Some interesting emails were circulating around our math department this week related to two YouTube videos:
1. Manelbrot Set by Jonathan Coulter (Fractals)
2. Twin Primes Conjecture Song performed by Rob Morsberger (Number theory)
As educators we talk about engaging our students. Why not assign projects using their favorite medium -- video? Freshmen at TU get a video-editing experience in the COS 104 computer literacy course (required for nearly all our students). Each year a greater number of incoming students come with video-editing skills. Our Educational Technology Center (ETC) is a "campus Kinkos" kind of a place with 12 editing suites that can facilitate these types of projects. With this support in place why not let students push the envelope with video?
Written papers are necessary. PowerPoint allows for creativity and presentation practice (but can become a bit "ho-hum"). Video assignments could generate a whole new level of classroom buzz. Students would be sharing their learning using their medium of choice, and the process would stretch them in new ways with the technology.
Imagine a class of 30 students ... divided into ten teams of three ... each team completes a 3-5 minute video illustrating a particular concept ... a day or two of class time is used to play and evaluate the videos ... the videos are posted on YouTube (or a campus server) ... the students then create a class web-page* with links to the videos and descriptions of their projects for presentation to a wider audience.
Just for fun -- here's a student-made video that illustrates lack of engagement in a classroom: The Substitute by Katie McDowell & friends.
* This could be nicely facilitated in Blackboard using the Learning Objects' Team building block that is essentially a wiki enabling students to collaborate in building a webpage.
According to a 
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