Although YouTube has only been in existence since 2005, it has quickly grown into one of the world’s largest media resources, especially for young people. Recent research suggests that approximately 73% of teenagers, for example, are regular viewers of YouTube (Fleck, Beckman, Sterns, & Hussey, 2014). More content is being added to YouTube every minute including a wealth of videos that can be used to teach virtually any subject area imaginable, from preschool through postgraduate levels.

However, YouTube’s commercial nature and streaming format can provide challenges to teachers who want to use YouTube content for instructional purposes. Several safe, reliable, and user-friendly webtools and apps have been developed to help teachers use YouTube in their classrooms.

YouTube Teacher Use Examples