Edutainment: Where Education Meets Entertainment
With millions of visitors, Youtube has been notorious as a prime site for procrastination and a haven for adorable animal videos. But the most surprising viral sensations come from unexpected channels. Many educational channels have established themselves as popular places for students and teachers to watch condensed videos about topics ranging from world history, to science and literature and have become supplementary tools in classrooms. These videos are found to be viewed twice as often as videos in the pets & animal category (Hua, 2015).
Sal Khan started making videos in 2004, which eventually morphed into a successful digital non-profit, receiving high grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and delivering millions of free micro-level lectures to over 4 million subscribers (Hua, 2015). ‘Khan Academy’ has prompted a surge of other educational content on YouTube. Author John Green and his brother Hank, became widely known with their popular ‘vlogbrothers’ and ‘nerd fighter’ videos and the channels ‘CrashCourse’ and ‘SciShow’. These videos have a flexible and self-directed approach to learning, which according to Pearson, is well suited for Gen Z and millennial attention spans (Pearson, 2018). Their videos have become a database for middle school curricula, ‘creating resources that allow for more valuable interaction in the classroom’ (Hank Green in Hua, 2015).
The success of these channels is linked to the element of entertainment which students might miss in the classroom. This is also echoed by Green himself, who sees his channel as an opportunity to enhance the learning experience. ‘Teachers are asked to do so much and they can’t be good at every single thing (…) my goal is to be good at one thing so teachers can be good at other things’ (Hank Green in Brown, 2015). Whether it’s videos like ‘the science of lying’, ‘the terrifying truth about bananas’ or ‘the teenage brain explained’ — they have gathered a huge online following and turned Green to a popular science teacher.
Youtube also desired to push educational content by providing more funding for creators in order to advance the platform’s learning initiative. ‘What we are really interested in is spotlighting and supporting very trustworthy and credible content’ says Malik Ducard, Youtube’s global head of learning. The platforms efforts to tap into this ever growing venture have included a combined channel with skill-based content and DIY videos and conferences like ‘EduCon’ and ‘NextUp’ creator camp for video creators (Castillo, 2018).
The success of video learning amongst other advancements is simultaneously threatening the position of education publishers who operate on scale-based business models and capabilities in a learning environment dominated by the printed book. Many education publishers have adapted to this changing environment and provide products and services that go beyond the traditional textbook (Bailey et al, 2014). Ultimately, successful publishers will focus on teacher/student satisfaction when developing learning resources and that could potentially mean taking cues from content creators or collaborating with YouTubers to optimize the learning experience.
So whether you come to Youtube as a teacher, looking for a way to inspire interest in students for a wide range of subjects or a student looking for a fun and entertaining way to help revise for a test or brush up on topics that were covered during class, Youtube provides a great opportunity for people who are looking for entertaining educational content.
Bailey, A. (2014): The Digital Disruption of Education Publishing. bcg.com (online). https://www.bcg.com/en-gb/publications/2014/media-entertainment-digital-disruption-of-education-publishing.aspx (Accessed 08.03.2019)
Brown, E. (2015): Meet Hank Green, one of America’s most popular science teachers. washingtonpost.com (online). https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2015/09/11/meet-hank-green-one-of-americas-most-popular-science-teachers/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9fdf1ed46ada (Accessed 25.02.2019)
Castillo, M. (2018): YouTube invests $20 million in educational videos, giving advertisers more safe places for ads. cnbc.com (online). https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/22/youtube-invests-20-million-in-educational-tutorial-and-diy-videos.html (Accessed 25.02.2019)
Hua, K. (2015): Education as Entertainment: Youtube Sensations Teaching the Future. forbes.com (online). https://www.forbes.com/sites/karenhua/2015/06/23/education-as-entertainment-youtube-sensations-teaching-the-future/#190a94ae47c2 (Accessed 25.02.2019)
Pearson, (2018): What do Generation Z and millennials expect from technology in education?. pearsoned.com (online). https://www.pearsoned.com/generation-z-millennials-expect-technology-education/ (Accessed 25.02.2019)
