," where the students would be in charge of researching the author to ensure a realistic interview. Additionally, the students could conduct interviews similar to the one in the Mexican Immigration to the U.S. YouTube video. In order to add authenticity to the assignments, students could interview real authors (if possible) or peers, random people, etc. to get opinions on a certain text, topics, etc. Another assignment could include students recreating or rewriting/changing the ending to a story and acting it out on video.