Educators are all discovering the real power of videos during distance learning! Videos have become a medium that is crucial in the delivery of instruction as well as a learning resource for both students and teachers. The use of videos has its own set of caveats, however. Here are a few clarification points as well as some suggestions surrounding the use of YouTube videos for instructional purposes with students.
- You can use YouTube, but there is no guarantee that the videos will be viewable by students. Even our Google Administrator cannot say, for certain, which videos will make it through and which will be blocked. Use at your own risk. There are no guarantees, unfortunately.
- We should not be using any “YouTube rippers,” sites or applications that allow you to download YouTube videos or give links that take out advertisements. This gets into copyright issues that we need to avoid. If you would like to remove the side videos that appear, use the following URL modifier so the video opens in a window all by itself:
- To force YouTube videos to open in their own single window, full screen, without suggested videos off to the side, without ads, etc. try this: When looking at a YouTube link, they all have the same general look such as:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOru6L22zoM
- To force the video to play in a single screen, modify the url just slightly…
- Add _popup directly BEFORE each question mark, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=HOru6L22zoM
- This tip does NOT allow blocked videos through our filters though.
- Other sources for content and instructional videos are:
- Discovery Streaming. Staff and students have access to Discovery content through this link: bls.discoveryeducation.com. Teachers can even set up classes in Discovery and assign videos for students to watch when they log in.
- PBS LearningMedia. Another free resources that even allows some videos to be downloaded and shared. Here’s a great post from our Teaching and Learning Blog showing how to use this resource.