The Tipping Point:

A Critical Case Study of the Rise YouTube as an Educational Tool

Harleen Deol and Shawna Jensen

ETEC 511: New Foundations of Educational Technology

March 15, 2022

Dr. Jen Jenson and Suzanne de Castell

 YouTube has become a staple in almost every grade and every subject across the world,

allowing people to learn both at home and at school. It also provides the opportunity for students

to work through subject concepts at their own pace, and allows them to revisit ideas that they are

confused about or need further clarification. Due to these reasons, and a number of others which

will be covered in this case study, YouTube has turned into a replacement for lecture and

slide-based information, altering the role of the teacher.

When Did the Shift Start to Take Place?

While there were educational videos beginning to be used and produced in 2008,

YouTube videos for learning started to take off largely in 2009 and 2010. At this time YouTube

created YouTube EDU for repository educational content (Wikipedia, 2021), but has now been

labeled “Learning” and can be found on the YouTube sidebar. In 2015, there was a shift in the

number of articles produced about using YouTube in the classroom, where to get content, and

why it is a great tool to use. This was largely influenced by the success of the ‘Khan Academy’,

which took off in 2009 (Thompson, 2011). By 2018, the number of online blogs or research in

relation to using YouTube efficiently in the classroom was growing. Furthermore, YouTube as an

educational tool has changed the way people learn. Previous to the internet, if someone wanted

to learn a new idea or skill they would either have to read it from a text or learn it from a person

face-to-face. According to Burns (2020) the number of people around the world searching “how

to” videos on Youtube grows by 70% each year. People are learning through technologies more

than ever and are less likely to refer to traditional institutions for information (Ashraf, 2009). In

2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced teaching online and YouTube videos were used by many to

help students learn from home, resulting in the major turning point of YouTube use in education.
Main Causes for Change

There are a number of reasons that YouTube has become more adapted into education

over time. For one, there are many teachers that have transitioned to using YouTube videos over

lecturing to cover content in a more “enjoyable” way for students. Students are living in the

YouTube era, where many of them are already watching YouTube to find out information or be

entertained. In order to keep up with the times and with some consideration for the attention of

our students, short videos provide the basic information that students need and can then further

develop in the lesson (Rees, 2008). Some teachers have incorporated YouTube as a supplement

to their lessons so that students do not have to listen entirely to the teacher for all sources of

information. Additionally, videos focus on being more engaging and entertaining because they

want the views, and students are more likely to want to watch them (Hua, 2015).

Another reason that there has been a shift in the use of YouTube is the ability to allow

students to move through concepts at their own pace. The ‘Khan Academy’ is one of the most

prominent examples of helping students tackle concepts at their own pace, particularly for

mathematics through the combination of video and questions to test the learner’s understanding

(Thompson, 2011). This removes in-person instruction as students can follow along with the

videos, complete the assigned work, and even go onto tougher concepts. Will Ashraf (2009)

argues that “providing teaching material upfront means that [the teacher is] not constantly being

asked for handouts or to re-explain points covered” (p. 349). Freedom to watch videos at their

own pace gives students the ability to move ahead if they grasp concepts quickly and allows

students who need more time the chance to review concepts repeatedly as needed, something that

traditional teaching still struggles to deal with. Note-taking is also replaced, as YouTube videos
can be replayed an unlimited amount of times (as long as the video is not removed) and

additional videos can be searched and found.

YouTube’s Educational Tipping Point

As discussed by Boys (2022), the Covid-19 pandemic shifted views on education and

teaching practices substantially. Educators quickly had to adapt and change their lessons to the

new global conditions. While students have learned previously from in-person lectures, the

pandemic highlighted that students have complex personal lives and that many of the

pre-pandemic methods of teaching were not addressing the needs of every student (Boys, 2022).

Therefore, YouTube became a main tool for online learning and Covid-19 acted as a catalyst for

using YouTube in place of lectures.

With learners stuck at home and parents having to adopt a more teacher-like role to help

their children learn, many parents felt lost in helping their children keep up with their school

work. Peter Suciu (2020) encouraged parents in his Forbes article to consider letting their

children watch YouTube for educational support. As some teachers use videos to supplement

concepts in the classroom, learners could also do the same at home if they had access to a device.

It’s also highly likely that most students would rather watch YouTube videos over their own

teacher’s pre-recorded lectures unless the teacher has taken the extra steps to make their own

videos engaging and interesting for students to watch.

The pandemic had accelerated the need for the healthcare industry to create new

educational opportunities for medical students (Nomura et al., 2021). There was a lack of health

care educators due to the need of people working in clinics and hospitals to treat those diagnosed

with Covid-19. Having educators create and upload new lectures on YouTube would have been a
burden to the already busy health professionals working through the pandemic (Nomura et al.,

2021). Therefore, YouTube videos were used to demonstrate medical techniques to students who

were learning from home and were unable to practice with classmates or medical props. For

instance, a study conducted by Nomura et al. (2021), concluded that premedical students were

able to learn the important skill of CPR from watching medical videos on YouTube and were

able to apply it in their own practice.

How YouTube has Replaced Lectures and the Like?

The move to online learning due to the global pandemic has shifted the way we view the

practice of traditional lectures as an educational practice. YouTube’s ability to replace lectures is

due its “attractiveness, effectiveness, relevance, and motivation” (Simanjuntaki et al., 2021, p.

157). Educators know that watching a YouTube video is more entertaining to students than

hearing them talk. For instance, the addition of animation, music, and humor all make the

learning experience more interactive. Furthermore, many educators have switched to YouTube as

a resource for finding information due its convenience and ease of use (Szeto & Cheng, 2014).

Before, educators would have to go through textbooks, and even old videos on different devices

to find relevant information. Additionally, information is constantly being updated on YouTube,

therefore educators can find current videos to reference.

The popular website also provides a more accessible option for students, as it is available

around the world for free, and is compatible with almost any device. Learners can use their

phones, tablets, and computers to access the site. Unlike in a traditional educational setting,

where the class moves at the speed of the teacher, features like subtitles and video speed on

YouTube can help students learn at their own pace. Furthermore, YouTube can foster a

collaborative and creative environment. With the ability to embed videos to learning
management systems like Canvas and Google Classroom, students can comment, critique, and

expand on the videos being shared (Szeto & Cheng, 2014).

With online and blended learning becoming the new normal, many educators have begun

using the flipped classroom model. This method is an alternative to lectures and has students

pre-learning concepts before class (Seo et al., 2018). For instance, students watch YouTube

videos either recorded by the teacher or a different creator on a certain topic and complete a

small assessment before attending class. This gives the student immediate feedback and ideas for

questions they will have for the teacher (Seo et al., 2018). This also informs the teacher what

concepts students will need additional help with. For instance, in Indonesia, YouTube was used

to learn English during the lockdown phases of the pandemic. As Mutoharoh et al. (2021)

explains, teachers used YouTube to demonstrate how writing in the English language works.

Students would watch the video about writing then ask the teacher about any parts of the video

they did not understand. Then they would be assigned a task where the students would practice

the skill they just learned. This strategy was effective to improve language skills when students

were learning from a distance. The teacher was able to engage students with current examples of

writing in English, and was able to evaluate the students' learning through the assessment and

make any adaptations as necessary (Mutoharoh et al., 2021).

Limitations

While YouTube has proven to be a valuable tool in all educational instances, there are a

number of issues with the platform that need to be considered. For one, not every video that is

posted on YouTube will always be available to view (Rees, 2008). Many YouTube videos are

removed because they break copyright law, in particular fair use/dealing. Fair use (United

States), or fair dealing (Canada and other Commonwealth countries), is a law that limits and
provides exemption of copyright to allow the public to use a copyright holder’s work under

certain conditions (Canadian Association of Research Libraries, n.d.). Due to the potential of

videos being taken down at any time, teachers will often need to find ways to save clips that they

like, or take the time to find new clips or videos when one they have been using is removed from

the platform.

There are many issues with using videos over textbooks as many videos are highly biased

and are not as detailed about specific points or ideas as a textbook. This is not to say that

textbooks are not inherently biased, because they are, but they have multiple authors’

contributions, whereas a YouTube video may be only one person’s point of view. A large reason

for this is that anyone can post videos on YouTube, and both teachers and students can easily

find incorrect or false information. It is also easy to come across unwanted information,

excessive advertisements, and inappropriate video clips in general searches on YouTube (Szeto

& Cheng, 2014). If a teacher or student is not careful about who the video is by, and the sources

from which the information comes from, they can easily find information that misrepresents an

event or a group of people. YouTube algorithms pick up on the types of videos that a user

watches and then suggest more of that type of video, potentially all from one point of view.

Additionally, most videos are not vetted for educational purposes, so teachers have to watch

entire videos to ensure they are safe for school and their classroom contexts (Jones & Cuthrell,

2011).

Conclusion

Overall, YouTube has made an impact on educational practices and the popularity of the

tool has increased due to the recent global pandemic. The website has many features and
functions that have made it an effective teaching tool, transitioning away from a teacher-centered

classroom. With videos and content being uploaded everyday from around the world, educators

and students alike have a wide variety of visual information to learn from. As Burns (2020)

alludes to, there is not likely to be a course, whether that be school-aged or post-secondary, that

does not incorporate YouTube as a learning tool. In summary, YouTube has solidified itself as an

educational tool and will continue to push the practices of educators both online and in the

classroom.
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