As an educator, I have found that everyday technologies such as the phone calculator, YouTube play an important role in supporting effective teaching and learning. Among these tools, the one I found most useful in augmenting my classroom teaching is YouTube.
YouTube provides a wide range of educational and practical videos that are especially valuable in subjects that require demonstrations or visual explanations. I often use YouTube to show step-by-step tutorials, real-world applications of theoretical concepts, and industry-standard procedures. This is especially helpful in vocational subjects where learners need to see how things are done before attempting tasks themselves.
For example, when teaching food preparation techniques in a catering course, I used YouTube to show short clips of professional chefs demonstrating knife skills, hygiene practices, and plating techniques. Students could watch, pause, replay, and discuss these videos before practising the same skills in the kitchen. This made lessons more interactive and improved students’ understanding and confidence.
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Yes, tools such as YouTube changed the way students learn and teach, particularly with regards to subjects which benefit from demonstrations that are visual and practical. We as educators have witnessed firsthand how engaging videos can enhance understanding retention, comprehension, and even students’ confidence.
What’s more thrilling is the way technology is evolving beyond platforms such as YouTube. With the advent of custom-built Video on Demand platforms, institutions and educators can now create their own learning spaces, specifically tailored to their teaching curriculum and method. These platforms let us upload the content, categorize it, and organize the videos we create–whether they’re recordings of lectures, demonstrations or walkthroughs, into an environment that is secure, that students can access the content on demand, at their own speed.
Incorporating this type of high-end technologies into classrooms will mean more than watching videos. It facilitates self-paced, interactive learning, provides data on student engagement, as well as the delivery of courses with multimedia, and not using only external platforms. For example, a college that has a catering program can develop a video library that demonstrates knife skills as well as food safety training and plating procedures, available at any time, even offline in certain setups.
It is a lot of ways establishing or using the VOD platform is a next step, making use of technology to enhance learning, allow for flexibility and allow educators to have complete control over their teaching materials and learning environment. Platforms such as VPlayed, Kaltura, or Panopto permit teachers to build their own libraries of content that organize their lessons into structured playlists, and give students an environment that allows them to return to content at any time.