Home Free Tools & Resources TeacherTube, and other YouTube alternatives for instructional use (part 2 of 2)

TeacherTube, and other YouTube alternatives for instructional use (part 2 of 2)

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Kelly Walsh
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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.

Edutube search screen

 
EduTube provides a nice FAQ page to answer various other questions you might have about the site. EduTube also emphasizes support for the upload and distribution of Podcasts. Overall, EduTube seems to be a worthwhile resource for educators to be aware of, and will only become more so as it's audience and contributor base grow.
No. of videos and views at TeacherTube versus EduTube?
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

Here are a few other interesting resources I came across in my research into this topic. 
 
I missed this site in my initial searches, but later came across it as I continued my research. This site is focused K-12 (making it less universal then TeacherTube or EduTube). A quick glance shows what appears to be a mature and useful site that is focused on moderating videos to keep them safe. Educators in the K-12 realm would be well advised to give SchoolTube a closer look.

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.
This non-profit site is in Beta-testing and is organized more as a directory than an upload site. The site has very good About and FAQ pages accessible from the main page. This could evolve into a very useful directory of education videos, but it is still in the early stages of it's evolution.
 
Other video hosting sites focused on education
There are plenty of other video hosting sites out there, and plenty of educational content, but I did come across any other sites focused exclusively on education that appeared (to me) to provide a safe, quality experience, with a wide range of offerings and limited advertising. As always, I'd love to hear more on this topic from others, and if there are some quality education-focused video hosting sites I overlooked, please drop me a comment about them.

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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2 COMMENTS

  2. TeacherTube, and other YouTube alternatives for instructional use (part 1 of 2)…

    Like many of the educators I know, you have probably heard of TeacherTube, but like me, you may be wondering how TeacherTube differs from YouTube, and how it compares to alternative video hosting……

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