Serendipity35

I have been encouraging my fellow teachers to use film & video in their lessons for three decades. Usage seemed to peak in the earlier days. Oddly enough, I have seen a decrease in the use of video in the last ten years. That seems odd to me because our students are more engaged with and by video than ever, and video is so readily available to us in the classroom and online for students outside our physical classrooms.

So, here's another pitch - these links allow you to access an incredible number of videos about the wide and supposedly flattening world that provide many opportunities for you to explore that world with your students.

Al Jazeera English  is the Middle Eastern news service, which has certainly generated its share of controversy and merits a look if only to understand why. It now airs in English.  Still political, but on an entirely different side is the Amnesty International  site. They are a leading human rights organization and offer videos on human rights concerns across the globe.An old favorite is online at the National Geographic site which doesn't offer full video programs, but short segments which actually might work better in your assignments.

I have been a long time listener to radio from the BBC. (Yes, I did have a shortwave radio as a kid.) The BBC is Britain’s main media outlet. Their site doesn't offer as much as I would hope to find, but offer a different viewpoint from our own American news channels. We hear that they love Barack Obama in Europe and ignore John McCain. Is that true? Why not have students look at some actual news from outside the U.S.   There's some more at BBC Worldwide.

Looking for video that opens your classroom to big ideas from here and abroad? Try:

Big Think's collection of thinkers, movers and shakers, and FORA.tv for world writers, leaders, & activists, plus more people video from Charlie Rose, the PBS interviewer, who presents segments from his nightly interviews.

Citizen Tube is YouTube’s channel for videos on the American political process and the 2008 election. Add the Council on Foreign Relations for resources on international issues, and back to the U.S. for CSPAN and then across the pond to Guardian Unlimited TV. Don't forget to try news services like Reuters Video.

Going to Gizmodo, Google Tech Talks and the Computer History Museum will give you lots of video to discuss the computers, networking, and technology that is flattening our world. The New Scientist videos and vodcasts cover science, technology, space, the environment with an international team of journalists. There are edited clips from the PBS series NOVA that make science very accessible. Most PBS programs offer some video content online, though not much in extended programming.