How YouTube may be used by other educators

Look at YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or other agreed social media platform and write a blog entry which:

1. Describes how it could be used/ is used by other educators
2. Says how well it would work with your students and why
3. Explains potential issues and barriers

YouTube as a Tool for Education

1. Using YouTube videos to discuss a lesson to the students is an efficient and effective way to help them learn. Nowadays, we are tied with the traditional way of teaching them—explaining what the books say, exchanging questions and answers, and writing all the important notes on the IWB. Why not try the fun way? You can impart your knowledge to the students using YouTube videos as visual aids and props.

You can use these videos in explaining to them the processes of construction or the application of a particular skill or task. The animations, the moving objects, and the colors will normally create a reflexive reaction to the learners.

This will give more life to learning. Students will be more motivated to study construction, civil engineering or building services. As an educator, you want them to learn the lessons wholeheartedly, so you will want to make a new and exciting way to impart to your knowledge.  The videos can be uploaded by ordinary people who can pass on their knowledge of a particular subject which I believe is very fulfilling and enlightening. You tube is a great educational tool as it allows people from all over the world and all walks of the life to upload videos of aspects of their social and personal lives.

Learners are also given the chance to comment on the clips which Is an instant way of delivering feedback. This can be used for peer assessment and also summative assessment if learners upload their own videos.

How to Use YouTube EDU

Educators should try a new way of bringing lessons to life. There are hundreds of educational videos on YouTube. Teachers can use this to bring pollination to life, or explain the evolution of man. Since there has been a need to refine the ways of teaching, YouTube created the YouTube EDU which is like YouTube for the schools.

This is a large network composed of hundreds of educational videos that teachers can use. There are numerous videos to choose from, so these videos are categorized according to topic and according to grade level. YouTube EDU will cater all your needs which is why it is also giving you the chance to suggest video type and styles to match your playlist. Or if you want to take part and contribute to improve teaching styles, you can sign up and join the YouTube EDU.

Schools should allow access to YouTube. They should not be distracted by the thought that their students might use it improperly. Prohibiting YouTube access in school is like prohibiting the students to access hundreds of lessons from educational videos.

2. YouTube has worked well with my groups for the last few academic years now and I use this resource in various ways within my sessions. When I’m delivering a session which we don’t carry out within the practical classes, for example theory on foundations, I upload a video which shows the learners how the foundations are constructed within a real life scenario. This brings the theory sessions to life and the learners can see exactly how it’s constructed and I pause the video throughout at important stages to explain what is actually taking place.

I also ask students to compile various group presentations on particular topics throughout the year and ask them to include pictures and videos. The learners go on YouTube and embed a video or upload a hyperlink to a video clip relating to the topic of the presentation. I believe that using videos within theory sessions is a great way of contextualizing the topic in a classroom setting, within vocational courses.

3.Educators are giving YouTube — long dismissed as a storehouse of whimsical, time-wasting and occasionally distasteful videos — another look. As Google, YouTube’s parent company, fine-tunes a portal that lets schools limit students’ access to selected content, the video-sharing Web site is gaining popularity as a trove of free educational materials.

Schools across the country commonly block access to YouTube, shielding students from the irresistible distractions of, say, the cat in a T-shirt playing a piano, or worse. So in December, Google started YouTube for Schools, offering schools the ability to pluck only the videos they want, scrubbed of all comments and linked only to other related educational videos. The program gives schools the ability to allow access to the EDU educational library, and to specific videos within its own network — while blocking the general site.

Issues such as inappropriate material online or videos/clips which are unrelated to the subject being taught could be a barrier to using YouTube as an educational research but the fine tune portals which are being introduced will hopefully enable teachers to use this tool more confidently and frequently in the future.