Over the next month I will be working with the Youtube team trying to implement changes that will make Youtube a safer tool to use in the Primary Classroom. We managed to achieve a relatively safe Google Search experience through Safe search and we hope to copy that successful process over to Video.
Google TV and Primary School TV are both due early 2011 and I expect that within 5 years the majority of TV content will be consumed on demand over the Interwebs. This means now is the time to address this issue.
I’m pretty confident that if you are reading this blog then you are aware of the issues surrounding Youtube and why children can’t use it. So instead of talking about the issues I am going to simply propose three changes Youtube can make that will make teachers more confident to adopt the worlds largest video resource.
Allow a Very Safe Search mode
VSS is a Google Search parameter that stands for Very Safe Search. Youtube’s Safe Search is called “Safety Mode”. Safe Search passes this parameter to Google when doing searches and then that users session is always in strict search mode and their is no option to turn this off. Simply put it’s a way to enforce a safer search experience. What Youtube shouldn’t do is expect for a user to login prior to making the experience safer. This defeats the point. The current API claims to have a safeSearch mode but I’m not convinced it works (proof here— WARNING: Contains explicit material). Youtube could easily add a fourth category.
Make Safety Mode more visible
Did you even know Youtube had a safety mode? To find safety mode you have to scroll to the bottom of the page, you are then reminded it is not 100% accurate. All in the experience is hard work and doesn’t fill one with confidence. This will be a tough sales pitch as it means altering the UI for everyone. Ideally the Safety Mode option would be under “Search options” and only visible when VSS isn’t set.
Implement a Custom Search Engine
A custom search engine would allow content from certain websites/publishers to be emphasized in the same way that Google Custom Search performs. This will allow third parties to improve the search experience and remove any undesirable content without having to contact Youtube. Youtube would benefit from this as third parties would pro-actively flag up any inappropriate content, allowing Youtube to optionally crowd source this should improve the Youtube experience. This will act very much in the same way as Custom Safe Search and will give Youtube the option to allow Educators to remove Ads from content. Educators would benefit from this as content from educational publishers would show up higher in the search results.
What do you think? Are there still issues with Youtube that I haven’t addressed? Are you scared of pupils uploading inappropriate videos? I would love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment! I am going to be putting my proposal forward later this week so all feedback is greatly appreciated! 🙂
Hi John. This would be an absolute blessing to those of us in primary schools. There is so much good content on youtube that would be great to share with kids. I tend to find it at home and then bookmark to show kids, but this would be simpler.
Good luck!
Hey John,
That’s good to hear. It’s a good start, but there are other issues with YouTube that mean it’s not used in schools. The related videos list on the right of the screen, and the comments below videos, are unpredictable and too much of a risk.
What would be ideal would be a YouTube safe mode in combination with a something like Quietube that strips out the comments and related videos from YouTube pages.
It is crucial to open up and engage with the valuable wealth of resources YouTube has to offer.
So many schools are unable to use my child/parent/teacher-centric literacy videos due to unnecessary blocking and over the top filters.
Youtube is at vital to education as a library is to a school.
Just to add to my previous comment, commenting is the real biggie after unsuitable videos – there are some shocking comments out there!
I’m glad you are doing this, I would like to see youtube available in schools. It has some great stuff for teachers to use but with the way it is at the moment this can’t happen. A safe youtube would be fab.
YouTube is a source of knowledge we shouldn’t be denying children access to. It is like closing a library.
Sorting out the issues with comments is the key and working closely with each Local Authority so there is a consistent approach to how it is used. Convincing them will be key. But also to build confidence with teachers so that they understand and are educated to use it properly.
Hi John
Just discussing You Tube and I mentioned your work on VSS – thanks for doing that. One comment though was what about the comment streams which can contain offensive remarks. Would VSS filter those out?
Another comment was that changing the block it lock it mindset will still take some time.
Hi Jon, thanks for your comment.
I would recommend VSS by default disables showing comments.