Teaching with Video

Does anyone else see the problem inherent in posting videos of kata/poomse to a web site? I have to believe that this leads to a lot of the other topics that have been posted about McDojo's and such.

Perhaps I am just really old school, but I feel that training needs to come directly from a master and not from a book or video. Sure they are great as supplements, but I get the feeling that so many are out to attempt to learn on their own. That in and of itself is just a bad idea.

The fighting arts have been passed down from generation to generation on the basic principle that a master instructs students to be better than himself/herself. Simply duplicating movements in a video just isn't kosher in my book.

Any one else agree?

I don't see anything wrong with posting videos of kata on a website, in and of itself. Using those videos to learn from, on the other hand, creates a problem.

The videos themselves I enjoy. It is interesting to see other styles' kata and to compare them to how we do them. But I wouldn't recommend using them to learn from.

That said, I do agree that videos can be great tools. I have sent videos home with students to help them work on a kata between classes. My Tai Chi teacher did the same thing. I found them very helpful.

WiseTiger.....I have to agree. While the "intent" may be of the best intention, the result is certainly not. I have had too many people think because they read some books, watched some video's and found information on the internet that they KNOW Martial Arts. The other problem is when they bring that attitude into the dojo, then tend to believe they know more than they do or more than you know. You can look on the internet at any message board and see these so called "keyboard warriors. People read Burce Lee, quote Bruce Lee but have never been on the mat. It seems people in general want to short cut the process. Instead of blood, sweat, and years put into the arts, they view us as dinosaurs, and and want the instant gratification, not the work that goes into this. At one time in Okinawa, kata were kept secret, for a reason. Putting it on the internet, exposes it to the untrained as well as the trained

Another point is that you can't learn a kata from a book, a video or from the internet. You need someone to watch you, detail the things you are doing wrong. You can not pick up subtlties anywhere except from Sensei and being on the mat. Many times pieces are missing when you view something and not do something. If people enjoy watching kata on the internet, they have the right to, but I personally would rather they were not on the internet for everyone to see. It use to be a time when Martial Arts were special, in the early 70's very few people trained, now, everyone seems to know something or say they have trained before, its just not as special as it once was.

I had a bunch of students decide to "learn" kata from videos on the internet.

They were beginners and didn't check with me that the video they were using was the same as the kata in our curriculum. These were katas I had not taught them yet (they hadn't got to grips with the one I was teaching them).

It took me twice as long to unteach and reteach than teaching them from scratch.

I think videos, if used correctly, can be a great supplement to regular training, and I quite often lend mine to my students, but some people think they should get on the internet and learn four or five rather than learn one well.

It is a personal pet hate of mine.

One solution would be to put them on your website and have each one password protected so that only students you decide are ready for the next kata can access it. Don't know how complicated that would be to set up though.
Sharon

I guess the biggest problem that I have with the whole thing is that my students come in to me saying things like "I found these clips on the internet" or "I found a site that has all of our forms on it!" I constantly have to remind them that there are subtle teaching differences, and that those videos may not reflect those differences. I understand that some teachers want their students to see the videos, but unfortunatley those teachers have not restricted access to the other forms (as wadowoman suggested).

Once a student has learned a technique well, I see no problem with supplementing that technique with a video. However, as senseilou stated, there are too many who want to read ahead when they should be concentrating on the current technique.

IMHO, removing these videos from the web, especially kata videos, could save teachers a lot of time spent undoing bad habits! Perhaps this is, in some way, a plea to those who have videos posted to their sites. Consider removing them or restricting access to them in some way. I know it won't happen, but it's worth a shot!

Happy Training!