To prevent younger students from getting distracted by a dancing cat while a teacher tries to show a YouTube video during class, the video sharing site has launched an education-only setting.
Even though there’s a ton of nonsense on YouTube that can admittedly be distracting to anyone at any age, there is a vast wealth of informative videos that could serve well in the classroom.
YouTube project manager Brian Truong explained on the official YouTube blog that “teachers that they want to use the vast array of educational videos on YouTube in their classrooms, but are concerned that students will be distracted by the latest music video or a video of a cute cat, or a video that might not be appropriate for students.”
Thus, the video sharing site’s developers have added a network setting that enables school administrators with access only to educational content from YouTube EDU.
YouTube has already put considerable effort into the project, which includes digital content from more than 600 partners, including the Smithsonian and TED. Furthermore, YouTube has worked with teachers to curate over 300 playlists categorized by subject (i.e. math, social studies, science, etc.) and by grade level. Teachers can also suggest their own playlists to YouTube.
For a closer look at the YouTube for Schools “global classroom” initiative, check out the promo video below:
