Educational Videos Online

One criticism of websites that provide interactivity, is that while the information is out there- it becomes distracting and the goal of the mission is lost amongst all the other wonderful, magical things that the internet is linked to.

So when this week we had to talk about our favourite educational videos online, it didn’t surprise me that despite being on a tight deadline, I still found myself rocking out to Ke$sha’s Tik Tok video. (The things I reveal on here!)

Nevertheless, after that very well deserved fun party, I’ve come up with a list of memorable, creative, and most of all educational web video that I enjoy.

Diet Coke and Mentos:

By far the best documented science experiment ever via web video!  Basically a chemical reaction of an epic nature set to music.  If only all science could be this fun to watch.

RSA Animate:

Studying how animations and words work best together when the animation is showing off what the narration is explaining (Temporal Contiguity Principle) this week made me think of the videos that RSA Animate puts forth.  I really enjoy them as they take a normal lecture and heighten it up with visuals that get created and re-created on a whiteboard.

TED Talks:

TED Talks – Lego for Grownups

The granddaddy of all educational videos on the web.  Who doesn’t love Ted Talks?  I know people that instead of renting a movie, snuggle up with their sweethearts and watch a Ted Talk or two.  They’re lovely, compelling, and the people that are the TED lecturers are all quite talented and fun to watch.

At any rate, the greatest thing about educational videos online (to me at least) is the ability to track stats, and see which ones do come to the top and are still memorable however many years later.   If someone can remember the Diet Coke and Mentos chemical reaction years later, then obviously it’s stuck- and thus meaningful processing has occurred to some extent or another.  These videos are short, and can be consumed at a users own leisure, and through social networking others can share these videos to people who might never have considered watching something like this on their own.