Wednesday, November 21, 2007

E-tivity 7

YouTube

OK. After all this serious stuff, trying to figure out these new tools to function as filters on the web, let’s have some fun! This week we’re going to explore (no panic!) YouTube. YouTube is the largest online video sharing tool. It is probably the fastest-growing tool on Web 2.0. You might be asking yourselves, as you often have in this course, ‘cosa c’entra con l’inglese?’ Well, let’s see if you can figure out how it may be useful for your language learning, or blogging, or anything else!

Sarah

Purpose: To start reflecting on the potential of YouTube for language learning.

Task:
1 – Go to the group I have created for us on YouTube.There you will find three videos and three discussions. You will have to join the group to participate in the discussions. To this, click on "Join this group" on the upper right hand part of the page. Before clicking on the videos, click on each discussion and read my message first. Make sure you click on the discussions that have '07. The other ones are from last semester and thoughyou are welcome to read them (that's why I've left them), I'd like you to only do that once you've already worked on our discussions.

2 – Complete the tasks in the discussions in YouTube. As indicated in my comments, please complete the tasks on YouTube by adding your own comments.

3 – Find a video for your blog. This part of the e–tivity is optional. If you so desire, search for a video on YouTube that says something about you and add it to your blog. How do you do this? When you click on a video, on the right you should see information about the video including ‘embed’. Copy the html, go to blogger, click on new post, click on html and paste the html there. Post the message and the video should appear. Again, if you’ve got questions, feel free to ask via the comment function here! Note: the videos I’ve put here so far have been from YouTube and I’m no expert so it can’t be hard!

N.B. Some videos on YouTube are 'channels' and have RSS feeds to keep you up to date :-)

4 – Reflect. What do you think are the consequences of this tool? Do you think it has been / can be useful for your English language learning? You could also check out TeacherTube and see if you find anything useful there. And for other purposes? Make a blog post reflecting on your YouTube experience.

Respond: Go to each other’s blogs (using bloglines!) and read your peers’ reflections. Have they said things similar to what you thought? Different? What does this mean? Add comments that help develop the debate on the potential or non-potential of these tools in language learning. If they've put a video, comment on that too!

Timeline: Sunday, November 25 (task), Tuesday, November 27 (respond).

15 comments:

veronica bozzato said...

Hi Sarah!
In youtube I didn't write my first name as the username... I used whiteredrose instead. Is it ok? Or should I write my name? If so, how can I change my username?
thank you

Veronica Bozzato

tortina84 said...

Hi,Sarah!
I've got a very big problem with my telephone line. We asked for broadband three days ago. The provider said that it would be activated in 15 days. But yesterday our telephone line didn't work anymore. We're isolated. For this reason, I could have problems in doing the e-tivity 7. Anyway, I'll do all I can to complete the task in time.

I'm sorry. I hope my troubles with technology will soon come to an end.

Bye!
Martina

Sarah said...

@Veronica - On YouTube it doesn't matter what your username is because we are all using the same space and you can sign your name at the end of your comment.

@Martina - When I decide to do a course based on technologies like this, I'm well aware that it won't be easy for everyone. Others have had similar problems before you. It's fine if you can't complete it in time. Just write a post to your blog letting your peers know when you think you'll be able to have it done. OK?

Take care,

Sarah

Eleonora said...

Hi Sarah,
I have some problems in posting my comments on the You-Tube forum.I registered and I can join the group with my username but when I try to post the message they tell me I must confirm my email address.I did it lots of times but it seems it doesn't work.
What can I do to solve this problem?

Thanks
Eleonora

Sarah said...

@ Eleonora - Two other students had the same problem yesterday. I told them that if they didn't receive this email from youtube to send me their comments and I can post them with your names. I'd say give it another day and if you haven't received this email by tomorrow, send the comments to me.
I used this last year and had no problems, which makes me think there must be a bug in the system right now.
Patience. Technology requires patience ;-)

Sarah

Niko said...

Hi Sarah! I had some problems with my google account. I had to change it and now I'm Niko1917. I'm telling u this because a comment of mine is posted with my previous name. (Sorry about that)
Bye!

cappuc cino said...

Hi Sarah!
I went today to lab B in Maldura to watch and listen to the videos on YouTube you recommended. When I was watching one of the videos a technician came and told me that I wasn't supposed to use the lab to surf the net at my pleasure. I told him that I was doing a task for you, but he didn't seem really convinced of it. Could you please inform all technicians in the labs in Maldura about what we have to do, so we won't have any problems in the future?
thanks
Lisa

Sarah said...

@Nicola - Thanks for letting me know. YouTube seems to be a bit "buggy" this time around.

@Lisa - I've sent a message to the technicians' forum but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll all read it. If it happens again to any of you, just show them the e-tivity on the course blog. Unfortunately, many are still under the impression that learning can't actually be fun or interesting, but rather is supposed to be serious and very text-based.
Sorry about that.

Sarah

sara said...

Hi Sarah,
is there a way to delate a message I posted in YouTube? Because you can see there are two messages with my name (sarababetto) but only the first one belongs to me, the second one belongs to Valentina Lelli. Since she is new, I was explaining her how to write a comment in the forum, but I forgot to log out before she wrote her message. How can I do?
Thank you, bye!

Eleonora said...

Hi Sarah,
I just wanted to let you know that I managed to post my comments on YouTube. I got the email from the website and now everything is fine.

Thanks the same ;-)

Sarah said...

@Sara - No, unfortunately there's no way to edit a comment on YouTube (nice how you can on the forum, isn't it?). You can either leave it as is or add another comment clarifying this. Either way is fine.

@Eleonora - great! They came through in the end :-) I hope they did for the others too.

Eleonora said...

Hi Sarah! Sorry for disturbing you again. I am trying to add a video to my blog; when I open a new post, should I click on "aggiungi video" and then paste the html there? Because I have been doing so a couple of time but it didn't work.

Thanks a lot

Eleonora said...

...Ok, now I got it! Sorry it takes me a bit to understand these things :-)

Eleonora

cappuc cino said...

Hi Sarah,
it's me again :-( I can't post any comment on youtube because the site doesn't work on my computer. It saw the videos but now it says SERVICE UNAVAILABLE... I'll send a post in my blog and tomorrow I'll write comments from a computer in the lab. Sorry
Lisa

Sarah said...

@Lisa - There are inevitably technological problems. If you can't post your comments, just send me your comments and I'll post them signing your name.
No need to worry.

Sarah