Attending the first YouTube Summit in San Bruno was an eye-opening experience. As an educator who has dabbled in making her own videos to effectively flip my classroom, I was blown away by vast array of incredible content being produced and hosted on YouTube.

YouTube videos have been labeled by many in the education space as “inappropriate,” “lacking credibility” and “more entertainment than educational.” This is why so many schools block YouTube.

Times are changing and YouTube Edu is a reflection of that change. The Summit was a meeting of the minds and felt a bit like a think tank, where conversation and collaboration were encouraged. It brought together big names like Michael Horn, Salman Khan, Sir Ken Robinson, content creators and an assortment of people from the education space to discuss the potential for video in education.

In two days, we talked about issues ranging from how to change the perception of YouTube in education to fostering connections between the creative minds making content and the educators using it. It was fascinating and captured my curiosity about what content was being produced. 

 Time is, and probably always will be, the biggest hurdle for most educators when it comes to exploring new things.  Since I know this shortage of time is something many educators can relate to, I want to share some of the fantastic educational YouTube channels I found as a result of this Summit. 

Vi Hart – Mathematical Doodling, quirky storytelling, and so much more! 

Not only does Vi Hart intrigue the mathematical mind with her doodles, but she appeals to a wider audience as she explores math in new innovative ways. As an English teacher, I was hooked when I saw her post “Are Shakespeare’s Plays Encoded with Pi?” 

Click here to check out Vi Hart’s channel. 

C.G.P. Grey – Explaining the hard to explain!

C.G.P. Grey combines eye-catching animation with a face-paced explanations (and wicked sense of humor) to create these interesting videos. As we gear up for our November elections, I’d suggest sharing his video “What if the electoral college is tied?”  He had me at “Tie-Tackular.”

Click here to check out C.G.P. Grey’s channel. 

Crash Course – Proving that science and history are anything but boring!

Brothers John (history buff) and Hank (science super star) make learning ecology, decolonization and fungi, not only fun, but fascinating! It’s so entertaining to watch that you almost don’t realize how much you just learned. Definitely worth checking out, especially for students who tend to “check out” in class. 

Click here to check out Crash Course’s channel. 

Minute Physics – Sweeting science and making physics cool too!

http://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics?feature=results_main

Easy to digest, interesting videos on all things science. Ever ask yourself questions like, “Why is it dark at night?” or “How can I count to infinity?” then this is the channel for you! Disclaimer: you may walk away with more questions than you had when you began…but isn’t that what real learning is all about?

Click here to check out MinutePhysics channel. 

Spanish is Your Amigo – Simple Spanish Lessons

Kristen Williams shares her passion for language with these simple Spanish videos. Whether you are looking to support your students outside of the classroom or supplement your own language learning, these videos are worth checking out. 

Click here to check out Spanish is Your Amigo channel. 

If you have favorite YouTube channels you subscribe to, share them here and let me know how you are using them with your students. 

3 Responses

  1. Love your blog and the ideas you are sharing! Just wondering why all the videos are screenshots rather than embedded? Is this by design or a technical issue?

    • Hi Chris,

      I was having issues getting my links to pop up as videos, but your comment put a fire under me to troubleshoot my issue! Finally got it sorted this morning.

      Take care.

      Catlin

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