Online+Video+Lessons

//This page takes a look at utilizing online video lessons to help students solve equations with variables on both sides of the the equal sign. For a look at the effectiveness of manipulatives, click here. You can also explore an interactive game online by clicking here.//

Below is a video produces by the Khan Academy exploring the material covered in this unit. media type="youtube" key="xMsG9hvqzbY" height="315" width="560"

Online video lessons have the ability to reach out to students who have a variety of needs in the classroom. If someone walks away from class not having unnderstood the lesson, the internet and the resources it makes available allow them additional time to be acquainted with the material. Sometimes, a class period isn't enough for a student, and the ability to look up lessons like this gives students a chance to review the materials in the safety and comfort of their own home, at their own pace. On the same note, if while reviewing the material, students need something repeated, all they have to do is 'rewind' or 'pause' to collect their thoughts. This accomodation is nearly impossible to make available in the classroom because it slows the class down, negatively impacting students who are ready to move on (Brahier, 2005).

The online video format also invites students to share input via the comments section located under the video. What can remain a one-sided conversation between the presenter and the camera does not have to be one-sided at all. If students contributed thoughtful suggestions or questions, then a genuine and lively academic discussion can emerge outside of the classroom! Furthermore, our conversations, if heavily monitored for trouble makers, can be open to an audience much wider than one class of students. A teacher's six classes can commuicate to each other about the same material, and they can even begin to communicate with students from different schools, cities, states and countries if they happen to run across this video with intrigue. This, like group work in class, promotes group learning closely tied to Sociocultural Theory. Students are also prompted to grow cognitively by developing well-constructed and productive questions or responses to each other and the teacher.

Students may be more comfortable in writing a post online than raising their hand in class for two reasons. For one, it's relatively less emabarrassing in that students are by themselves online, often behind the guise of a screen name. Students in that position would probably feel less intimidated about expressing confusion or sharing ideas. Secondly, students of this generation are already very active in communication via the internet. Opening dialogues about mathematics in an online forum is meeting the students halfway and allowing them to use a technology they are emotionally invested in to explore subjects and topics they otherwise may feel disconnected from.