Next Vista for Learning (http://www.nextvista.org/) is a wonderful video sharing site directed at teachers and students. Videos on Next Vista are made by teachers and students for teachers and students. Throughout the school year Next Vista hosts video creation contests for students and teachers. The owner of this site is Rushton Hurley, a marvelous motivational education speaker who has been out to South Africa frequently to speak at various conferences for teachers. I have heard him twice at Google for Education summits.
In January Rushton sent out a very inspiring newsletter with all sorts of opportunities, freebies and ideas for teachers. In this post I thought I would highlight two opportunities that teachers in South Africa might want to pursue with their students.
Creativity sprouts!
“Our spring contest, Creative Sprouts, is now in motion. As usual, the challenge for students and/or teachers is to creatively explain in 90 seconds or less something one might encounter in school. What your students make could help them better understand what you’re teaching, help a peer figure out an important concept, or even allow your community to understand the good work being done at your school!
If you need any help getting this going, you’ll find quite a bit of advice in these slides. Also make sure to look over the rules carefully, and if you wish, you can always email us (videos@nextvista.org) with questions.” (quoted from the newsletter)
Stories of service
“A number of teachers are getting their students geared up for our annual Service via Video project and contest. In it, we ask students to tell about people making their communities better, including researching charities (learning their stories, interviewing volunteers, and more) to create short videos (2 minutes or shorter) telling about these organizations.
The charities highlighted in the videos chosen as finalists earn $200 toward the featured organization (see the rules for details). We’d love to help you help the students help those organizations, so please get involved! We want every student to know what she or he can do to help others with a little digital media work.
Here are three examples from recent years to share and discuss:
Foster City Little League Challengers Division
http://www.nextvista.org/foster-city-little-league-challengers-division/
from the 2014 Service via Video project
BC SPCA
http://www.nextvista.org/bc-spca/
from the 2015 Service via Video project
Freestore Foodbank
http://www.nextvista.org/freestore-foodbank/
from the 2013 Service via Video project
Note that the rules for previous years (such as the length of the video) may be different than the rules for this year. You can find all the finalists videos for this project at this link.” (quoted from the newsletter)
The Next Vista for Learning is definitely a site to bookmark and visit regularly.