Vlogs for classroom use

I have to admit that the vlog assignment was not my favorite. I got SUPER frustrated trying to work with the video technology, and I think that talking about myself into a camera is weird and self-indulgent. So, I was a little anti-vlog to start with.

However, I had an idea. My 9th graders have been working on a research project for the past couple weeks. They are researching topics of their own choosing related to the Renaissance in preparation for reading Romeo and Juliet. They are then sharing their research on a class wiki site. After the wiki is complete, they will be doing a "wiki-quest" of their classmates' pages.

Since they are using wikis to write and record their research, I stipulated in the assignment that they should use images and videos in their wikis to help communicate the necessary information. Many of the kids who have very common topics like Shakespeare or da Vinci or something like that have had little to no trouble finding videos to include on their pages. Other kids though, who have really awesome, interesting topics--like women's roles in the Renaissance--have had a really hard time finding anything.

My idea--too late in the process to make it work this time, but definitely a possibility for next year--would be to have the kids create their own videos or vlogs about their topics and include those videos in their wikis. It would take a lot of front-loading about storyboarding, planning, and use of technology, but I think the pay-off would be awesome. I've been really impressed in the past by students who have undertaken video projects--they have been really fun and creative and offered a clear assessment of whether or not the students understand and can synthesize the information.

While I know that I still need to putz around with the technology more before I ask students to do anything with it, I can definitely see the possibilities in using vlogs in the classroom.