Weekly Post - Videos

What?
This week we learned about videos - particularly videos on the web. Our assignment was to find two educational videos, convert them to MP4 files, and post them on our UEN site.

So What?
I think the use of videos is very effective. I am a very visual person so actually seeing things helps me learn much better. I can use videos in presentations in my classes right now - there are so many videos available on the web. Web videos are also for entertainment - I like to share funny videos I find with family and friends.

This will help me in my future career as a teacher because it helps me practice implementing different technologies for different uses. I'm sure there are instructional videos of how to make crafts or create projects that I could use in my preschool class. I could also share these helpful videos with other teachers. By sharing ideas and collaborating with other teachers, everyone benefits from each individuals contribution - this saves a lot of time.

Now What?
Before this assignment I had never heard of Zamzar which is a really awesome thing. Zamzar allows you to rip videos on the internet to a downloadable file. This will be really helpful for me if there's any videos I want to keep and save that are on the internet now because chances are they won't be on the internet forever or at least not have the same link.

This would also be a great way to share and keep vidcasts. I have found that it's hard for me to send video files to other people because my files are usually larger than what's allowed to send. By uploading it to youtube, other people can rip your files through Zamzar and get the file that way. This would also be great for the parents of my students. If we watched a web video in class I could share the URL and then the parents could rip and save it to their own computer with Zamzar.

Video
I thought the video brought up some good point about the rising generation of technology. I am very impressed with how far technology has come just in my short life and am very excited to see what the future holds. Everyday it seems there is a new product with new technology coming out, it baffles me to think how things will be in 10 years. I love technology, I'm all about making things easier, simpler, more efficient, but sometimes I wonder if the world will turn out like the movie Surrogates where everyone is so removed from the real world because of increasing technology. Hmmm.