Expected Lesson Time: 14 minutes
Go through the sections below, then test yourself (and get credit) by doing the Lesson Check.
YouTube Channels
You already know that YouTube is full of content that can be harnessed for education, and you’ve learned a bit about how to find and save those videos. So now let’s learn how to curate content and make it easily accessible for you and for your students.
One thing to know about YouTube is that it is based on ‘Channels’. Channels are where content creators host their videos. Anyone can be a content creator and host their content on a YouTube Channel, from National Geographic (with teams of videographers and journalists), to your colleague down the hall (who has started screencasting short how-to videos for her students), to YOU (who by the end of this lesson will have a couple of playlists on your own channel). YouTube is a great place to get introduced to Channels that produce high quality educational videos. Channels such as Khan Academy, Crash Course and Veritasium are just a few examples - and once you find a channel you like, it’s a great idea to subscribe to it right away!
When you ‘subscribe’ to a channel and click the bell, you will get an email update each time that channel uploads new content. Chances are, if you liked a previous video, the new creations coming out of that channel might meet your needs as well. If you do not want to be notified of new video releases, do not click the bell next to the subscribe button.
As you continue to subscribe to channels you are letting YouTube know what you like. Every time you go to YouTube you will be greeted with videos and channels tailored to you based on your likes, watched videos, and channel subscriptions. This is called the ‘What to Watch’ page. As you continue to use YouTube, it gets better and better at helping you discover content you can use to engage students and teach concepts.
But what do you do with all of these videos? How do you make sense of them, and how do you get back to the best ones when you need them? How does video intersect with instruction? That’s what this lesson is all about, so let’s dive in.
Subscribing and Curating
Harnessing YouTube through channel subscriptions and curating playlists can help teachers be more efficient with their time as they can both find videos to enhance the curriculum, AND organize and share those videos with students. Whatever your goal, these skills can help you become more effective and efficient on YouTube.
Subscribe to Channels
Subscribe to channels so that you never miss out on content being produced from your favorite YouTube channels. To get started you could head over to YouTube.com and subscribe to a few of the channels featured there. To subscribe, simply click the Subscribe button.
Access Playlists and Subscriptions in the Guide
YouTube puts all of your subscriptions, playlists, and saved playlists from other users in one place called “the Guide.” You’ll also find links to your channel, your history, and your What to Watch page. The Guide, located on the left side of the screen on desktops, works in a similar fashion across multiple devices so that you can easily get back to your curated content when you want to review it, edit it, or share it. You can open and close the Guide by selecting the Guide icon in the upper left corner of the screen (it’s the icon that consists of three horizontal lines).
Create a Playlist
Playlists are collections of videos that can be organized however you’d like. You can create playlists using your own videos, videos from your favorite channels, or a combination of the two. Teachers can use playlists to organize videos by topic, unit, standards, style (like discussion starter, or direct instruction), or whatever makes sense. The simplest way to start a playlist is by clicking the plus button (+) under a video as you watch it.
Edit and Organize a Playlist
You have a number of options for naming and organizing an individual playlist. You can name the playlist, include a short description, and put the videos in whatever order you’d like. You can also choose the privacy settings for your playlist. All of these editing options are available once you open up one of your playlists from the Guide.
Save Another User’s Playlist
Other channels and even other teachers are making playlists that might be useful for your classes. You can save playlists that were created by someone else if they meet your needs. Click the Add to button on any playlist you are watching, and it will be instantly accessible to you in the Guide.
Share Playlists with Students
You can use playlists as a teacher tool to organize videos that supplement your lessons, but you can also take it a step further, and share playlists with students to increase visibility and accessibility to the content you are teaching. There are many ways to share playlists with students including simply sharing the link through email, or posting directly to Blogger. For those teachers using a variety of online websites for communicating with students, there is an option to embed the playlist within the context of your other classroom resources. To access all these powerful sharing options, click the Share button under a video as you’re watching it.
Playlists to Reach All Students
Scenario
Mrs. Green, a secondary school science teacher, notices that she is having a difficult time meeting the needs of all of her students. Never before has she had such a broad range of learners. At first she decides to go a bit slower, but finds that her more advanced learners are totally disengaged. She is frustrated by how many times she has to review information students should already know, but believes that if she moves through content any faster she will leave too many students behind. At this point Mrs. Green is feeling frustrated - differentiated learning is important, but so difficult with only one of her! She knows she needs to make changes to differentiate for both her advanced learners and those that need remediation with even the most basic concepts.
What could Mrs. Green do to differentiate instruction and more effectively engage her students?
Take 5 Minutes To Come Up With Your Own Ideas
See What We Came Up With
The following are some ideas Mrs. Green could use to get the most out of YouTube and Google Workspace tools so she meets the academic needs of each student.
Build upon existing Skills
Use engaging features of YouTube
Share with a Purpose
Reflect
Lesson Check
Now let's do a quick check to make sure you got this lesson (and that we give you credit for it)!
1. Which of the following best describes someone who can have a YouTube Channel?
2. Which feature allows you to access all your subscriptions, playlists, and saved playlists from other users?
3. By subscribing to a channel, you will get updates every time that channel uploads a new video.
4. Which of the following are benefits of a playlist? (Select all that apply)