One of the first YouTube videos that really caught my attention from an educational perspective was “Did You Know?” I remember the first time I viewed it, about 2 years ago, how moved I was by its message. It made such an impact that I began to show the video prior to any conference presentation I gave. All of the facts and figures presented in the original version were mind boggling to me and I felt it was my duty to share them with other educators around Ohio. I still have the first version of the video I saw bookmarked as part of a YouTube playlist.
Since that time, the video has gone under several revisions. Today, both Dr. Scott McLeod and Karl Fisch, the original creators of the Did You Know? series, sent out links to the most recent version over their Twitter feeds. While the graphics, music and facts have evolved into a more polished piece, the message is still fairly consistent with the original. I’d recommend that all educators take the time to view not only Did You Know? 4.0, but also the original version, in order to understand the real impact of the information age and globalization.
From the “Will Richardson always makes me think file,” I found this quote from one of his latest Weblogg-ed posts, New Reading, New Writing, to really set the wheels in motion.
Is social reading and social writing in our kids’s futures? I don’t think there is much doubt about that. More and more I’m finding Diigo annotations and notes cropping up on the articles and essays that I read, and by and large I’ve found the commentors to be serious, thoughtful and articulate.
Much like Mr. Richardson points out, I’ve been finding Diigo annotations more and more myself since I started using the Diigo toolbar for Firefox. When I read that quote initially, it had me thinking about how Diigo might look in a classroom environment. I guess I was thinking more of a 1-on-1 environment. However, upon further reflection, I don’t think that would be the best way to integrate Diigo.
Why, you ask? To me, Diigo is a tool that you use during those quiet, reflective times. Alone to your work, Diigo is there to help you push that bright yellow highlighter across digital text, rather than the thin pages of a paperback. You don’t really use Diigo with a crowd. You use it during “me” time, when you’re in a reflective mood and capable to be attentive and think critically about what you are reading. For most students, I don’t think that type of “me” time happens very often during the 6-8 hours that they are cramped in a classroom desk with 30 other kids around them. So when and how would a student use Diigo?
