YouTube EDU

YouTube recently launched YouTube EDU. You have options to view the most viewed or most subscribed channels. Channels amount to dedicated pages for colleges and universities. I did a search for "psychology" and found an entire Lecture Series from Cal-Berkeley. Now as an AP Psychology teacher, this presents an interesting dilemma. Am I short-changing my students by not incorporating the lecture series from one of the finest universities in America? Should students view these lectures (and often the accompany slideshow) for homework and we discuss, explain, synthesis, analyze, and apply the principles during classtime? Bill Gates recently said in a TED Talk (about 1/2 into the speech) that the top 20% of our (United States) students are getting a good education that compares favorably to the top 20% worldwide (although fading). Gates is concerned with the remaining 80% of our students. Gates thinks the descrepency is in the quality of the teaching. Those students with the top quartile teachers give their students a 10% increase in their percentile ranking on standardized tests. While one could argue that other variables come into play, it would be hard to outright dismiss the quality of teaching. Now lecturing is not teaching, I know...but having access to these videos sure opens things up for the classroom.

Here is a look at a lecture on Sensation & Perception: