Video For All! An EU project to build on.
Language learning through video.
VideoForAll is a 2 year EU funded project that began in January 2014 and brings together a range of partners from across the European Union. At the heart of the project is a one stop shop where language teachers can find examples of how video can be used to foster language learning. Teachers can quickly find examples of different uses of video but also additional information that can help them to adapt the level, language and context of the practice. Video use in education is a rapidly growing area with many technical challenges. Video can play a very powerful role in language teaching but the number of examples and information is often spread across a range of resources and can be quite overwhelming especially to those who are new to video technology. The objective of the VideoForAll project was to create one space with an emphasis on addressing teacher needs.
The website currently provides around 50 practices and is still growing. The team have plenty of experience and expertise to draw on and the content is organised to facilitate making, using and communicating through video. Other ways to search the material include a tag cloud, a search box and a list of practices. The idea is that each practice can be taken by a teacher and adapted to their level and language for example adding subtitles to video or using video for practicing oral exam scenarios. The aim was to produce practices that teachers could immediately recognise and apply in their own classroom.
Take aways.
Each video practice has a quick summary that provides some basic guidance. There is also a downloadable PDF that provides more information including tips about how to adapt the idea to different contexts. This also provides links to relevant ‘how to videos’ or additional examples of the practice in action. Furthermore, there are two practical booklets which provide guidance on working with video. One is a guide to good practice when creating video and the second guide looks more at the pedagogy of video as a learning resource. These are simple guides, easily accessible and easy to use and provide a sound grounding in using video in a language teaching context. VideoForAll also has a repository of useful books, articles, websites and journal papers. These provide guidance to teachers who might want to delve more deeply into the use of video.
A new Community of Practice.Voices from the Video for All team
The VideoForAll project is reaching its final stages. As a key part of the project, an on-line conference has been organised. The University of Warwick will be hosting the event and the moderator will be Russell Stannard. The challenge now is to sustain and support ongoing use of video in language teaching. The team are looking at ways to maintain the project beyond the life of the funding by involving associate partners and developing a Community of practice around the site.
All interested can follow developments through social media #videoforall and like our facebook page.
Russell Stannard, Video for All project
russellstannard@gmail.com
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