Conjugate ToTube: ITube, YouTube, TheyTube...

Much like a podcast, the video can be about any topic, and can complement subjects taught in a regular classroom setting. Maybe a student might describe what he did during his summer vacation, how he learned to fly radio-controlled airplanes. Perhaps throughout the summer his dad videotaped his progress. The video would show how easy (or hard) it is to control the transmitter, to showing footage of the airplane performing aerobatics.

This could generate discussion amongst classmates after the presentation or viewing. How might one go about learning to fly radio-controlled airplanes, where does one go to buy, assemble, and ultimately fly them - is it expensive, what experience is needed, and so forth. The exposure might even influence youngsters to pursue an interest in aviation, or engineering and scientific pursuits.

Here are a couple of links from YouTube that relate to R/C scale modeling. I'm sure there are thousands more out there, but these are ones that caught my eye, and so far, my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=topydKCULBQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gulv_bvZS94&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c974u8j4Xw

Obviously, the cons of YouTube are that there are so many subjects out there - from the banal and ridiculous, to downright perverse and obscene - that screening or filtering them from students is close to impossible, short of banning access to those sites altogether.