Multimedia-based tools are transforming the nature of education and pedagogy. However, the full potential of these technologies has yet to be realized. How can video be made meaningful in a curricular context? How can video tools assist in collecting, curating, analyzing, editing, and sharing knowledge? How can we build open, informed communities around media-based teaching, learning, and creativity, both inside and outside of formal educational environments?

Globally, a number of higher education institutions have made the commitment to deliver a portion of their curriculum through open courseware initiatives. Open standards are vital in encouraging more widespread adoption by decreasing the cost of entry, enabling unique customization, and facilitating technical ease of use. The Matterhorn project in development by the Opencast consortium, with an expected release in 2010, is an open-source package that aims to promote the capture and delivery of educational audio and visual content along these lines. Meanwhile, at Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, the open-source licensed VITAL (Video Interactions for Teaching and Learning) allows students to edit, annotate, and store clips that they select from a video library. Students then use these clips as multimedia citations in essays that are published within the VITAL environment for review and critique by the professor and classmates.

These projects offer just a glimpse into the possibilities for the future of digital education. Yet the challenge of building a technical and pedagogical framework for video in education requires a strong conception of fair use of copyrighted works. Cultural and intellectual exchange of video content must be preserved and cherished, just as the cultural and intellectual exchange of written words is protected and cherished. Open source and open standards for video are key to digital education and encouraging media literacy.

Image by One Laptop per Child

More info:
Opencast’s Matterhorn project
Open Courseware Consortium
Columbia University Center for New Media Teaching and Learning
UC Berkeley ETS
Open Video Alliance Wiki on Multimedia Annotations

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