What YouTube needs to be useful in the classroom

I was one of the late adopters to YouTube. But having once started I have to admit it is actually a great resource. One of the shortcomings of it is its popularity. It went from obscure to supreme in such a relatively short time that the initial and continuing educational reaction to it has been one far beyond reticence to almost revulsion.

Most teachers that I know consider YouTube a nuisance at best and potentially criminally evil at worst. There is so much good and usefully educational material there now that it really has become time for educators to take back territory.

But how when the site still has so much crud? Crud that people like and want to view and I personally think they have a right, but....crud right!?! I mean do I really want learners watching the video of the guy getting scissors stuck in his arm 11 times during class. Or what about Aicha which burned through the school like an Australian Bushfire a couple of years back. Or the more current Numa Numa



Well, in a future post I want to discuss what would make YouTube better, but part of that is also making the content better. We as educators need to put more useful, relevant, and appropriate content on YouTube. We also need to find and use the content with other educators and with administrators, and legislators so they can see the value of using it in the classroom. President Obama used it in his campaign, there must be something to it.