YouTube Awesomeness

Level: Beginner-Intermediate

Audience: Educators & Beyond

Today, young people watch more YouTube than they do television, so schools should be leveraging this awesome platform for student learning and student voice. Expect to make a YouTube channel in this session, and in the least record and upload a video so you can see how easy it is! YouTube is arguably one of the most powerful social media resources for teaching and learning, whether you want to simply curate videos used in class or develop your own channel. The session will include basics to advanced, moving from setup to branding. *Important note: this session is more about setting up your channel, not solely strategies for YouTube in classroom lessons.

• Setting up a featured video or playlist, and a channel ad / trailer
• Upload defaults (such as tags, descriptions, language, etc, so that all video uploads have some of the same content (saves time)
• Proper sizing for a channel banner, profile image and subscriber watermark
• Channel status and features (setting up a custom URL for your channel, activating monetization, custom thumbnails, live streaming, etc)
• Adding subtitles / language options
• Watermark branding
• End cards and Cards (the pop-ups that direct people to your next video, another web site, external link, or a poll)
• Analytics (how many views and minutes you have per video, how much money you've made, and how AdSense works, necessary to get paid - not that I've ever had the good fortune ;)
• Monetization settings and how advertising on Youtube works

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Pre-session preparation is advised, but not necessary.

To maximize time in the session have images ready, and perhaps banking information (for AdSense).

What images should you prepare?

Want a general image background? Go to Google Images and search keywords, such as “free music wallpaper”. Click on “Tools”. Choose “Usage rights” and choose “Labeled for reuse with modification”. (this ensures you are not breaking copyright law) Download the image and use it to create your banner. Be ready to have areas of it cropped to fit YouTube’s banner dimensions.

What do you want the world to see? Would it be best to use an image of yourself? Bring a high resolution image in which your face doesn’t cover the whole space. (YouTube Channel Banners don’t recognise the entire image - “Minimum safe area for text and logos: 1546 x 423 px. Larger images may get cropped on certain views or devices.” Learn more about YouTube channel art at: https://goo.gl/YikqCC

Suggestions for Making Your Banner

Bannersnack - YouTube Banner Maker (maximum 10 designs for free). https://www.bannersnack.com/

Canva: https://www.canva.com/

Create your own image and crop using Preview in Mac. https://goo.gl/2Pvk5Q