"Attending Genocide Conference" (4.5 Mins - Video)

Please watch/listen to "Attending Genocide Conference." (4.5 Mins - Video)

[Photo copied April 13, 2007, from "Portfolio - Being Human - Philosophy of Teaching: This, Too, Is Part of Being Human" by Kathleen Z. Young, Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University,

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/showcase2005/young/portfolio.htm]

This was one of first, and most provocative, responses to my request for examples of "clips" yesterday. It is embedded in a Website and related "portfolio" of materials that provide an excellent model for one way to extend the possibilities of a brief clip. By sending this sample I hope to prompt more of you to share clips and suggest different ways of using them.

This simply constructed videorecording is disturbing, perhaps profound. Young describes the atrocities of Srebrenica and her commitment to "not looking away." She ends with a hopeful explanation of new international responses to genocide. This clip is presented as her response to "Why did you take your students with you to the International Genocide Conference in Sarajevo?"

Please watch/listen to "Attending Genocide Conference" at:

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/showcase2005/young/showcase3.htm

First click on the above URL, then to begin this videorecording, click on the "play" (left-most) button on the control panel that appears beneath the viewing screen as shown here.

You may also need to increase the audio volume or listen carefully. It is worth it!

Please don't be intimidated by this example. We need to find a wide range of useful models. Far below in this message, I include links to a few other valuable examples that are much simpler. I hope more of you will be encouraged to share your first modest efforts! We need the LTA approach to 5-minute clips and hybrid workshops!

In four and a half minutes Kathleen Z. Young of Western Wash. U. calmly describes how she came to take a group of "… students to travel to Bosnia with me to attend an international conference on genocide in Sarajevo and participate in the excavation of a mass grave and the Muslim mass funeral and reburial of 600 of the 8,000 Bosniaks killed in the United Nation's 'safe haven' of Srebrenica in 1995."

You can go deeper into this experience and learn more about Young's teaching and the responses of some of her students by visiting other parts of this extraordinary Web-based "portfolio".

Student Reflections (about Genocide Conference trip - includes photos):

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/showcase2005/young/student_reflections.htm

Student Comments about Young as teacher:

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/showcase2005/young/student_comments.htm

Student Essay - text + photos - "Because I was There" - response to trip to Genocide Conference:

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/showcase2005/young/becauseiwasthere.htm

Excerpt from Young's website:

"The first time I taught the class on Islam and Conflict in Europe it was as an unpaid labor to prepare interested students to travel to Bosnia with me to attend an international conference on genocide in Sarajevo and participate in the excavation of a mass grave and the Muslim mass funeral and reburial of 600 of the 8,000 Bosniaks killed in the United Nation's 'safe haven' of Srebrenica in 1995. From the conference in Bosnia, the students traveled with me to Den Hague in The Netherlands and attended the trial of the Slobodan Milosevic. Students went with me to the new International Criminal Court, also in Den Hague, to meet with a judge on the new court and discuss the importance of anthropology in ending the impunity of the rogue actions of leaders committing genocide and crimes against humanity and helping the weak and victimized have a forum to speak their truths."

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Comment added to TLT-SWG Blog Posting April 12, 2007

From Karen Casto, Director, Center for Instructional Innovation, Western Washington University, Karen.Casto@wwu.edu

At the Center for Instructional Innovation at Western Washington University we have been using the concept of short videos as part of our innovative teaching showcase published on the web each year since 1999. In past years the showcases have a theme, with last year's being "educating global citizens". We create both written and video materials for these showcases and our goal is for both faculty at our institution and faculty from around the world to be able to use this resource.

Last year for the first time we used Google to host our videos, in part because we had an ever changing campus video environment, but mostly because Google provides statistics for each video, and also allows users to download the videos, search for appropriate videos, and use them for their own purposes.

The two highest rated and most viewed and downloaded, according to Google, from last year can be seen at:
Teaching Russian [2 Mins 53 Seconds - teaching basic Russian by speaking (almost) only Russian from very first class session + other suggestions - SWG]

Inviting class to accompany teacher who was invited to give a paper at international conference about/at memorial to srebendsa genocide; description of what happened at the conference and roles and responses of students
Attending Genocide Conference

The full showcase can be seen at 2005-06 Innovative Teaching Showcase

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/showcase2005

These videos are all made here at the teaching/learning center, mostly by students.