Using YouTube material in your classes

Free video resources that can enhance your classes

We teach at a distributed university. As teachers, we use a combination of technologies and methodologies to reach our students. These tend to consist of whatever we have selected in terms of books or multimedia material, and whatever presentations we provide and conversations we have via whatever online media channels we have decided to use. The reality is that we learn best when we have options for presentations, follow-up and support. Everyone learns at least slightly differently. Providing a number of ways to address the same material can be helpful for students.

Using YouTube in your classes

Distributed social media (media that anyone can create and distribute) has a bad name in academia that is not entirely deserved. YouTube is a good case in point. Sure, there’s lots of goofy, unintelligible and just plain wrong stuff on YouTube. But there is also some great stuff too. A focused search for an academic topic reveals that many professors post lectures and, more importantly, short presentations about specific topics that you and your students might find helpful.

Searching for statistical significance

For example, a concept that is important to many of us is “statistical significance.” I searched YouTube recently and found a number of academic mini-lessons (generally 4- 9 minutes in length) taught by professors from a number of universities that explained this concept. Again, what is important is the range of explanations that are available, expanding the possibility that one will connect with you.

I liked this 8-minute mini-lesson created by Dr. Tim Urdan, author of Statistics in Plain English. You might prefer this 5-minute explanation from Educate Virtually about the p value. In fact, Educate Virtually provides a number of free mini lessons via YouTube about concepts in statistics that you might find helpful as supplemental material for your students.

Hold the pizzazz. All of these presentations are short on media glitz, which is fine with me. I just wanted a clear, focused explanation. And that's what I got.

But it is not peer reviewed. Neither are your lectures. What these YouTube presentations are, however, is created by credible people, with credentials, which you and your class can then peer review. Like any information source, it should be critiqued.

Class ideas

This opens up many possibilities, including:

• Asking students to review presentations on topics from a class you are teaching, comparing and contrasting your text with what they watched. Their final product could be a critical presentation about what they saw on YouTube.

• Asking students to post their own short explanations of a concept on YouTube. Most recent laptops have built-in mics and video cameras that make this very possible. I recommend one shot, no editing. Production values are not the point here.

• Posting mini-lessons yourself on YouTube on particular topics that you find your students are having a difficult time with. I often do this in direct response to questions about topics that cluster in certain areas. A side benefit is that students from other universities will be able to benefit from the posting as well.

YouTube is now my first stop when I want a quick explanation about something, whether about statistical significance, how to do something in Photoshop or even salmon filleting techniques. After all those years in Alaska, I thought my filleting skills were pretty good. Yet, the author of a YouTube video I watched showed me some tricks I never knew before.

Step one: Screen casting

One of my favorite tools for reaching out to distance students is screen casting. Screen casts are very low bandwidth and easy to create.

A screen cast makes a movie of what is on your computer screen. In addition, it allows you to record your voice, so you can explain what people are watching. In a typical application, students listen to you explain what you have recorded, and watch as you move your cursor - pointing, clicking and highlighting material you are referring to. Needless to say, this isn't just for teachers- students could also send you work in the same form.

A few typical uses of this are: 1) demonstrating how to do something (like find your way to a particular part of a website, or use a particular function in a piece of software) or 2) explaining something on a handout or student assignment.

The screen cast below shows me doing both of these.

(Reference: Screencasting for teachers from Jason Ohler on Vimeo).

If you watched the screen cast above, you'll note that I ended it by saying I recommend you make these only a few minutes long- use them as video "post-it-notes." Don't edit! If you try to make these perfect, and edit out every time you cough or the dog barks in the background, they will take too long and you won't do them. But I also ended the screen cast by mentioning that you could make these as long as you like. You can even, for example, voice annotate (that is, "talk over") a PowerPoint presentation. Click here if you would like to see a short example of that.

Note the shift here from text only to voice and image. Typically when a student wants input about something, you respond with a lengthy email. When you use screen casting, you show, rather than tell.

I am not saying this replaces typed responses. I still do a lot of that. Screencasting is just another tool for you to consider.

What software to use?

In the software world there is free, sort of free and not free. I love free, but you get what you pay for.

From my perspective, if I pay for a piece of software that I use all the time that is very helpful in my professional practice, that is no different than a trades person spending money on a power tool, or someone who loves to cook spending money on a very helpful appliance. So, I encourage you to get the tools you need to help you do your job, and have fun at the same time.

As of 1/17/2011, here is what I know based on some recent searching.

Jing
- free and sort of free ($12.95/year for the upgrade to the Pro version)
- for Mac and PC
- I found it easy to learn and use, and recommend going pro

Without the Pro upgrade, Screencast.com stores your Jing files for you. You can reference them but you can never download them, put them on Youtube, etc. Instead, you give your students a web address where Jing has stored them. This works, but, to me, is awkward. Also, you have a 5 minute limit in the non-pro version.

When you go Pro, Jing makes it very easy to publish your work on Youtube- this, to me, is what you want. You will then tell your students where to find it, and may include the web address in any online course you have created. And, if you like, you can store it on your computer and edit it, if later on you want to compile your work. Also, the 5 minute limitation is removed.

Camtasia Studio
- not free ($180 for the PC, $100 for the Mac)
- for Mac and PC
- easy to learn, very powerful, the industry standard

This is the industry standard. If you are going to do a lot of screen casting, then I recommend that you get it. Great reviews, works very well, very powerful but still pretty easy to learn. If you do buy it, go through Academic Superstore (a great place to get deals on software for educators). The link I provided for Camtasia above takes you directly to Academic Superstore's page for Camtasia.

SnapZ
- not free ($69)
- Mac only
- very easy to use; it is what I use

A basic, screen casting package. I started using it years ago and haven't seen a reason to switch. I created the screencast on this page with it.

Screenflow
- not free ($99)
- Mac only; Snapz's biggest competitor
- have not use it, hear it's great

Debut Video Capture
- free and sort of free ($39.95 for the Pro version)
- PC only
- I played with it a bit and was impressed; easy to learn, seemed to get the job done.

To be honest, I don't know what the Pro version offers that the free version doesn't.

Comments? Questions? Do you have screen casting software you like that I didn't mention? Add to the discussion by posting in comments box below.