YouTube is one of the world's most popular video services, and it's one of the first things people think of when they think of video online.
YouTube has several advantages: it is free, well-known, and reliable. But it also has limited features and is not appropriate for every use.
Unlike some of the other platforms we discuss in this guide, YouTube does not have recording tools. You will need a pre-existing video to upload.
To upload to YouTube, you'll need a Google account. This can include the Google Workspace account you use at NYU. Think about where your video will be used. If you intend to use it across multiple institutions, you may be better off uploading with a personal account. If you intend to upload content specifically associated with an NYU course, it might be advisable to use your NYU account to separate that content from personal uploads (or use NYU Stream instead!)
Adding video to YouTube is not too complicated, but it does involve a number of steps that can be hard to keep track off your first time.
The following video provides a comprehensive summary of the entire process.
One thing that's important to keep in mind about YouTube: it's a social media platform as much as it is a video host.
That is not to say that there isn't a lot of quality educational content on YouTube; there is. But it is all content intended to be seen by as many people as possible.
YouTube has limited controls for adjusting who can see your video. A video can be Private, Unlisted, or Public.
Private videos are only visible by people you specifically invite. They will also need a Google account. This is not a practical solution for sharing videos with large groups like classes of students.
Unlisted videos are not as easy to search for, but they are still viewable by anyone who has the link. They are still effectively public.
Public videos are publicly available and can be found in YouTube's search.
So ask yourself: who is your audience? If your answer is "everyone," then YouTube is a fine choice. Your video will be publicly available and easy to discover. But similarly, there be little stopping a viewer from using a video elsewhere or downloading it for themself.
YouTube will auto-generate captions for your video, but they are poorly formatted and difficult to read. It does give you tools to correct those captions, but given their initial state, that would be more time-consuming than other platforms.
You can add externally generated captions to YouTube videos if your order them from another service.
Once your video is available on YouTube, you have several ways to share it.
You can always just link to the video page. But you may want to include the video in within other content, like a Brightspace page.
Check out this video to see how to embed your YouTube videos.