One area educators have been critical of Google has been around YouTube. This past year I’ve offered a workshop on using video in the classroom, and central to that discussion is YouTube.
Here lies the problem:
- YouTube has a lot of excellent content being shared (over 25 hours of content is uploaded each minute);
- Downloading video is bandwidth intensive;
- Not all content fits the moral and legal requirements for media used in public schools.
We have the same issue with the Web in general. As a whole, we don’t allow all content in our schools; some content is banned simply because of bandwidth concerns. What makes the Web manageable in a classic case is that we can filter by URL. Site A is bad, Site B is good. We “whitelist” the good stuff or “blacklist” the bad stuff. It’s not perfect. When we approach a single website like YouTube, with content that isn’t easily scanned (text vs. video), we’ve got the same problem, although on a smaller scale.
So, YouTube has initiated a new program called YouTube for Schools. There are several parts to this, and we are now announcing the first phase.
- YouTube will work with your filter to allow content in that you can monitor
- YouTube will allow submissions for holding your content
- YouTube will work with GoogleApps for Education accounts to give access to the service.
It’s this third point that I can share with you now. The video podcast (Episode #162) details how to log-in and take advantage of basic YouTube services with your Goochland Google Account. Later in 2012 I hope to make further announcements as to the first bullet above.
To add content to YouTube, you also create a YouTube ID with your Goochland Google Apps account through the creation of your own channel.
Also included in the video is detail on how to embed video into your blog.