Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Who are you calling a tube?

I lost the plot a bit on the blogging front. A combination of illness, holidays and poor time management. Strangely, although I have not made time to blog, my Flickr addiction has continued unabated. (Hmm... I'll need to think about why that is.) It's not that I haven't thought about things I want to blog - I just never seemed to get round to it.

Tigger the movie
Tigger the movie,
originally uploaded by DavidDMuir
What at last prompted me to get back on the saddle was all the news reports yesterday about Alan Johnson's speech at the NASUWT teachers' union conference. Essentially he was having a go at YouTube (or at least that's how the media presented it). Given the recent comments (well relatively recent comments) from Gordon about YouTube's failure to respond to complaints (backed up in the comments from others including Neil Winton). I wonder if England's education secretary weighing in will make any difference? I suspect YouTube will continue on unaware.

What concerns me about the reports however is the way it is presented as a technology problem with "solutions" being suggested such as giving teachers powers to confiscate mobile phones. Hmm!

However, two more positive notes to finish on. Firstly, and at least two weeks behind the blog pack, I recently discovered TeacherTube via a video and blog entry from Cool Cat Teacher. Check it out. I'm still not sure if TeacherTube will take off but it is an interesting idea. Sort of, "If you can't beat them..."



Secondly, for some positive YouTube uses, how about this human beatbox flute player that my daughter came across. Enjoy. :-)



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7 comments:

  1. Vicki Davis @coolcatteacherApril 11, 2007 5:42 pm

    These video services have GREAT positive uses. It is wonderful to see educators like yourself pointing that out. Keep spreading the word. Great blog!

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  2. DavidApril 11, 2007 6:13 pm

    <mutual admiration>Thanks for bringing TeacherTube to my attention in the first place. I almost always find something interesting on your blog.</mutual admiration> :-)

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  3. JohnApril 12, 2007 1:27 pm

    Hi David,
    hope you are feeling better.
    Flickr is quickr than blogging and much easier to get sucked into after a quick look.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 24, 2007 2:20 pm

    at the risk of giving away too much of my musical taste is the flute player not replaying the flute solo performed by Iain Anderson on Live - Bursting Out by Jethro Tull?

    Still great though

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  5. DavidApril 26, 2007 3:26 pm

    Hello Alan

    It may well be. When I was a teenager, my pal had this album. Although we listened to it a fair bit back then, I can't say I remember the flute solo to any great degree. :-) Certainly this video clip has bits of various songs in it, so bits of Jethro Tull are possible. However, at least one of the bits is the Axel F theme which I think post-dates the Tull album, so it's not an exact copy of Iain's solo.

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  6. Miguel Guhlin (@mGuhlin)May 20, 2007 3:46 pm

    David, you might enjoy this interview with the TeacherTube founders...
    http://www.mguhlin.net/archives/2007/04/entry_3109.htm

    Take care,

    Miguel Guhlin
    Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net
    http://mguhlin.net

    ReplyDelete
  7. DavidMay 21, 2007 9:22 pm

    Hello Miguel

    Thanks for this. Looks interesting. I'll try to have a listen to it tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete