JayCut, Margaret Atwood still alive, and some crazy

Dear Colleagues,

First a new tool for student video projects, Margaret Atwood, science / math video links, and some news stories.

The neat new tool is JayCut, a free online video editor that offers the ability to export the videos to YouTube or download directly in different formats. I have found video projects, particularly screencasting, to be a useful addition to the regular types of projects I assign. Not only are students picking up some valuable secondary technology skills, but I often find that students who have have to show that they understand a topic via video understand it better than those that just write about it. The difficulties with plagiarism and students copying the work of other students is also discouraged quite naturally - if you're forced to explain a concept with your own voice and in your own words it doesn't really matter if you got the information from your textbook or another student - you still have to learn it.

How does something like JayCut help? One of the significant difficulties I have with projects that are based on a technology is my own ignorance when facing the multiple different editors and laptops that students bring to class. Windows comes with its own video editing software, and so do Macs. I could force the students all to use Windows Movie Maker, software that's installed on the school computers, but that would punish those students with Macs as their ability to work on the project during prep would be limited. Something like JayCut gives everyone, from teacher to student, a common platform to work and edit their projects. Students could even share an account to collaborate during prep or otherwise separated by time and space. For trouble-shooting it also gives the teacher a common platform to become familiar with. Now if a student has problems using a unique video editing program, I tell them to put it into JayCut and I'll help them from there. There are some limitations, such as a maximum video length of 30minutes. Oh, and speaking of Macs, here's a completely unrelated vid on how to make an iPad float. Now, I need to convince my dept. head that an iPad is essential for my classroom and charge it to the science department....

In terms of building a PLN, I noticed that Margaret Atwood has become One Of Us; she's on Twitter. There's a recent article "How I learned to love Twitter" which helps explain how being part of Twitter is about being part of and developing a community. I remember reading Margaret Atwood when I was in school. At the time I thought she was one of those dead Canadian authors. Apparently I was wrong. The ability to observe (and possibly interact with) the authors of books under discussion seems an intriguing development, completely aside from Twitter's value as pro-d resource.

For those in Math or Science I would recommend checking out Khan Academy; a comprehensive set of YouTube videos on Math, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, arranged by topic. (The vision of the author is to provide high quality educational instruction anywhere in the world, for free.)

Lastly, some newsyish items that are related to education and to technology. (By technology, I mean I read about it online and it caught my outrage long enough to pay attention. That's a significant selection bias.)

A student in Mississippi (Constance McMillen of Itawamba Agricultural High School) wished to take her date to the prom, but there was a little snag. Her date was of the same gender, which was against school policy. This request was denied, and Constance was also told that if they arrived separately but danced together they'd be thrown out. Oh, and girls aren't allowed to wear tuxedo's either. You can check out the story here, and a Facebook fan page here. But wait! It doesn't end there. Apparently, feeling pressure afterwards, the school did decide to hold the prom. Except that it is looking like it was a decoy prom, that only Constance and a few other (presumably also less popular) students were invited to, while the 'real prom' was held somewhere else. It's not confirmed that the school officials were involved in the deception...but knowing what's involved in planning any event with students it would be difficult to defend the position that they did not. And the historical parallels alone...

Secondly item - I made the mistake of going to Fox News 'health' section (in my defense I found that the health section of USA Today was blocked by our proxy, and I wanted to check if it was all news sites, or just some), and I found this: Sex Education Could Mean Charges for Teachers. The logic is thus: teaching about contraception encourages sex, minors are not allowed to have sex, therefore teachers who teach about contraception are guilty of sexual assault. This is the opinion of a district attorney. Really really.

Regards,

Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School