60second Recap
Encyclopedia
60second Recap is an education
al video
project launched in September 2009 to provide 60-second video summaries and analysis of classic literature. The site provides one minute video commentaries on plot, themes, characters, symbols, motifs, and other aspects of books commonly studied in secondary school
s in North America.
A year after its launch, 60second Recap's website offered over 400 videos covering 35 classic literary works and 60 contemporary titles. It had also received more than 4.5 million website visits. During its second year, 60second Recap continued to add to its content library, with new 60second Recap video "albums" of 10-15 individual videos covering various aspects of a work such as Beowulf
or Hamlet
.
who also served as 60second Recap's host. Osterlund said this approach was intended to help students see 60second Recap not as a "cheat-sheet authority" but as a "conversation-starter" on a given work.
's Holocaust memoir Night
by summarizing its plot and themes in a series of twelve 60-second videos. One journalist contended that 60second Recap-style study videos might encourage students to avoid reading altogether.
announced a joint venture with AOL and reality TV show producer Mark Burnett
to introduce its own series of 60-second video study guide
surveys of classic literary works.
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
al video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
project launched in September 2009 to provide 60-second video summaries and analysis of classic literature. The site provides one minute video commentaries on plot, themes, characters, symbols, motifs, and other aspects of books commonly studied in secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
s in North America.
A year after its launch, 60second Recap's website offered over 400 videos covering 35 classic literary works and 60 contemporary titles. It had also received more than 4.5 million website visits. During its second year, 60second Recap continued to add to its content library, with new 60second Recap video "albums" of 10-15 individual videos covering various aspects of a work such as Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
or Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
.
History
60second Recap was created by Peter Osterlund, a former journalist who, while working as a Hollywood screenwriter, began exploring media formats suitable for smartphones and other handheld devices. He said he decided to structure his concept around a 60-second video format upon noting that viewer's attention to "small-screen" video tended to lapse after about one minute. Media interest in 60second Recap's subsequent launch focused on two novel aspects of its design. First, 60second Recap offered a new variation on an old form by presenting its study aid material in a video-only format based on Osterlund's 60-second concept. Second, all editorial content was researched and written by a single individual, Jenny Sawyer, a book critic for The Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
who also served as 60second Recap's host. Osterlund said this approach was intended to help students see 60second Recap not as a "cheat-sheet authority" but as a "conversation-starter" on a given work.
Video format controversy
Some online critics took exception to 60second Recap's video-centric approach. They argued that 60second Recap's format trivialized Elie WieselElie Wiesel
Sir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
's Holocaust memoir Night
Night (book)
Night is a work by Elie Wiesel about his experience with his father, Shlomo, in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945, at the height of the Holocaust and toward the end of the Second World War...
by summarizing its plot and themes in a series of twelve 60-second videos. One journalist contended that 60second Recap-style study videos might encourage students to avoid reading altogether.
Classroom acceptance
60second Recap won acceptance in schools, however, and teachers said they found it effective in sparking classroom discussions. 60second Recap was also cited by special education teachers as a pedagogical tool for students who have learning disabilities that interfere with their ability to comprehend written material.Industry response
In 2011, CliffsNotesCliffsNotes
CliffsNotes are a series of student study guides available primarily in the United States. The guides present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature...
announced a joint venture with AOL and reality TV show producer Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett is a British television producer and executive producer, based in the United States. He currently is the executive producer of five network television series with seven hours of network programming. Works with which Burnett is associated have won multiple awards and recognition...
to introduce its own series of 60-second video study guide
Video study guide
A "video study guide" offers the content of traditional printed educational supplements in video format.Such "video-centric" educational materials are, increasingly, taking hold in the classroom, both in response to cultural preferences and research....
surveys of classic literary works.
See also
- Video study guideVideo study guideA "video study guide" offers the content of traditional printed educational supplements in video format.Such "video-centric" educational materials are, increasingly, taking hold in the classroom, both in response to cultural preferences and research....
- BookRagsBookRagsBookRags is an educational website that provides summaries, study guides, and lesson plans on literary works. Based in Seattle, Washington, United States, the website is a subsidiary of Ambassadors Group....
- CliffsNotesCliffsNotesCliffsNotes are a series of student study guides available primarily in the United States. The guides present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature...
- Coles NotesColes notesColes Notes are student guides to literature, published in Canada. The Coles bookstore first published Coles Notes in 1948. The first title published was on the French novella Colomba by Prosper Mérimée....
- York NotesYork NotesYork Notes are a series of educational study guides sold in the United Kingdom. They are sold as revision material for GCSE and A-level exams particularly as literary guides to introduce students to sophisticated analysis and perspectives of the specific title...