How to safely share YouTube® videos in K-12 schools is a challenge that more and more educators and school administrators face. Video use in K-12 is growing rapidly driven by ubiquitous smart devices, new teaching methods like Flipped Learning that rely heavily on video, and a plethora of high quality, low cost, or free education videos on every subject imaginable.
The Challenge of Working with Online Videos
Many educators create their own teaching videos while others find and use videos created by others. Enterprising students themselves, or with an assist from teachers or parents, may find and use free or paid teaching videos to augment in-class lessons. Often teachers turn to YouTube for hosting or finding their videos because let’s face it, YouTube is packed with content, is free, and enjoys top-of-mind positing. But YouTube is often blocked or heavily restricted on school networks, and asking students to visit YouTube to watch videos can open a world of distractions.
Enter SchoolTube: The Solution For K12 Video
Teachers seeking a solution to safely share YouTube videos in school need only turn to SchoolTube. SchoolTube, which is in no way related to YouTube, is a site 100% dedicated to the needs of K-12 educators and students, includes a service called YouTube Passport. This process enables a YouTube video to be played and shared through SchoolTube, in essence creating a to the YouTube system through SchoolTube. The video is not downloaded from YouTube, so all copyright and creator rights are respected and maintained.
Most importantly, only the video is displayed within SchoolTube so none of the related or suggested YouTube videos or comments are displayed. The result is a safe way to share a YouTube video in a K-12 classroom.
The Process for Bringing Video into Your Classroom
As demonstrated in the above video, the process of setting up a YouTube Passport on SchoolTube is very simple. First, sign up for a free SchoolTube account. Then as an approved Moderator, copy the URL of the video on YouTube and paste it into the Passport field on SchoolTube. Click Preview, and then when the video appears and plays, save it to your SchoolTube channel. That’s it. Now that YouTube video can be safely shared in the classroom or with students sharing the URL of your SchoolTube channel or sharing the SchoolTube URL of the video.
SchoolTube, Here to Help. If you are an educator struggling to safely share YouTube videos with your class, please watch the demo above and sign up for your own SchoolTube account. SchoolTube is a free service for K-12 schools in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. To learn more read our Getting Started Guide, and if ready, sign up for your free account today!
