This week we continue our overview of video hosting web sites focused exclusively on education. Last week I was impressed with TeacherTube, and this week we look at lesser known competitors EduTube.org and MyLearningTube.com, and wrap up with mention of a few other education oriented online video resources I came across.
EduTube.org
Like TeacherTube, EduTube.org also monitors postings and limits them to appropriate content – no ads, mature content, low quality videos, nothing that does not have educational value, and nothing promoting hatred, violence, or intolerance. Unlike YouTube, the interface is not designed to emulate YouTube, but it seems rather straightforward. They have a nice search screen available (pictured below), allowing one to use a variety of parameters to locate videos that are right for applicable uses.
Looking at these two sites from a quantitative perspective, according to Wikipedia, as of July, 2008, TeacherTube was hosting about 26,000 videos. I was unable to determine the approximate number of videos currently hosted at EduTube, but searching the site by category led me to believe that they have quite a way to go to catch up to TeacherTube in volume of offerings, but it appears that a number of the offerings they do have get a good deal of traffic (views).
My Learning Tube
MyLearningTube (located at, you guessed it – http://www.mylearningtube.com/) was put up in May 2007, but it seems to still be very much a work in progress. It has a nice overall appearance, but I have to say that I was turned off by a lot of advertising going on here, with ad lists in windows seemingly on every side of the screen, and also coming up in ‘results' from searches. There was no obvious FAQ section, and the ‘About Us' link took me to a blank page. I poked around a little longer, and seeing what appeared to be a relatively low number of videos (and the ones I looked at had pretty limited viewership), it appears that MyLearningTube has a way to go to become a resource as useful as TeacherTube or EduTube.
Other Resources
Web-based video in Education (blog)
This blog focuses on web based video in education: http://web-based-video.blogspot.com/. It is only updated once or twice a month, but there is a nice collection of articles and related links here, making this a worthwhile site to peruse, or subscribe to, if you are particularly interested in this topic.
Next?
Looking into these products made me want to better understand what's going on with Podcasting as it relates to education. I know there are a growing number of sites focused on this, including major player Apple with “iTunes U”. Come back and check it out with me next week!
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