TEACHERTUBE: A VLOG ON FAMILY BUDGETING
My vlog adventure begin with creating a vlog on my iPhone. My vlog is not fancy and does not have edits, music or touch-ups; it is simply four-minutes of straight talk of something I do everyday, budget the family account. I do have to admit that I was frantic about the recording and spent a few hours learning about vlogs before I attempted to create one. I thought vlogs had to have music, professional takes and lots of editing. I had even gone as far as creating a script of what I would say once the camera started rolling.
The vlog was easy to record but did require a few takes. Once the recording was completed, I felt accomplished then I realized I did not even know how to begin uploading a vlog. I had to search for a tutorial hoping I would be given step-by-step guidance on uploading vlogs but there were so many to choose from, and many were not that great. I had gone as far as searching on Teachertube for help but did not find any information that was helpful. I had expected at least a tutorial on uploading vlogs to the site but found nothing. Through multiple trial-and-errors, I finally was able to upload the video only to learn that videos had to undergo a review process for approval. Teachertube did not share their methods on the process or procedure for review. Worst of all, no timeframe was given.
The vlog was easy to record but did require a few takes. Once the recording was completed, I felt accomplished then I realized I did not even know how to begin uploading a vlog. I had to search for a tutorial hoping I would be given step-by-step guidance on uploading vlogs but there were so many to choose from, and many were not that great. I had gone as far as searching on Teachertube for help but did not find any information that was helpful. I had expected at least a tutorial on uploading vlogs to the site but found nothing. Through multiple trial-and-errors, I finally was able to upload the video only to learn that videos had to undergo a review process for approval. Teachertube did not share their methods on the process or procedure for review. Worst of all, no timeframe was given.
My experiences was...
My experience in a nutshell was negative. Recording the vlog took three takes; uploading the vlog to Teachertube was disastrous and took me four tries (a total of two hours spent on uploading alone); and there was no assistance from the platform which meant that each time I messed up, I had to figure it out on my own and teach myself how to use Teachertube. At the end of the process I became frustrated when I learned that after all the time and effort to create and upload the vlog, it had to undergo a review process. When the vlog was finally accepted onto the site two hours later, I sent David a link. Thankfully, David was able to open the vlog with no issues.
As to whether I would use vlogs as a teaching tool may be something I would have to seriously consider but would not be something I would rule out altogether. Granted, my son did reassure me that the first vlog does take some time and that the more I did it, the better I would become, but that brought little reassurance.
As to whether I would use vlogs as a teaching tool may be something I would have to seriously consider but would not be something I would rule out altogether. Granted, my son did reassure me that the first vlog does take some time and that the more I did it, the better I would become, but that brought little reassurance.
Student Perspective?
From the student perspective, judging a vlog was much easier than creating one. Unfortunately, David also struggled with uploading his vlog so I was not able to "judge" his work. Looking at my vlog however, it seemed to be just another vlog (I speak as a student). I would not have ever known I had any issues (as a teacher). It was easier for me to watch the tutorial, stop it and play it again. I also was able to watch it more than once and paused the video now and again. The biggest issue I found as a student was that I could not leave any comments about the vlog or communicate with the instructor on Teachertube. I had expected Teachertube to be similar to YouTube where you could leave a thread of comments but that was not the case. Initially, I thought maybe Teachertube required me to log into my account before I could leave a comment but that was not an option and I was not able to leave any messages for the instructor. As a student, this issue may pose a problem since the communication is one-way.