Still from the Execration Texts video
Robert Cargill has been making interesting use of YouTube. Basically it seems (I am judging by the videos, I have not asked him) he videos class sessions (with the screen as well as the lecturer in shot) then later extracts interesting short focused segments of few minutes on a topic. As I write the most recent were on the Gihon Spring and the Triumphal Entry of Jesus and the Execration Texts and Jerusalem. He has also, as the screenshot on the right shows added “annotations” in YouTube which provide concise explanations of terms used and other technical matters.
I think both these two things make his videos more useful than the average recorded class:
- their short length and focus: means they offer people a manageable chunk that is on the topic they are interested in, not merely a record of a class – that is, you or I could point our students to one of these for a quick fix on their topic
- the annotations: make the videos more useful for both his own students revising, and for your or mine looking for a noddy guide
I’d love to try this, it seems like the next step up from my current audio recordings (for my students) and 5minuteBible podcasts (for the rest of the world). More work, but potentially richer (than the audio) and more reusable (than the class recordings).
HT: Jim West.
