YouTube - The darling of the classroom?
- By Chief Editor
- Published 5 Sep 2007
Chief Editor
Experienced IT professional and frequent blogger with a special interest in technology, the internet, photography and motoring.
Many of you will have heard of and used YouTube, the video sharing website.
YouTube is one of the success stories of the internet in recent years, so much so that Google purchased it for a multi-million deal from its creaters in 2006.
YouTube is full of everything from the latest music videos and adverts to football clips and personal holiday videos.
There has been a lot of media attention recently about some of the more controversial content on the site, much of which is defended by YouTube spokespeople. But whilst out on a site visit today I was surprised to see YouTube being used in the classroom as a teaching aid.
I was at a school site working on their network when I witnessed the teacher searching YouTube for a clip of the Bayeux Tapestry during a histor
y lesson.
The video clip that the teacher chose was a fantastic combination of video and music which really brought this important piece of history alive.
The teacher paused the video at various points along the way to point out important highlights and discuss parts of the tapestry.
The children sat engrossed in a way I haven't seen before and joined in the conversation with enthusiasm. I doubt some dusty old history book would have held their attention so well.
So while YouTube may get bad publicity from time to time, this really opened my eyes to the power of this fantastic website!
YouTube is one of the success stories of the internet in recent years, so much so that Google purchased it for a multi-million deal from its creaters in 2006.
YouTube is full of everything from the latest music videos and adverts to football clips and personal holiday videos.
There has been a lot of media attention recently about some of the more controversial content on the site, much of which is defended by YouTube spokespeople. But whilst out on a site visit today I was surprised to see YouTube being used in the classroom as a teaching aid.
I was at a school site working on their network when I witnessed the teacher searching YouTube for a clip of the Bayeux Tapestry during a histor
The video clip that the teacher chose was a fantastic combination of video and music which really brought this important piece of history alive.
The teacher paused the video at various points along the way to point out important highlights and discuss parts of the tapestry.
The children sat engrossed in a way I haven't seen before and joined in the conversation with enthusiasm. I doubt some dusty old history book would have held their attention so well.
So while YouTube may get bad publicity from time to time, this really opened my eyes to the power of this fantastic website!