1- Introduction about Using YouTube in the Classroom
YouTube is the most popular video hosting nowadays. According to Rowell, “YouTube is appealing because it is easy to use.” (p. 58). Therefore even a child can easily get access to YouTube. Of course, videos are predominantly entertaining. A huge part of the videos hosted on YouTube can’t be used for educational purposes. However, there is a tendency of using YouTube as an instrument for education.
2 – What is YouTube?
YouTube is a platform for video distribution where users can comment on videos, rate them, and share them with each other. YouTube is not only video hosting. It literally became a social network. In early 2012, YouTube changed a lot in its design of pages, channels, and menus. This proves once again that the site is focusing on becoming a social network. Every month, more than 1 billion people visit YouTube and watch videos there. According to statistics, every day, one person spends an hour watching videos there. It indicates the growing popularity of video content on the web and the availability of videos on YouTube from any place in the world.
3 – Fostering Collaboration
YouTube can be used to foster collaboration in different ways. Nowadays, the process of education is presented in the form of sending information from teacher to students without almost any collaboration or interaction, and YouTube can solve this issue. Firstly, by sharing their videos, people can get responses from a viewer, which would provide them with valuable information about what can be improved or changed in the video. For example, students can record lection or lesson and share it via YouTube. It would give the possibility to make suggestions for improving the educational process anonymously without causing interpersonal conflict between teachers and certain students. Secondly, videos are the most effective way to share information. Students better perceive videos rather than text or audio. Therefore videos stimulate the activity of the students, and they become engaged in the process of collaboration by discussing different aspects presented in the video. Finally, most students prefer IT technologies to traditional methods of collaboration.
4 – Engaging the student through YouTube
There are already some educational establishments that use YouTube on a daily basis. “A website like YouTube can provide educational material. Some teachers in Ashland District School use YouTube for educational purposes…” (Gay, 2011, p. 130). Therefore engaging students in the classroom using YouTube is a great idea. Students want to be engaged through YouTube as he understands it and uses it every day. They will gladly do any task related to YouTube, especially if these tasks give them a possibility for creativity. According to Ferris and Vilder, “A Popular social media website can engage students in an active learning process as they work in small groups to create an original short video that explicates or exemplifies a course concept/theory.” (p. 22).
5 – Best Practices – Good ways to use YouTube in the classroom
In her article, Rockinson-Szapkiw defines several aspects of using YouTube for education. She says that such a method of education helps teachers fit into students existing surroundings and habits. It makes students perceive information more effectively and consider educators as one of them. Students can use YouTube not only to receive information but to create content, for example, by conducting interviews, having debates, and just by simply recording lessons (Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2011). Further, students can share their interviews, debates, or any other videos via social networks and discuss them. I would say that the possibilities of YouTube are really endless. It has a simple interface and is highly entertaining for students.
References
Rockinson-Szapkiw, A. J. (2011). Engaging Students in the Classroom Using YouTube.
Ferris, S., & Wilder, H. (2013). The Plugged-In Professor: Tips and Techniques for Teaching with Social Media: Elsevier Science.
Gay, K. (2013). Bigotry and Intolerance: The Ultimate Teen Guide: Scarecrow Press, Incorporated.
Rowell, R. (2011). YouTube: The Company and Its Founders: ABDO Publishing Company.
