Let me begin by saying that I am not the techiest teacher in the world. Part of this is a product of my environment and part of it is just who I am. Although I don’t incorporate technology into all of my lessons it doesn’t mean that I do not see the benefit of it. YouTube is an amazing resource and has been my main technology based teaching aid for the past 10 years. YouTube is not only more entertaining than listening to me talk but it is a good way to differentiate teaching and provide opportunities for people with different learning styles to be successful. Here is a list of 10 ways that YouTube can be beneficial to learning, including; diverse learning styles, flexibility, skill enhancement, and cost effective, just to name a few.
As a physical education teacher (not “gym”) YouTube has served as an excellent aid for activities that can be difficult to teach. Here is a video series that I have often used in my class.
The Yoga with Adriene videos are beneficial for me as a PE teacher because they are skill appropriate with many different levels of difficulty and they are easy to fit within a budget. By staying in the school I can save the cost of the bus and the instructor which is a huge bonus when it comes to running a PE program.
I want to share another video that I have used because it shows the incredible skill that it takes to play this particular game. The video is good because it shows the students how the game is played at the highest level and allows them to understand the rules and strategies and then I am able to adapt the game and teach the skills at the beginner level.
Like other participatory platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, YouTube has many benefits when it comes to learning. I have used these platforms many times as teaching aids but also learning aids for my own professional development and general fix it and repair knowledge. The negative aspect to these platforms is attached to the positive which is anyone can upload information. It is important as educators that we are monitoring the content that we are either allowing or promoting to our students.
Final Thoughts
I think that participatory platforms are a teaching aid that we need to take advantage of in todays world. Students are spending so much time on these platforms as it is so why don’t we try to steer them in a direction that can benefit their learning!
Hi Russell, I am just here to say – I love Yoga with Adriene! Also that I agree – YouTube is incredibly flexible. I even use it to teach about Linear Accelerators and all sorts of RT specific physics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSgnWfbEx1A in case you are curious 🙂
Adriene is great right, and she saves me a lot of money. The video you posted as compared to yoga is a great example of the diverse teaching options on YouTube!
Like you, I use YouTube in my teaching on a regular basis. I teach Science classes and YouTube is a great way to engage the students and explain topics in a new and exciting way. Have you ever used YouTube as a creation tool with your students?
Hey Carol,
I haven’t used YouTube as a creation tool but I have had students create different types of videos in the past. I haven’t done this in the last couple of years but I am guessing if I was to do it now most would end up using YouTube.