This chapter is proposed with the primary aim of analysing the massive incorporation of the video in social networking sites, as a narrative resource support in those platforms. At the same time, and more specifically, it aims to show how they are able to be used in teacher training, since social networking sites appear as enhancing the use of video possibilities in open teacher training. However, in the educational field are shown as an aspect that still needs to explore and deepen this line of research. First, this chapter presents the phenomenon of the incorporation of video into social networking sites. Second, we present a systematization of the research work on the pedagogical value of videos and social networking sites in teacher training. This new scenario favours knowledge democratization and involves a reformulation of teacher training models and professional identity.
TopIntroduction
This chapter looks into the role that video has played in teaching and its integration as a narrative resource in social networking sites. It concludes by looking at its applications in the field of teacher training.
Specifically, its development deals with the following aspects:
- 1.
Contributions of research with regard to the pedagogical vale and use of social networking sites;
- 2.
Results of the Research on the use of videos as a resource for teaching/learning; and
- 3.
Status of the issue on pedagogical applications of videos for teacher training.
The analysis of the research results in these lines of work constitutes the basis to identify future lines of research and educational intervention supported on videos incorporated into social networking sites.
The classical mass media, such as television, commercial cinemas or printed newspapers are gradually being replaced by new digital media and new ways of accessing this information and entertainment. This is also changing how these contents are produced and presented to users. Changes in the uses and preferences of social networking sites are continuous, with one of the latest tendencies being the incorporation of digital video as a communication tool.
In the last years, mass media have experienced a great evolution linked to the development of digital technologies. This phenomenon has changed users’ habits, moving “live” television consumption to “deferred” and “on demand” through a multiple screens (computers, tablets, smart phones, etc.). Viewers, especially young people, are moving from being passive recipients, to become producers-consumers (prosumers). The great entertainment monopoly that open-television was, is giving way to digital media, largely because of social networking sites.
The presence and use of television and, subsequently, video as a training resource comes from far and is based on the incorporation of portable and familiar formats that permitted to extend its use (Maurice et al., 1983). Modalities such as the micro-teaching started in the ‘60s at the University of Stanford. Currently, the so-called MOOCs or “Massive Open Online Courses” play a key role in the development of this university, including the use of video in different ways. Developments like Social Gaming, which includes videos to achieve goals, are being implemented in the online universe of Stanford and other prestigious universities.
Video currently represents a substantial part of the interactions which create globally shared information. Internet video platforms are mushrooming, with television channels, online television aggregators, social networking sites (My Space, FaceBook, Tuenti, Instagram), video sharing portals (YouTube, BlipTV, Google videos), blogs, microblogs, videoblogs, all posting their video content. The transposition of television to cyberspace has important narrative repercussions. By definition, television always has a certain territorial coverage and a temporal articulation, scheduling, consisting of the succession of programs over time. Television overcomes spatial limitation, becoming ubiquitous and it may be fragmented over time (Díaz, 2009).
Regarding social networking sites and their impact, it is evident that they are an important stage in the development and use of the Internet, and therefore they have been the subjects of a growing research in the last years, even if their historical trajectory as a resource is relatively recent (Colás-Bravo, González-Ramírez & De Pablos-Pons, 2013).