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Hello and thank you for joining me. My name is Keith Mickelson and this is my vlog on
educational technology.Today our topic will be about YouTube in education and the pros
and cons of using YouTube in the classroom. Now me, I'm a huge fan of YouTube, whether it
be inside the classroom or outside the classroom, but using YouTube does present a variety of
issues both for students and for teachers that need to be looked at and analyzed before
encouraging strong use within the class. Now before launching into my spiel about all the
cool things that we can do with YouTube as educators, and have our students do we do
want to take just a couple minutes to examine some of those issues. Now first and foremost
you have to remember YouTube is a public venue, which means that privacy is a concern, especially
for our students. We want to make sure that none of their personal information gets out,
and we want to protect their privacy at all costs. Another issue that we have to content
with is the content itself, both in quality and in quantity. Let's face it, because it's
a public forum there's a lot of inappropriate content that gets posted on YouTube. In addition
to the inappropriate content, there can also be inappropriate comments that are made on
perfectly good videos as well. So we need to make sure that what our students are exposed
to is safe and appropriate. Another issue is just the sheer overwhelming number of videos.
Millions of videos are loaded up on a regular basis to YouTube, and therefore even if you
are searching for a simple subject it can be hard to sift through the myriad of videos
that you get you are looking for some information in a video format. Another issue that we have
to contend with as classroom teachers is the sheer distraction factors. The fact is students
can get distracted and off task if they're not monitored appropriately. Therefore it's
really important for us as classroom teachers if we're using this as a tool in class to
monitor what our students are doing when they are on the YouTube site. Another issue that
educators encounter with YouTube is blocked access. Now, of course the blocked access
is there for a reason. We're trying to protect our students from that inappropriate content,
but sometimes this can be very frustrating a video you think would be useful but unfortunately
your school has completely blocked access, or blocked access to certain videos. There
are ways to work around this, however. Applications can be used to record and store videos at
home and then access them at school on the account so you can get around this.
So, issues aside, let's just say that YouTube can a very, very valuable educational tool, if it's used
appropriately. And appropriate use is primarily put upon the the teacher's monitoring and
discretion of the activities they choose and the videos they choose to show. So for starters,
obviously YouTube has expanded the video library available to both teachers and students exponentially.
What used to be a small library of videos stashed in a teacher's closet is now expanded
to millions of videos that are available for them to address the subjects their students
need to learn about. YouTube's true value, however, comes not the ability to watch a
variety of videos on a number of topics, but your ability to create and share your own
videos. This is where the true student learning is going to happen, and where the true 21st
century skills are going to be built upon. Every time students create and share content
on YouTube they are developing their critical thinking, collaboration and communication
skills. Three very critical skills in the future. They are also developing a sense of
digital literacy as well. In closing, I'll just say that in my opinion the advantages
of using YouTube in the classroom far outweigh the pitfalls. And most of the pitfalls can
be mitigated by an attentive teacher. So hey fellow educators, go out there and get YouTubing!