Youtube in the classroom: Creating content about the content creators

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I had an idea this week, well it was more like late 2017 when I actually had this idea. The idea was to create a series of lesson all about the impact that YouTube creators are having on children. 

If you're familiar with YouTube, then you probably know that it is a site where people can create and upload content in order for it to be viewed by as many people as possible. This is a fantastic idea, because it allows people from all over the world to be seen by millions of perspective fans. People like Justin Bieber (say what you will about the guy, he is famous) made their fame on YouTube. It started as a place were people could create, share, and discuss their ideas with everyone, but it has become something different.

I assume that since you are reading this blog, you know technology enough to use the internet and therefore have probably been to YouTube. If this is the case then you may have seen a video uploaded by a creator named Logan Paul. I won't get into specifics, but the video featured a dead body in an area in Japan called the suicide forest. This video created controversy, not just on YouTube, but in the media, within social groups, and other places as well.

The video in itself is, of course, horrible. However, it is what my students said that bothered me more. In the wake of this video I had students telling me they are in the #LoGang4Life, which is Logan Paul's fan base. Mind you I teach 3-5th graders, and these kids are watching a YouTuber who has uploaded this video and they are continuing to watch his videos.

This brought some questions to the forefront of my mind. These questions were "Do these kids parents know they watch this?" "Do they realize what is wrong with this type of content?" "Can these kids discern what is appropriate and inappropriate, good and bad, or even right and wrong in the media?" these questions did not have clear answers to them, which frightened me more than I would have realized.

So I decided to act on this. I decided that I as an educator would do what YouTube guide lines and parental controls were not doing right now. I would talk to my students on a level they understand about these creators and their merits as well as their issues. So a new curriculum was born, if only in my mind right now.

It is now early 2018 and I am just now beginning the first steps of my YouTube creator lessons. I have narrowed my list of creators to cover down to a choice few and I have begun to determine how I can use Educational Technology to better teach these lessons. I do not yet have the lesson plans, the materials, or the data to present regarding these lessons, but I promise I will be sure to continue to update this blog on my progress and my findings.

If this has interested you at all and you would like to learn more, or are just curious of the journey I am going on then please check back soon for an update on this sage of educating the youth of tomorrow.

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