I’ve decided to take a Web 2.0 approach to two recent undertakings. The two things are very different in nature, have little in common, but can be effectively addressed using Youtube, Blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.

#1) Teaching - People who know me are aware that I spend a good portion of my summer vacation coaching curling at various junior camps around the world. This year, I was in Fuessen, Germany for a World Curling Federation Camp, Halifax for a Curl Atlantic camp, and Guelph, ON for two weeks of the Ontario Curling Association camp.  These camps are like any summer camp with fun and games and minigolf and so on, only the main focus of each camp is to produce high level curlers. On the ice, and in the classroom, we teach lessons about various nuances of the game (depending on the level of the group, it could range from the basics of throwing a stone to the physics behind various angles).

For my group in Halifax this year, I had four teams (16 campers) of older kids (16-18). They all had cellphones and abused the internet all day everyday, so I figured I’d reach them in their own comfort zone. For every lesson we did on the ice, I had the campers recreate a short teaching video (shot simply on a digital camera) recapping the points they were taught. I posted this video to Youtube, then linked to it from our group blog, where we spent a few minutes of the next class session writing a summary. This modified learning journal, complete with photos, videos, and links went over very well and allowed them to access all this information from home, or from their curling clubs with their everyday coaches. Check that one out here: Whitecap’s Purple Group. The football pads were just for a goofy camp sketch contest.

#2) Awareness - Not long ago, I decided to ride in a fundraising effort called the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Aside from being physically prepared to ride my bike (which until recently had been covered with dust) 200 kilometers, I also set my goal to raise $3,200 as part of our team effort. Instead of just asking people for money, I decided to come up with a program that would involve them, and constantly remind them that I needed support for this cause. I created a blog called 200 Songs for 200 Klicks where I plan on posting 200 original performances of other people’s songs, dedicated to cancer survivors, victims, patients, and their families. Through Facebook and Twitter I can announce when new songs are up, hint that donations might be welcome, and remind people to visit the site.

Without asking anybody for money, I’ve already gotten donations from three different people, have requests from 18 people, and promises for each from many more. Using the power of Web 2.0 (a little more creatively than making my Twitter “STILL NEED DONATIONS FOR CANCER RIDE!!”), I’ve been able to solicit interest from a lot more people than would otherwise see. Check out 200 Songs here…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Blogging, Web 2.0, youtube. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.