Based on personal experience and observation, I believe many adolescents use YouTube frequently for entertainment purposes. Personally, I think this video platform could prove itself quite beneficial in the context of schooling, if used appropriately.
Most adolescent students would already be aware of what YouTube is and how it works. If not, it would be a fairly simple task to show them. A student can type what she is looking for in the search bar, whether it’s a user, a specific video, or just a general topic of interest, and then scroll through the results and pick a video. Of course, even such a simple process has its challenges; students would need to be aware of clickbait and try to avoid getting sucked into a plethora of addicting but irrelevant videos.
As far as navigating clickbait goes, this is, in my opinion, a useful life skill. There will likely be plenty of times during which adolescents and adults alike will see a promising title or thumbnail, click on it (expecting greatness), only to find that the actual video – or article or advertisement or whatever it is – turns out to be very different from what they were expecting. Sometimes, it’s just a straight-up lie.
I’ve heard many people complain about clickbait on YouTube, and while it is a legitimate concern, students could benefit from learning to deal with misleading titles or pictures, and this is something that can and should be addressed in class when introducing YouTube as a tool for finding information.
Students must also be careful of misinformation on YouTube. Anyone can post on this platform, saying whatever they please, regardless of its accuracy. Most students are already forbidden from citing, say, Wikipedia for information, since anyone can edit these pages. BUT at least the Wikipedia pages are frequently updated and corrected when misinformation does appear. Many YouTubers spread information without citing any sources at all. If they say it with charisma and confidence, perhaps accompanied by some appealing music and visuals, it’s easy to fall into the trap of just believing everything they say. I feel this is something else students would need to learn to handle; questioning and fact checking YouTube videos that make certain claims or generalizations with little to no proof.
Despite these potential issues, YouTube offers a wealth of information to students, uploaded by many different people for many different purposes. I think it could be a valuable tool when searching for information, and honestly, a good YouTube video will probably be more engaging than reading a dense textbook chapter or article every time. At the very least, videos could supplement these readings. Students could also subscribe to YouTube channels that they find particularly interesting, or organize videos they like by topic in the form of playlists.
But perhaps the most exciting thing that could be done with YouTube in a school setting is creating and uploading. This website does not just provide a wealth of information; it also serves as a platform that students could take advantage of to express themselves in a variety of ways. On YouTube, students could post their own work, like songs, poems (the text could appear on screen as a visual and they could read the poem for the audio), stories, dramatizations/skits, animations, voiceovers, commentaries, debates, and more. Just about any form of expression imaginable can somehow appear in the form of a video. Of course, these expressions should be meaningful and relevant to the topic being addressed in class, which is something else that would need to be clearly explained to students. A teacher could always hold mini conferences with students to help them determine if their idea is appropriate and relevant, or to help them think of an idea if they are hitting a creative block. Once they are inspired and on track, I think the potential is limitless.
For more information, take a look at:
https://www.thetechedvocate.org/youtube-valuable-educational-tool-not-just-cat-videos/
https://www.aaeteachers.org/index.php/blog/681-youtube-as-a-teaching-tool
http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/
This is a great way to use YouTube as an educational tool both for classroom content and for media critiquing. We are definitely living in an era where youtubers are blowing up and adolescents follow channel after channel of these internet characters that they have particular connections to due to their closer range in age and due to the more interpersonal feel of these YouTube videos. Allowing a space for students to critique such videos and learn that one should not take information at face value is definitely valuable.
One thing I would like to add that I am curious about is the topic of the comments section. I understand this would be a possible distraction and may demonstrate inappropriate material depending on the video presented. I could see this as also being a separate learning focus, possibly for a topic concerning how YouTube is definitely a space where people can post whatever they want, and how many people feel less responsibility and less of a connection with the harsh comments they post since it isn’t connected to a real name or face.