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Hi! I am Janice Bezanson and this is my VLOG on the pros and cons of using YouTube in education.
This VLOG will focus on the pros of using YouTube to enhance learning. To those viewers
that go to the con side of using YouTube in the classroom, I understand your apprehension.
But, as an educator, I believe the pros out-weigh the cons. There are many school districts
that have put a walled garden around their schools. They have severely limited the information
and the websites that their students can access. While the walled garden may create a safer
browsing environment within a school network, they are restricting sites that offer valid
learning opportunities. YouTube is most often one of these restricted sites. There was a
study conducted by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. They indicated that technology
can enhance how children learn by supporting four key components of learning: active engagement,
participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connections to real-world
experts. YouTube can enhance learning in each of these areas. We are in the midst of a shift
in education. The students of today are growing up in the digital age. Blackboards are being
replaced with SMART boards and laptops are cropping up in classrooms across America.
The term, educational technology, itself is in the constant state of flux. Over the past
decades this term has included whatever latest and greatest electronic equipment is available.
This has included items such as phonographs, projectors, ditto machines and tape recorders.
Technology is rapidly evolving and educators must ensure that today's students acquire
the skills necessary for success in the twenty-first century. Walled gardens may have had their
place a decade ago before students came to schools with iPhones and even iPads. Our students
need direct, explicit instruction on how to navigate the internet and stay safe. Kids
are kids, they are going to explore the internet with or without proper teaching. A walled
garden will only protect them when within the walls of our school. Todays students are
on-line daily. They step outside the classroom door and turn on their phones. They go home
and connect on a computer or game console. The walled garden may have been a necessary
tool a decade ago, but times have changed. The wall needs to come down and students need
to be educated on how to stay safe online. I agree that YouTube is full of videos that
have no place in education. But, it is also filled with videos that can facilitate learning
in all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. Students can see and listen to Martin Luther King giving
his famous I have a Dream Speech. They can listen to victims of bullying and touch the
hearts of students. Videos affect the way students learn. Teachers can use YouTube for
students to take them on virtual field trips. The list of videos seem endless and it is
growing exponentially. We are living in the 21st century and it's time to teach using
technology from the 21st century and this includes YouTube. This is Janice Bezanson
on the pros and cons of using YouTube in education. Thanks for listening to my VLOG and good luck
on deciding if using YouTubes in education is for you.