YouTube

YouTube includes many videos that are suitable for inclusion in lecture presentations or on educational websites. In lecture settings, short video clips of lecture-relevant material are a useful means of breaking up the lecture into discrete segments and, thus, maintaining students' interest. One warning though: There may be a danger that overly-long video segments may lead students to feel that they are being short-changed by the lecturer (who, it may be felt, is avoiding doing any actual lecturing). This author limits segments to a maximum of 8 minutes; if the clip is longer, then students are told they can view the entire video on the class website.

The following presentation on Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology is an example where YouTube video clips have been embedded:

The videos used in educational presentations need not themselves be educational, as long as they have a clear link to the class material. For example, a topic of interest in psychology is that of impulsiveness and impulse control. A funny illustration of failure to inhibit impulse can be seen in this clip from "Friends":

YouTube clips can be inserted into Powerpoint slides using the <Insert> menu; likewise with Virtual Learning Environments such as Blackboard.

The following guide to "Tips and Tricks in YouTube" was created by Tinkernut, where many other technology tips can be found.

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