As Bob Dylan once put it, "The Times They Are A-changin'."
The way we learned in school by sitting at a desk with a pencil, book, and notebook is no longer the norm. Modern classrooms are changing at a rapid pace. As technologies such as capacitative touchscreens and cloud computing are becoming more commonplace in the classroom, they are revolutionizing the how, where, and when students learn and share information.
Keeping up with the changes can often seem daunting as technology continues to grow and change everyday. However, rest assured that technology has and will continue to be at the forefront of human education. Whether it was the invention of the radio in the 1920's, the overhead projector in 1930, the photocopier in 1959, or the Scantron in 1972, played a large part in the education of humans.
As technology grew, so did the number of students enrolled in school. As reported by the U.S. Department of Education, high school enrollment was only 10% in 1900 but by 1992 enrollment had expanded to 95%. While the number of students enrolled in college swelled to 21.6 million in 2012 from around 1 million in 1930. As student populations continue to grow, teachers need new methods of instruction and testing, while students were looking for new ways to communicate, study, and learn.
Enter YouTube. Deployed onto the internet on the 14th of February 2005, Youtube has revolutionized the way we learn, teach, and consume information. To provide some context to its impact on the world, here are some interesting facts:
From fixing a flat, to a product review, to creating a gourmet dinner, countless people have turned to YouTube to solve their everyday problems. However, take a closer look and you will find that YouTube is full of rich learning opportunities. Whether it is through the variety of learning channels that teachers can use to support their lessons, or the ability for students and teachers to create and share their own content, YouTube has the capacity to make learning interesting and exciting for various education stakeholders.
The students they are a'changin', and educators must keep up with the changes. Instead of teaching the way we were taught, today’s educators need to reach out to students by using the same devices and techniques they’re using. One of those tools is YouTube.
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