YouTube + Classroom = Unresolved

The more involved you become with the internet, the easier it is to navigate. The deeper you wade into the seemingly murky data waters, the more you begin to see patterns throughout the entire structure. At least that's the theory.

I've disturbed the waters enough to know where to go and what to do. So when I began traversing through the topic of videosharing on the Internet, I turned to YouTube. I created an account several years ago in order to bookmark the videos that I found funny, fascinating or fantastic. Although, I was a partial member of the YouTube community, I was never a participator only a viewer. Being in an online web application class changed that.

Uploading a video on YouTube is as easy as buttering toast. Right at the top of the page near the account information is a small fat yellow box with the words "upload" inscribed on it. Clicking on it I followed the instructions and soon found myself watching the video via YouTube rather than Quick Time.


This video is of a recent trip to Utica and Union Lake, California. It serves as an example of how easy it is to upload a video.

However, to get a fuller experience of video sharing, I decided to explore Teacher Tube as well. I also found the process rather straightforward; however, there was much more information to fill in when uploading a video. Unlike YouTube, TeacherTube asks permission to rate the video, which I found interesting to note since one blogger, cool cat teacher, mentions that YouTube will rate TV shows but doesn't bother with a rating system for the rest of its content. TeacherTube reviews uploaded videos before allowing them to be viewed by the general public. The staff behind the scenes are wanting to provide accessible videos to schools without ruffling the feathers of some parents.

So you're a teacher and you've discovered the wonderful world of YouTube. You've discovered another teaching tool that involves the student/teacher relationship of cooperative discovery of the ever-expanding world of knowledge. You see this as an opportunity, a plethora of creativity, a new gadget that will revolutionize classroom teaching. You see YouTube and you see potential. Your school or district thinks otherwise.

Surprisingly, Will Richardson does not step onto the topic of YouTube. He does address the advantages of live streaming and it is here that the same principles of live streaming can be applied to YouTube. He writes about how live streaming can host school and musical plays, class presentations for parents to watch and student daily news to name a few (124). It could perhaps be explained that Richardson does not write about YouTube because of the current controversy behind this particular web application. All the web applications that Richardson explores in his book are apps that can be easily controlled by the teacher or school. YouTube is a contained chaos at best.

In the debate of Schools verses YouTube, educators are continuously speaking out concerning the matter. The topic itself, whether to have YouTube in the class or not, appears to have no resolution in sight. The first issue, parental concern over student access is perhaps at the top of the list. As Anna Adam commented in Christ Lehmann's Getting YouTube in the Classroom, parents insist children shouldn't have access to YouTube at school but are still able to access it in their own home environment. Rather contradictory, but teachers have to work with this road block. Some schools are allowing YouTube into their classrooms but with restrictions set in place. Other schools do not have such a luxury. But some teachers are taking detours in the meanwhile.

Enter converting format. Anna Adam in her own article, "YouTube comes to the classroom" talks about how to convert a video from YouTube into another format. She mentions iSquint and VisualHub as two possible ripping tools, but since the publishing of her article, these two applications have been discontinued. TubeSock at the time of her writing was $23 but is now $15.

Teachers may have to contend for some time with using or not using YouTube. However, TeacherTube has managed to take the place of YouTube to some extent in classrooms and schools. Teachers can now present appropriate videos to the class that have been reviewed and approved by the staff of TeacherTube.

Perhaps by the time the next generation comes round to teaching in the classroom, the issue of YouTubing will be a ghost of issues' past. In the mean time, teachers will one way or another find ways of utilizing videos from the Internet to illustrate classroom experiences. Stay tuned for next time as I view through my web window those little handy apps called social bookmarking.