YouTube in education
The video sharing platform YouTube has become widely used in educational settings.
History
YouTube was founded as a video distribution platform in 2005 and is now the most visited website in the US as of 2019.[1] Almost immediately after the site's launch, educational institutions, such as MIT OpenCourseWare and TED, were using it for the distribution of their content. Soon after, many independent creators began to experiment with science learning. Some of the most popular early educators are listed below:
Khan Academy
Khan Academy creates tutorials in almost all areas of science and mathematics, as well as providing official SAT preparation. The YouTube channel was founded in 2006 by Sal Khan who at the time was working as a financial analyst. The videos he created reached unprecedented levels of popularity, with hundreds of millions of views in the first few years of operation.[2] This lead Khan to start the Khan Academy Non-profit Organization in 2008 and quit his job to focus on education in 2009. To date, Khan Academy has produced over 20,000 videos[3] with over 1.7 billion views on YouTube.[4]
Smarter Every Day
Destin Sandlin, the creator of the YouTube channel "Smarter Every Day", has been posting educational videos on the site since 2007. Each episode of the series poses a specific yet interesting question or topic. Over the course of about a half an hour, Destin meets with experts and experiments with different concepts in order to gain an in depth understanding of the topic, and presents it to the YouTube audience. Destin's videos covers everything from in depth rocket science[5][6] to understanding the way our brain works by training to use a "backwards bike".[7] Destin interviewed President Barack Obama in 2016.[8]
Vsauce
Vsauce began in the mind of Michael Stephens in 2010, with the name itself coming from a random name generator.[9] The channel originally focused on shows such as DONG (Do Online Now Guys) which showcased cool and interesting websites. However, the main videos on the Vsauce channel that gained a massive amount of attention came with the educational videos. In these short videos, Michael takes a simple question and uses math, physics, and even psychology to deconstruct the question and pose an interesting conclusion to the topic through the lens of analytic thinking. Today, Vsauce is now one of the most popular educational channels on the platform, and has led to the creation of other channels such as Vsauce 2 and 3, hosted by Kevin Lieber and Jake Roper respectively. Michael also co-hosted a live show called Brain Candy Live! with Mythbusters' former host Adam Savage which toured across the United States in 2017.
YouTube EDU
YouTube created YouTube EDU in 2009 as a repository for its educational content. As of 2015, over 700,000 videos were part of YouTube EDU.[10] Content within YouTube EDU is produced by PBS, Khan Academy, Steve Spangler Science, Numberphile, and TED, among others.[11]
Medical education
YouTube videos have been used to teach medical content. In an anatomy course incorporating YouTube, 98% of students watched the assigned videos and 92% stated that they were helpful in teaching anatomical concepts.[12] A 2013 study focused on clinical skills education from YouTube found that the 100 most accessible videos across a variety of topics (venipuncture, wound care, pain assessment, CPR, and others) were generally unsatisfactory.[13]
The value of YouTube in relation to dentistry and dental education has also been evaluated. Dentistry videos specifically categorized as "education" were rated as having a much higher value to dentistry students compared to videos in the more broad "all" category. Most of the videos marked as "education" were viewed as remarkably high quality by dental experts.[14]
List of education channels on YouTube
Channel Name | Year Joined | Description | Number of Subscribers (As of 15 December 2020) | Channel Link |
---|---|---|---|---|
Smarter Every Day | 2006 | Creates in depth videos on niche topics ranging through every area of science | 9,210,000 | https://www.youtube.com/user/destinws2 |
3Blue1Brown | 2015 | Discusses Advanced Math Topics (Calculus, Differential Equations, Geometry, Applied Mathematical Physics) | 3,310,000 | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw |
CrashCourse | 2006 | All Topics (different subjects arranged into playlists) | 11,700,000 | https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse |
Vsauce | 2010 | Produces videos from all aspects of science | 16,300,000 | https://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce |
Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell | 2013 | Creates animated videos for a variety of science topics such as physics, biology, and astronomy | 13,600,000 | https://www.youtube.com/user/Kurzgesagt/videos |
Khan Academy | 2006 | Provides narrated videos of science and humanities topics for both test preparation and entertainment | 6,190,000 | https://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy |
Everyday Astronaut | 2013 | Mostly focuses on aerospace engineering and space news | 845,000 | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6uKrU_WqJ1R2HMTY3LIx5Q |
TED Talks | 2006 | Keynotes and discussions by experts in all topics both scientific and humanities | 18,500,000 | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug |
The King of Random | 2010 | Creates videos on experimenting and learning through hands on experience | 12,600,000 | https://www.youtube.com/user/01032010814 |
AsapSCIENCE | 2012 | Creates short science videos exploring an aspect of life usually involving physics, biology, psychology, and more | 9,510,000 | https://www.youtube.com/user/AsapSCIENCE |
Michel van Beizen | 2012 | Makes in-depth videos on Physics, Chemistry, Math, Astronomy, and Engineering | 660,000 | https://www.youtube.com/user/ilectureonline |
Primer | 2018 | Examines biological topics through math and statistics, specifically natural selection | 1,030,000 | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKzJFdi57J53Vr_BkTfN3uQ |
Physics Girl | 2011 | physical sciences with experiments, demonstrations, and cool new discoveries | 1,750,000 | https://www.youtube.com/user/physicswoman/featured |
SciShow | 2012 | Various science topics; spin-off channels on specific topics include SciShow Space, SciShow Psych, and SciShow Kids. | 6,460,000 | https://www.youtube.com/scishow |
See also
References
- Hardwick, Joshua (2019-06-25). "Top 100 Most Visited Websites by Search Traffic (as of 2019)". SEO Blog by Ahrefs. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
- "Bookmark: The Prof Who Keeps His Shirt On". Outlook (India). Retrieved 2019-10-29.
- "Khan Academy". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
- "Khan Academy". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
- Delta IV Heavy Pad Tour, (with CEO Tory Bruno) - Smarter Every Day 199, retrieved 2019-11-21
- How to FLY A SPACESHIP to the SPACE STATION - Smarter Every Day 131, retrieved 2019-11-21
- The Backwards Brain Bicycle - Smarter Every Day 133, retrieved 2019-11-21
- The YouTube Interview with President Obama, retrieved 2019-11-21
- MAKE YOUR CAT A DJ -- and more! LÜT #18, retrieved 2019-11-21
- Harven, Michelle (7 January 2015). "What YouTube is Doing for Education". Ed Tech Times. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
- Nast, Phil. "YouTube for Educators". National Education Association. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
- Jaffar, Akram Abood (2012). "YouTube: An emerging tool in anatomy education". Anatomical Sciences Education. 5 (3): 158–164. doi:10.1002/ase.1268. PMID 22383096.
- Duncan, Ian; Yarwood-Ross, Lee; Haigh, Carol (2013). "YouTube as a source of clinical skills education". Nurse Education Today. 33 (12): 1576–1580. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2012.12.013. PMID 23332710.
- Knösel, Michael; Jung, Klaus; Bleckmann, Annalen (2011-12-01). "YouTube, Dentistry, and Dental Education". Journal of Dental Education. 75 (12): 1558–1568. ISSN 0022-0337. PMID 22184594.