Using YouTube in the Classroom: YouTube, They Learn
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
YouTube in the classroom. Recently, I observed a class that used YouTube and saw a conference presentation by two ESOL instructors, John Armbrust and Alexandria Cesar, entitled: “YouTube: U Trouble?”
Both of these experienced have shown me the possibilities of YouTube in the classroom. While John Armbrust and Alexandria Cesar initially saw some problems with YouTube, their ESL class ended up developing a great way to evaluate YouTube videos for use in an academic setting.
Once we have some guidelines, YouTube can be integrated in so many ways. Armbrust used YouTube videos to enhance readings in his grammar class. Students read from a book, listened to a recording of the passage and then watched a YouTube video on the topic. What an exciting idea!
We just have to get over the fear of inappropriate content on YouTube. For your next unit, explore the possibility of YouTube. There is so much good content and the films are so short and easy to find. They can be perfect!
But before you let students do anything with YouTube, make sure you give them some guidelines. Some very clear guidelines, otherwise you will end up with a catastrophe like the first time I had students use YouTube. I ended up with a very sexy music video on our class wiki. Let me tell you, even though the student wrote a nice paragraph about the music, the YouTube video was not appropriate. That time YouTube was U Trouble. But Armbrust and Cesar have proven that it doesn’t always have to be like that. You just have to be very clear with your students.
