YouTube and the SMS classroom

YouTube is “a video sharing site”.

“Video sharing” might be the formal way of describing it. But that formal description does not begin to capture what the spirit of what YouTube really is and does.

YouTube is not just a site where you watch videos other people have shared. It also means that if you have videos of your own that you want to share, you can upload them for others to see.

YouTube is a site that builds community. When people upload their own videos there, other people comment on the videos, and still other people comment on the comments.

You are invited to share the conversation. To participate fully, you are expected to join the conversation.

So it’s not just a place to watch passively. It’s a place to join and contribute to, even if you have no videos of your own to share.

As an SMS trainer who is instructing in a Gen Y classroom, this is great information for you to know.

Although all age groups use YouTube, the heaviest sharing users fall into the 18 to 29 years.

Gen Y is turning itself into a generation of community, not just consumers.“Fifty-one percent of our users go to YouTube weekly or more often, and 52 percent of 18-34 year-olds share videos often with friends and colleagues”. (italics ours)

Learning more

Here’s a really easy to read quick overview of YouTube and how to use it. Taking a few minutes to read the overview will really pay off. The idea of community just jumps off the page.

How to use YouTube like a pro Most YouTube videos are very short so you can review quite a few in an hour.

You can create your own classrom group about SMS, and you can make it private or public.

Using YouTube in the SMS classroom

1. Research: Ask your students to go to YouTube and look for videos about safety management issues

2. Use to train the critical faculties for identifying hazards. Give them links to a couple of aviation videos that you think include potentially unsafe practices or conditions.

3. Assign videos to watch and discuss in class. Topics can include

What’s wrong with this picture?
what other industries are into SMS?

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