Using YouTube in the Classroom: Issues and Oportunities

The use of online videos has become more commonplace in classroom teaching and has been an observable and growing trend. The accessibility of the same materials further reinforces the change in roles of the teacher, from gatekeeper of knowledge to learning facilitator. The question posed by this research is that if a student has free and easy access to the same materials that are being used to teach them in class, how does this affect their perceptions when presented with this material in the classroom environment? What are their perceptions regarding the perceived value for money, efficacy and authority of the material?

This presentation will build upon an earlier talk given at EduLearn 2011 in Barcelona in July. This will also incorporate some early reflections on a continuation project, funded as a SCORE fellowship with the Open University. This latest work is exploring how to involve students in finding and evaluating OER materials (including online videos) into their course materials and follow on directly from some of the findings of the earlier project.

As we move towards a world where anybody can create professional looking multimedia content it becomes more important than ever to equip students with the skills to navigate this enormous amount of material to find the best resources for their education.