Online videos enhance, supplement education at home and in the classroom

Jaxson Goeckeritz was just 10 years old when he decided to be a computer programmer.

Neither of his parents had much knowledge on the topic, so they enrolled him in a computer programming class at a nearby university, but it was too boring. Turns out, he had already learned all of the course material from YouTube.

Jaxson's parents had also let their son watch videos from The New Boston, teaching him different aspects and techniques in computer programming with everything from Java to iOS development.

"He has loved computers ever since he was a toddler," said Kim Goeckeritz, Jaxson's mom. "(The videos) really helped him. I have absolutely no interest or expertise or anything in that, and my husband doesn't really either. We needed something to help him with that."

The Goeckeritz's are representative of millions of people who don't just turn to the Internet as a resource for answers to questions, but prefer video streaming sources like YouTube, Vimeo and others to see with their own eyes people sharing their knowledge and skills through demonstrations or just talking.

Kevin Sharp, a high school teacher who uses YouTube videos in class, calls it "21st century learning" and says because video technology is such a part of the students' lives it makes sense to incorporate it into the educational experience.

"I have found, personally, that students respond with much more interest and engagement if you can supplement, like in traditional book learning, with some other form of media," Sharp said.

However, he wouldn't start with YouTube or videos in the teaching process, Sharp said. That's why he finds it best to supplement literature in his classroom with multimedia experiences, improving engagement and a desire to learn in the classroom.

"If the book we read is the Christmas tree, then YouTube videos would be the ornaments that I'm hanging; they're not the central display," Sharp said. "My philosophy is that it works best as a supplement to something else, instead of just the full learning experience."

In the home

YouTube has more than 1 billion users and hundreds of education channels, many of which have millions of subscribers. Many of the charismatic educators on these channels have hundreds of thousands of child fans watching daily and learning about history, math and science.

"In our experience, (the videos) really helped Jaxson to feel confident and expand his love that he already had for computers and computer programming," Kim Goeckeritz said. "He just had a really great experience with it."

Jaxson is now 15 years old, and his career plans have changed. He wants to be a physicist, but that hasn't curbed his YouTube education indulgence. He now watches physics lectures on an MIT channel.

"It wasn't something that we pushed him to do. It's something he did on his own," Kim Goeckeritz said. "He loves to get up early and look at those types of things … when he first got into these physics things, we went and bought him a book at Barnes and Noble, like a book you would probably use in college for a physics class. He really enjoyed the lectures more. He really likes to watch it more to learn from it."

Learning to teach in engaging ways through the use of videos is what Derek Muller studied as a graduate student before tutoring and teaching, and eventually starting a physics educational YouTube channel Veritasium.

"I was always interested in filmmaking. I wanted to do something creative like that," Muller said. "Growth is slow, it comes in fits and starts, especially to begin with. It's like a snowball; it's always harder to make when it's small."

After four years of making videos, Muller's channel now has nearly 3 million subscribers and over 200 videos on scientific problems ranging from "13 Misconceptions About Global Warming" to "Why the Sky ISN'T Blue." About half of his viewers range from age 13 to 24 (YouTube cannot count viewers younger than age 13).

He frequently has children and teens tweeting about watching Veritasium videos in class, as well as emails sharing the things young people have learned or decided to study because of his videos.

With degrees in physics engineering and physics education research, Muller knows what he's talking about and loves sharing in his videos made to help people better understand the world around them.

"There are ways to bring critical thinking to bear on almost any problem, and if they do that they'll be surprised by the conclusions," Muller said of the bigger picture he hopes viewers get from his videos about critical thinking.

In the classroom

Using interactive media is becoming an increasingly popular way of teaching and learning in the classroom where educators are choosing to utilize the technological resources available and teach with some help from online streaming.

Sharp believes combining traditional learning from books and multimedia is the best way for students to learn in today's world, and that is why he regularly uses online videos to go along with the actual literature he uses to teach English and film composition courses at Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, California.

"I kind of run a multimedia classroom, in a way, as I try to bring in as many different types of media material as I can realistically do in a classroom setting," Sharp said. "So you can see these things brought out 'live,' instead of just reading about them."

The most successful execution of this he has seen, so far, has been the reading and study of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in the classroom, while watching each scene of the work from one of six film renderings of the work along the way.

"With YouTube, what I've found is that, you can see the kids physically perk up cause we're going from text on a page to here is the thing, or some aspect of the thing, actually in front of you," Sharp said.

Using pop culture, movie and lecture clips also engages and inspires students to act in the learning process because the clips are often taken from media they are already familiar with, said Mark Grossman, a professor at two community colleges and one university in New York state.

Whether it's a clip from "The Office" to illustrate how not to communicate in a professional setting, or something from a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode to teach about empathy, Grossman has found a wealth of useful YouTube videos to make the classroom more dynamic.

"It gets us engaging and talking about it … to get them talking about something. They might raise questions or have small group discussions," to better understand concepts, after watching something they can relate to, Grossman said.

Technology in teaching is not only being used in traditional classrooms, but it is also employed in religious settings, like with the ShalomLearning Program, where individuals and Jewish organizations can receive traditional Hebrew education virtually, or in select synagogues in the U.S., said Debi Himelfarb, the program's director of operations.

As children learn the seven core values of Judaism, they will learn about the concepts of taking care of the earth, developing inner and outer strength and the power of words — all with the help of different clips and videos.

"The videos are definitely the best part of the curriculum … the fact that (the students) are actually coming to class and doing the homework. It's that they're motivating," Himelfarb said. "Being able to use YouTube has made it really easy to find something to share. We don't have to worry about getting the rights, and it's free."

Online videos in the curriculum are never shown directly off of a website, and students are never instructed or expected to look the videos up themselves, to protect them from any inappropriate content, Himelfarb said.

Safe for children

Making sure children aren't be exposed to inappropriate content that can pop up on any video streaming site is a challenge, makes many parents relieved about the creation of the children-only YouTube site, said Jenny Radesky, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine.

Whether it's a video on how potato chips are made or a clip of a volcano exploding, Radesky has found plenty of wholesome YouTube videos to show her 5-year-old son to teach him more about the world.

"I like to see what he's exposed to, and help him understand or why a person would make this video. If he thinks something is cool we can look into the topic more," Radesky said. "Those are great ways to use the immense amount of content the Internet has of things they wouldn't see in life, but monitoring is a huge component of it — not just handing your kid a tablet and having a constant feed of content."

Videos will continue playing in a constant loop, with YouTube choosing videos that are similar to the content already being watched. However, even when watching something innocent and appropriate doesn't keep less-than-appropriate links to other videos from coming up after a clip ends, Radesky said.

Because of the potential to have constant looping through videos, Hannah Taylor, a young mom in Provo, only uses specific channels with each video already picked out, for her baby.

But Taylor prefers YouTube for her child to hear music, not watch videos.

"On YouTube I just create a playlist of 'Sesame Street' songs and I turn it on and can do stuff for 15 minutes," Taylor said. "I didn't like turning on a full episode, and he would get so bored, but then a song would come on and he would love it. … you can go to the music channel and it plays music clips rather than a full episode, which I like."

With her YouTube app on AppleTV, Taylor plays music that will keep her 7-month-old happy, who "from a young age has loved music," Taylor said.

Taylor believes it's better for her son to have music be a part of his life versus people talking in a show he wouldn't even understand.

Email: mmorgan@deseretnews.com, Twitter: @mandy_morg