YouTube: Probably a Curse, but Possibly a Blessing

As I am sure all of my fellow digital natives are aware, most schools have blocked access to YouTube. Why would schools do such a thing? It is clearly because all teachers simply want to watch the world burn. No, it is because YouTube is primarily used for entertainment not education. Thus, YouTube would cause more harm than good and result in students becoming distracted.

When reminiscing on my glory days of high school, I can fondly remember all of the amazing things I learned when in the computer room. The teacher would provide the class with instructions for our power point presentations on foreign countries and tirelessly explain that Africa is a continent, not a country. Once the teacher's instructions were finished and I had wiped away the drool from my mindless day dreaming, I spun around and approached the keyboard with furious determination to complete the assignment. I had the world in the palm of my hands; I could do anything. But with great power comes great responsibility. I abused that responsibility. By the time I had logged into the computer, the assignment's instructions were snuggled up in the back of my mind while procrastination took the driver's seat. The first thing I did was to try and see what websites I could get into were blocked. Facebook? Nope. Addicting Games? Nothing. YouTube? Double nope. I guess I was going to have to settle for playing chess against the computer. The point I am trying to make is that, if there is a will there is a way. Even though there was several obstacles placed in front of me, I still found a way to avoid my responsibilities. But instead of completely blocking websites for being possible distractions, educators could use websites such as YouTube as possible learning tools.

Although YouTube is blocked to the students, teachers are commonly given access to the website. This access to YouTube has allowed teachers to use the vast amounts of visual resources to provide supplementary learning tools to the students. For example, in my senior year of high school we were required to read Johnny Got His Gun. The idea of man with no arms, legs, or face that constantly refers to flashbacks told through advance vocabulary can be difficult for a young learner to understand. But my English teacher presented us the music video to Metallica's "One." The song was inspired by the book and the music video contained many references to the book. This extra reference allowed many of us in the classroom to gain the understanding we needed to get through the rest of the book. If it wasn't for YouTube I probably would have completely forgotten about Johnny Got His Gun. Now what if we gave this power directly to the student?

I think it is fair to say students are going to easily find distractions from their work. Giving them access to YouTube would only expand their options. But what if we monitored and guided what they viewed on YouTube. Instead of simply monitoring the classroom's use of YouTube by stalking around the classroom, they could go even further. Before the beginning of a less, the teacher could provide links to useful videos on YouTube that are relevant to the lesson and provide students with a further understanding of the subject. That way it will be more difficult for students to stray from the assignment on YouTube without completely blocking its uses. YouTube is most likely a distraction, but it could possibly be a blessing.

Here is an example of a video that could be used to help English student's gain an understanding of Bram Stroker's Dracula in an interesting and comedic form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juu-7H0Z2RU