An investigation to determine the use of online video clips as a teaching resource in a second level school

Video sharing websites such as YouTube have great educational potential. Video technology, perhaps more than any other medium has the power to engage, captivate and enlighten the student. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of video clips as an educational resource in order to gain an understanding of how this new technology has impacted on the classroom. A case study research model was used to research the question and a single school group comprising of forty teachers participated in the study. Within the case study a series of in-dept interviews were conducted with teaching staff, a focus group comprising of a subject group of teachers was assembled and a questionnaire was distributed and undertaken by the entire teaching staff. A review of current literature indicates that the use of video clips add significantly to the educational experience gained through it use. Research addresses the importance of teacher in-service that focuses on integrating technological skills with sound educational pedagogies that cater for the needs and requirement of the learner. The issue of how we learn is researched in addition to an account of the principle learning theories associated with computer based learning. The research findings indicate that the school under review is very well equipped with up-to-date computer resources and as such is well placed to take make optimum use of video clip technology. However, the research indicates that only a small percentage of the teachers in the school use video clips as part of their lessons for a variety of reasons. Regardless of participant’s use of video clips there was general agreement among those questioned to the potential offered through the use of video clip technology for educational development within their chosen field of expertise.