3 Ways Teachers Can Use YouTube To Save Time

When it comes to time, teachers just never have enough.

Time was one of my motivations for writing “50 Ways to Use YouTube in the Classroom”. YouTube is an extremely powerful, creative, and social platform that can and should be harnessed for learning. And the bonus? Productivity. YouTube works for teachers, saving them precious time and automating pieces of their teaching lives. These three tips will get teachers started:

Increase the Playback Speed

I rarely watch a video at normal speed. If a talking head is explaining something, I pick up the pace. When I observed students working in flipped classrooms, they cut 30-minute lectures into half the time and then repurposed that extra 15. They asked me to avoid offending their teachers by keeping this a secret, but it’s not devious—it’s genius! There’s nothing to hide in finding a pathway to an efficient consumption of info. Our students are smart, and we should be too. If we can speed up the time it takes to inform, then we can get to the application and synthesis of learning. Give yourself the gift of a few minutes back:

Use the Watch Later Playlist for PD on the Go

I have a physical inbox on my desk where I toss magazines, articles, and mail to peruse later. I do the same with email. Why not video? Teachers can personalize their own learning with the “Watch Later” button.

Just like a bin for your classroom desk, the Watch Later feature lets you deliver videos you know you want to see to a list you can view when you’re ready. Teachers are busy folks with multiple priorities, and curating your own professional development resources for the moments when you have time to view (commute on public transport, waiting in line, sitting on the soccer sidelines), helps you track new learnings, save important info, and also clear out the clutter.

Saving videos you want to view at your convenience is simple: From the YouTube homepage, simply hover over any thumbnail and click on the clock icon that appears. From a video watch page, click the Add To icon and choose the Watch Later playlist. From your phone or tablet, tap the More Options icon (the three dots that look like a caterpillar). Watch Later is always at the top of your playlist options, and thus, you can save resources at any time from any device and also soak up PD in the moments that work for you.

Broadcast a Classroom Event with YouTube Live Streaming

Good things are happening in your classroom. GREAT things are happening in your classroom. Sharing them has never been easier.

You don’t need fancy AV equipment. Gone are the days of rolling in the tripod from the library. Or transferring video from one device to another. Editing? Out the window. Showcasing and sharing the events in your classroom takes literally–no time at all. Have a presentation parents would want to view? Have absent students that would benefit from watching your instructions? Hosting a guest speaker that other classrooms would like to watch too? Grab your laptop or Chromebook and head to youtube.com. Look for the camera icon with a plus on it and click “Go Live.” Enter a title for your video, smile for a quick thumbnail pic, and click the “Go Live” button while pointing the camera at what you want to broadcast.

If you’re concerned about privacy, you can set the video to “private” and still have a recording archived in YouTube that you can choose to share later. It’s auto-archived and available when you’re ready.

While YouTube may not be able to add time to your lunch break (sorry), these three tips are part of many that trim minutes where they don’t matter so that teachers can spend more time where they do. Let YouTube do the work for you.

Check out these Top Tips for Getting Started with YouTube

About the Author: Patrick Green is the author of “50 Ways to Use YouTube in the Classroom” and “Classroom Management in the Digital Age.” He is also Chief Adventure Officer at Raising a Maker. After two decades working with and learning from students, parents, teachers, and administrators in stateside and international schools, he is living location-independent in the pursuit of extraordinary personalized learning opportunities for himself and his family. A YouTube Star Teacher, Google Certified Innovator, and Apple Distinguished Educator, you can follow how work, school, parenting, and play blend for Patrick at @pgreensoup on Twitter and Instagram and can visit his YouTube channel for more tips and tutorials.