Videos and film also have mixed, though mostly negative, impressions as an educational tool. It is a shame, but not my argument in this post.
I bring this up because I just found this.
Video.SparkNotes.
Video SparkNotes! My brain is struggling to cope with this.
In less than 10-minutes a viewer can passively absorb a text. At the moment there are nearly two dozen of these summaries. I am still reviewing these cultural phenomenon, so I will not pass swapping judgement of their usefulness.
As it is, SparkNotes are typically a tool for students who do not want to read. Now Video SparkNotes can enable kids who are too lazy to read the SparkNotes!
I will be the first person to defend appropriate use of video of films in class and the validity of the artfulness of the medium. But this has some unsettling implications. Can you reduce Romeo and Juliet to a 9 minute and 18 second clip and still appreciate the value of the story? Probably not. Viewers may get the gist of the plot, but they miss the heart of the story: the themes, the linguistic intricacies, and the build-up that make this a classic piece of literature.
They may be a good tool for review, but there is no way to regulate that. To allow students to savor the creations of these great authors requires, I need to employ thoughtful instruction on how to approach a piece and look for more than plot. This is a call for attention as to how to get student to appreciate a novel in a world where tl;dr* is becoming a ubiquitous term. (*too long, didn't read)
William,
ReplyDeleteI am appalled yet not surprised to find out that there are Video Spark Notes. I tried watching the Romeo and Juliet version just now and it was awful. I feel a similar need to show my students that there is more to learning than just finding out what the "gist" of the content is so that you can pass the test. Despite our differences in content, we both know that so much more to learning lies in the journey toward enlightenment, as there is no such thing as simply landing yourself there through shortcuts (such as VIDEO SPARK NOTES).
Thank you for your post, Sir William. I am looking forward to hearing about what you are doing to gain more student appreciation for literature.