- Home
- Why Technology?
- Why YouTube?
- Integration Tips
- Guiding Principles
- Getting Started
- Your YouTube Channel
- Recording and Uploading Video
- Technical Difficulties
- Just For Fun
Why YouTube?
Which video hosting service you choose to use is up to you. I use YouTube for a number of reasons:
Overview and Stats
In February 2005, three former PayPal employees started YouTube, working from their headquarters situated above a pizzaria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, CA. The video hosting service was officially launched in November, 2005, and just one year later the company was bought by Google for $1.65 billion and now operates as a subsidiary of Google. Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month - that's almost an hour for every person on earth and up more the 50% since over last year. 100 hours of content are uploaded every minute. That's up from 35 hours per minute just two years ago.
Other Video Hosting Services
Utilizing video hosting services, including YouTube, means that you retain ownership of anything you upload. Service is granted permission to use, promote, distribute, etc.
Cautions
- You don’t have to be a techie to get a lot out of it. YouTube is very intuitive and you will find a great deal of supporting information.
- A wide variety of features and options are built in.
- A multitude of videos are available - quantity, quality, global.
- Flexibility and support - Integration with Google Apps is seamless and I have found YouTube videos to be the easiest to embed on my Wordpress and Weebly sites as well as web sites I have made using Dreamweaver. Many apps allow you to post directly from the software to your YouTube channel. Also, conversion to MP3 is supported and easy to do.
- "While there will most certainly continue to be millions of homemade videos available, there will also be a steady increase in educationally appropriate videos" (Rudolf and Frankel, p. 12).
- SafeShare.TV - Short of downloading every video you want to use (which violates YouTube's Terms of Service), I have found SafeShare.TV to be the most effective way of controlling content and it only works with YouTube.
Overview and Stats
In February 2005, three former PayPal employees started YouTube, working from their headquarters situated above a pizzaria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, CA. The video hosting service was officially launched in November, 2005, and just one year later the company was bought by Google for $1.65 billion and now operates as a subsidiary of Google. Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month - that's almost an hour for every person on earth and up more the 50% since over last year. 100 hours of content are uploaded every minute. That's up from 35 hours per minute just two years ago.
- Unregistered users may watch videos and registered users may upload an unlimited number of videos.
- Terms of Service: By using or visiting the YouTube website you signify agreement to their terms of service. Distribution is limited to functionality offered by the service - embedding, MP3 conversion, downloading if link is provided.
- YouTube Channel: Registered users have their own customizable channel. In addition to uploading videos, users may "favorite" others' videos, organize uploads and favorites into playlists, and subscribe to other users (alerts new video uploads). Uploads: 2GB, 15-minutes, as of Dec. 2010. Unlimited uploads for standard accounts with a good history of following site guidelines and policy on copyright. Privacy settings can be set for all videos you upload on your account and changes can be made on individual videos.
- Range of quality levels including HD and 3D.
- When uploading, users may opt to have YouTube-generated captions added to the video.
Other Video Hosting Services
Utilizing video hosting services, including YouTube, means that you retain ownership of anything you upload. Service is granted permission to use, promote, distribute, etc.
- SchoolTube (1 GB/10 min.) – Teacher can have free channel and is the moderator for student channels and all comments. Students under 18 must review terms of service with parent/guardian. Students under 13 must have parent permission to use SchoolTube.
- TeacherTube (100MB/15 min.) – Allows downloading w/citation, uploads are moderated (can be a lengthy amount of time until active).
- Vimeo (500MB/week) - Upload and view original content. Supported by ads, more features available with paid versions.
- 47+ Alternatives to Using YouTube in the Classroom - Great article by Richard Byrne presents overview of many video options.
Cautions
- YouTube is rife with inappropriate content and, as with any new content you introduce in your classroom, videos should be carefully screened.
- YouTube comments are infamous for flaming and expletives but there are ways to make the videos acceptable for classroom use.
- Copyright Law and Terms of Service should guide the legal and ethical use of any video hosting service.
References:
Rudolf, T., & Frankel, J. (2009). YouTube in the music classroom. New York, NY: Hal Leonard Books.
*Available on Amazon
Rudolf, T., & Frankel, J. (2009). YouTube in the music classroom. New York, NY: Hal Leonard Books.
*Available on Amazon