eChunks 6

      “Grassroots video can be used to bring a wide range of video taken in different contexts and from different perspectives as a teaching tool. A teacher might looking for conflicting issues for a debate in social studies, or may look for alternative approaches to presenting content, or simply just use video as a aide to enhance and visualize a concept.”

     “Students can use grassroots video as a means to document their learning journeys and as an opportunity to capture their thoughts as a self-reflection tool. Students can also use this media as a means to share with others their own personal experiences.”

     With youtube prevailing into people’s lives, video has become an essential part of massive media. Compared to decades ago, with less expensive tools and needless for editing, videos now are easier to create and more accessible. One can create his/her own video only with cell phones or digital cameras, and one can access to those videos only with a computer, which can access to the Internet. But all the convenience makes a plethora of all kinds of videos on the Internet. Frankly speaking, except for those which are posted on a professional website for a business, instruction or education purpose, most of the videos online are simply for entertainment. Or some are worse; they appeared as a visual scandal. And for this phenomenon, the adverse impact of videos is being magnified. When speaking of video’s impact on society, most people tend to refer to the negative site for having comments like “Video is more hurtful than a gun”. Indeed when we chatting with friends, if we ever talk about videos, that would be those gossip, mischief ones and the worst are those contain sexual or abuse scenes. For this reason, the adverse impacts of videos overweight the benefits.

     With instruction and regulation, video can be used beneficially. The educational value of video is huge. Decades ago, videos were used for demonstration only. But now videos can be used interactively. Beside for demonstration, video can also used as a digital portfolio for students. So in the past, videos are made by educators to educate students; however now students can also create videos to actively engage in the learning process. For example, Students can use video to investigate socially significant events and producing anthropology through interviews. Further students can use video to do field work and investigation in the sciences.

      To sum up, videos do have a positive impact on society, especially in educational field. Instead of magnifying the negative effect of videos, the focus for the video’s impact on society should be placed on how and where we can use it.