John Papola and Russ Roberts at http://EconStories.tv have made a second video that uses rap and a very well-produced music video to contrast the economic thoeries that are a big part of the political debate about what to do with a failing economy.  I'm really impressed with the format and content - and the song is actually kind of catchy too. 

Fight of the Century: Keynes Vs. Hayek - Round Two:

The world of education and training has seen its share of innovation recently.  After hundreds of years of in-person stand-up training, educators have new options. Products like GoToTraining now allow teachers to host classes online. While a number of teachers have made the jump to online training, there are many who have valid concerns about the impact on the training experience.  

This custom video is designed to introduce GoToTraining and outline some of the features that make online training a useful option - even for the skeptical educators out there. 

Big thanks to Kristen and Bob at Citrix for their hard work on this project!

Richard Byrne over at Free Tech for Teachers has been one of our biggest supporters in the edu-blogging world and was kind enough to highlight a few of our videos in a recent post called "Three Common Craft Videos That Should Be In Your Training Library."  In this post, Richard states:

I like Common Craft videos for the clear simplicity of their presentations. For that reason I actually purchase copies of the videos to save on my hard drive. I encourage you to do the same if you use their videos for trainings.

Apparently, this post caused some of his readers to ask an important question: Why would I buy something I can use for free? It's a question we hear from time-to-time and I think that Richard's response was one that we really appreciate.  In a follow-up post called Why Pay For a Free Video? He re-posts his answer from a previous post:

A couple of days ago I Tweeted that I was buying a copy of Common Craft's video Wikis in Plain English. The fact that I bought anything may come as a shock to some readers. After all, this is Free Technology for Teachers and you can watch all of the Common Craft videos for free at various places on the Internet. So why did I purchase Wikis in Plain English? I purchased a copy of it because I will be conducting some workshops over the next few months in which Wikis in Plain English will be useful. Since I will be getting paid for those workshops, using the free version of the Common Craft videos would not be right. Put another way, Lee and Sachi put a lot of their time and effort into the production of their videos, for me to profit from their work without paying for that work would be like stealing. Therefore, I bought a copy of Wikis in Plain English and will purchase other videos from Common Craft as needed. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that haven't come to the same conclusion that I have and have abused the work of Lee and Sachi Lefever. Because of those abuses, the newest Common Craft video is not embeddable although you can still view it for free on Common Craft.

At the end of the day, we've made the choice to share less than half of our library on You Tube. In making that choice, we've left the decision up to the individual educator about how to proceed. Are happy for educators to use the YouTube versions, but we also want people to know that the videos we license do offer benefits that you won't find with YouTube.  Just to name a couple, they are high resolution and look great on projector screens. Further, they don't have any ads or watermarks.  They are designed for workshops and presentations and we work with schools on licensing all the time. Here's a case study.  

We always appreciate educators who do choose to license videos from us, for whatever reason.  It helps us keep making videos. We also understand that educators cannot always afford licensing and hope that the YouTube versions can be an option. In which case, we only ask that you help spread the word about our work and value it provides. 

People often ask how our presentation quality videos are used in professional and educational settings. From talking to educators and influencers, we've learned that our videos are often used to introduce a subject - to get everyone on the same page at the beginning of a class, workshop, etc. Recently, as part of our planning for 2009, we came up with a model that helps tell this story.  We call it the A-to-Z Scale.

The scale represents the path to learning a subject. On the left side are the basic, fundamental ideas.  On the right, the details and applications of the ideas.

For example, let's consider the subject of biology.  We might find topics like these at corresponding parts of the scale:

As you can see, the scale goes from big, fundamental ideas to specific details.  

When we think about our videos and how they can be applied, we think about the scale and what parts of it represent the biggest opportunities for us to have a positive impact.

The Problem We See:

We believe that one of the real problems in explaining subjects is that people assume too much about what people already know. Their explanation doesn't account for people who are new to the ideas and have major knowledge gaps.  They start in the middle of the scale:

When this happens, people feel lost.  They don't have context for what is being taught or how the idea fits into the big picture.  They're forced to build on an insufficient foundation.

Of course, this isn't surprising.  If the explainer had to account for every knowledge gap, it would be difficult to move people down the scale. It takes valuable time to get everyone on the same page.

The Opportunity:

We believe that the left side of the scale has been neglected for too long.  Educators and influencers don't have time to cover all the basics and they often lack quality resources.  We've heard this many times "I used to spend hours trying to make sure everyone gets the big ideas, but now I just show them your video and everyone gets up to speed together."

This highlights how we see our videos fitting into the world.  Our goal is to focus on the left side of the scale and ensure that viewers come away with the fundamental ideas that create a solid foundation for a subject.  Educators and influencers can use the videos to introduce a subject and then spend their valuable time moving people down the scale. 

A Caveat:

It may seem that we're orienting our videos around only fundamental ideas. This is not the case. The scale can be applied to almost any subject. For example, in terms of biology as a whole, the left side of the scale surely focuses on broad fundamentals.  However, if we apply the scale to DNA gene mapping, our focus on the left side still applies.  We would focus on the big ideas behind DNA gene mapping and leave the details to educators. 

Use Case:

For example, let's consider a class on the subject of personal finance.  It may be easy for the instructor to assume that everyone understands the basics of compound interest or annual percentage rates.  Because it would take too long to get everyone up to speed, she chooses to spend time explaining more detailed ideas like buying a home and Insurance.  She starts at about "K" on the scale.

People learn, but some in the class can't see the big picture because they have knowledge gaps regarding some of the basic ideas that create a foundation for understanding things like buying a home and insurance. They need a way to start learning at "A" instead of "K."

In the case above, Our Financial Basics Series, which is aimed at the left side of the scale, gives the instructor a fun and easy way to get the class on the same page and ensure that everyone can see the big picture. It helps her move quickly from A to K, so that her valuable time is spent on the details.

To Conclude:

In 2009 and beyond, our videos will be aimed at the left side of the scale. We want our videos to save educators and influencers valuable time by creating videos that fill basic knowledge gaps and get learners on the same page so that they can spend time where their time is most effective - on the right side of the scale.