ABSTRACT

YouTube has been adopted by colleges, universities, and educators who have taken advantage of both its content and video-sharing technologies. The alluring benefits of YouTube as an educational resource include the vast amount of free video content, which may be curated into collections directly on YouTube. Free video hosting, basic video editing, and online captioning tools are available for video creators. However, there are challenges when using YouTube as an educational resource. It may be necessary to review multiple videos to find good educational content. Sideline content, such as comments, might be inappropriate. The entire site might be blocked at school or library locations. Copyright issues surface when downloading videos to carry into schools or when uploading videos containing copyrighted materials. This chapter contains an overview of benefits and challenges that should be considered when turning to YouTube as an educational resource. Practical suggestions are offered for addressing challenges.