November 17th, 2008 by Learning Systems
Of course, YouTube is an increasingly influential learning system, carrying a great power to mobilize viewers into action. U.S. voters were certainly influenced by YouTube in the latest presidential election, and the site became a worldwide political learning system and outlet for political expression.
But just as YouTube has the power to effect positive changes, is it also a potentially dangerous learning system? What about all the videos with violent or hateful messages, which also have the power to mobilize people?
In a recent BBC interview, the father of one of the Columbine victims expressed his concerns about the growing number of videos glorifying the Columbine killers. Though YouTube claims a zero tolerance policy on videos that glorify violence, and makes serious efforts to remove them, it also admits that there is really no way to filter these videos or prevent them from being uploaded. Ultimately, YouTube relies on its viewers to flag questionable material.
November 13th, 2008 by Learning Systems
The internet harbors an enormous power to mobilize people toward a cause. It becomes a vast web of learning systems and social linking networks, educating the masses on a topic and connecting individuals to other people.
Take the recent U.S. election. Highly influential political learning systems on the net included everything from YouTube to Facebook, with campaign videos and supportive messages. The Obama campaign raised $650 million–two times the amount achieved by the McCain campaign–mostly through small donations made online. It also mobilized an army of about 7 million volunteers to register new voters.
Websites for social and environmental causes become influential learning systems for potential movers and shakers. Maybe you read a newspaper story about oil drilling in the Amazon. Want to do something about it? It’s not difficult to find a group of activists fighting for your cause and donate a buck.
September 17th, 2008 by Learning Systems
As noted, Wikipedia is a learning content gem. Add YouTube and a chat program, and you’ve got something immense—both in potential and digital bandwidth. Here, especially with the use of a chat program, our learning content approaches an interactive model. What else could we add to it, to make this learning content more engaging, impactful, and memorable for the learner?
Action. The key word here is “interactive.” Morphing our learning content into activities (or first presenting the content and then offering activities based on it) such as quizzes, exercises, and activities will keep learners from resting their cheeks on their fists and actually integrating the material. Maybe an online tutor available 24/7.
What would you add to make it more cohesive?
September 17th, 2008 by Learning Systems
YouTube broke the mold early on. Whether we’re dealing with learning content per se or music videos, YouTube has always been both a site and a mediator of “its” learning content: viewers could go to the web site and watch videos, and they could embed and watch them on other web sites, e.g. blogs.
YouTube always knew that if viewers had to make their virtual way over to the web site, they were going to get a lot less traffic than if they made their learning content this flexible. YouTube videos can be found on MySpace, Facebook, etc.—places many people spend countless time perusing, and may rather browse than YouTube alone. Of course, when people want to browse through categorized learning content, the YouTube site is always available.
