By: Eric Durrand

  YouTube, you think, is that web site where people post silly videos of themselves or their pets, and not an educational tool. It's where you can see people juggling, amateur moviemakers trying to break into the public consciousness, and funny videoclips of teenagers lipsynching popular songs. But a quick search of YouTube's hundreds of thousands of video clips will reveal many educational videos, from popular How To guides to K12 teacher groups focused on recorded lessons and instructional videos. There is even this amusing videoclip explaining to students of the I.S. 109 school of Queens, NY why they have to tuck their shirts in when they come to school.

    The truth is, video sharing online has great educational potential. Posting lesson summaries in video form is extremely easy to do, if you have a web cam. You can also post recordings of fun scientific experiments, interviews, or selected clips from educational TV programs you might show in class. Video, perhaps more than any other medium, has the power to engage, enlighten, and fascinate your students. And by using a popular medium like YouTube, one of the most popular web sites of all time, you are fitting into your students existing habits and surrounding, making it easy for them to access your material, and projecting a more updated image for your class or school.  

  "YouTube is not necessary for good teaching," writes Christopher Conway from Inside Higher Education, "in the same way that wheeling a VCR into the classroom is not necessary, or bringing in PowerPoint slide shows with images, or audio recordings. YouTube simply makes more resources available to teachers than ever before, and allows for better classroom management. Rather than use up valuable time in class watching a film or video clips, such media can be assigned to students as homework in the same way that reading is assigned." 

    Finding interesting videos for your class on YouTube is easy. Simply search your topics, be it Martin Luther King with his "I have a dream" speech, or a 3D tour of the solar system - you are likely to get hundreds of results, with the most relevant ones on top. Adding a YouTube search to your lesson preparation routine can spice your materials up with fascinating visual sources that were unavailable before.  

    Another option is to upload your own videos. With a simple web cam and the free MovieMaker utility included with Windows XP (or iMovie in a Mac), you can edit the recording, add subtitles and effects, and save it in the right format. With the regular YouTube account, you are allowed to upload up to 10 minutes of movie time per clip, or up to 100MB. To be able to upload longer videos, you must apply for a Director account, which you can get pending authoritzation.  

    Uploading the file is very simple. You can type in a title, description, and keywords, and choose the category you would like it to appear in. You can also choose whether to make the video public, or to allow only invited individuals to see it. Once the video is uploaded, you can send a link to it through e-mail, or embed it in any blog or a web page.  

  Whether in class or as a homework assignment, YouTube videos can enrich your lessons, bring lessons to students who are home sick, and capture students imaginations. While YouTube huge library of videos isn't always educational, a smart usage and supervision of students use can have a positive impact on your students.