YouTube+Social+Media+5.1

Katelyn Burke Assignment 5.1 EDP 279 What is file sharing?- Social Media- YouTube

The website, YouTube.com, is a site that we see pop up in our lives almost daily. Whether you need instructions on how to do something, your friend sends you a link to a viral video, or you are in class and your professor is showing you video examples on YouTube, it is one of the most commonly used social media websites. According to “The Social Media Revolution 2012” video, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and just in the four minutes of watching that informational video, over one hundred hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube.

According to Wikipedia, file sharing is the practice of distributing and providing access to digitally stored information such as multimedia (the category that YouTube fits into), documents, computer programs, and electronic books. YouTube is a video sharing website that has been in existence since 2005. It has been launched in several different countries and users can upload their own videos and watch the videos uploaded by others, including individuals, companies, or advertisers.

Since the launch of YouTube was right before my high school career, as the years went on, I saw its use become more prevalent in my education. It was used to illustrate concepts especially in my science classes and history classes. When the school put SmartBoards in every classroom my junior year of high school, the use of YouTube skyrocketed. I even remember watching Obama’s oath of office on YouTube in my American history class. Now in college it is used in almost every one of my education classes. We watch examples of teaching styles or of behaviors and how to deal with them. Also instructional videos are watched often for practical advice like the one I made last week for EDP 279 about the basic use of a SmartBoard.

YouTube videos are engaging and realistic and can be a quick and easy way to access examples to concepts. Since the Internet and social media sites are what so many students spend hours on per day for enjoyment and find such an interest in, why not use them for teaching purposes? Students usually know how to navigate these sites and will become more interested in the material when they find out they can learn about it on a site like YouTube that they may frequent so often.

Teachers can even create their own YouTube channel for their class and upload their own instructional videos, or other instructional videos they find relevant for students to watch in class or on their own time. Although social media can be a distraction for students when they are using it for reasons that may not be educational, it could also be used as a motivator to get students involved in the curriculum. Students can even create and upload their own videos teaching a topic or mastering a skill and then present it to the class, it really makes learning fun for everyone.

www.youtube.com http://www.gilsmethod.com/social-media-can-it-actually-enhance-education http://voices.yahoo.com/how-internet-enhance-4263733.html?cat=25