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Videos Promote Literacy Through Entertainment
on September 21, 2009
Classroom Technology
Parodies of popular television shows such as "Lost," "The Office," "24" and "Gossip Girl" may help students better understand vocabulary words found in advanced high school English classes and on college admissions tests such as the SAT and ACT. At least that's the idea behind Vocab Videos, a learning system developed by test prep and tutoring experts, which uses humor and pop culture to increase vocabulary retention through auditory and visual cues, Reuters reports.
The concept goes against the more traditional methods that only promote short-term memorization, such as flashcards. This idea uses entertainment to help kids to develop necessary literacy skills.
Vocab Videos offers a Web-based service with subscriptions, and subscribers have unlimited access to content on the Web site, including quizzes, review materials and video clips. DVDs will be available soon. As more educators utilize open educational resources, Vocab Vidoes can also be incorporated into existing curricula though Web portal customization and licensing agreements.
For the complete story, visit www.reuters.com.
