Tech Tools
David Parker
YouTube: Useful Feedback Tool
YouTube, the ubiquitous home of online videos, is a convenient source for content in the classroom for those brave enough to navigate the seemingly endless library. For every thousand videos of someone’s pet cat, there’s a video appropriate for the ESL classroom. One way to assure that your students will learn something from the YouTube videos you use in class is to upload your own videos of the students themselves.
How I Use It
I often take videos in class of my students' oral presentations for assessment purposes. I feel I give more accurate feedback of students' language production after multiple views, rather than taking notes on the fly during the presentation. Students also benefit from watching their own performance and receiving feedback on their production in the context of their presentation. The best way I have found to share the student videos along with the written feedback is to share the videos on YouTube.When I made classroom videos of my students in the past, the process for sharing the videos was rather cumbersome. I would transfer large, high-definition video files from my computer onto each student’s personal thumb drive, which was a time-consuming process. Add to this compatibility issues with video files, and you have a process that most would think not worth the trouble.
YouTube has made the process of sharing and storing videos very easy to handle. A Google account is necessary to start the process. You can log in to your existing account or create a new one by clicking on the button in the top right hand corner of the YouTube homepage and following the onscreen instructions. After logging in, you can start your upload by clicking on the upload button located conveniently next to the search bar at the top of the YouTube homepage. You can then drag and drop the video onto the webpage or search the folders on your computer for the file. Once you’ve chosen the videos you’d like to upload to the site, the upload process takes a couple of minutes depending on the size and length of the video file.
Why It Works
There are many advantages of uploading student videos to YouTube. The first advantage is that most students already know how to watch videos on YouTube, so usability isn’t a concern. In addition, the site automatically converts the video files to a format that is viewable on most computers or mobile devices. Finally, the privacy settings and security features allow the teacher to control who can view the videos. Videos set to private are only accessible to people with a direct link.The videos that you upload will be stored online, saving you the hassle of storing them on your own hard drive and giving you unlimited storage space to upload your library of student videos. The Video Manager also gives many options for organizing the videos for you and your students to access.
While there are some minor drawbacks, such as 15 minute time limit for videos, limited editing capabilities, and no downloading features, YouTube is a great place to store and share student videos.
David Parker is the Senior Language Educator at The Language Connection, St. John’s University, Queens campus. He has been working in intensive English programs for five years. He previously served as e-learning coordinator at the Center for English Language and Literature for International Students (CELCIS) at Western Michigan University.
To contact David about this article, please email editor@dialogue.nystesol.org
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