Is YouTube The Future of Online Education?

YouTube is a fountain of information on every topic imaginable–including information technology. But can the instructional videos posted online substitute formal technical
education? Here, find out what YouTube can–and can’t–offer IT professionals.

YouTube’s Online Video Learning Experiment

Online educators are continually seeking innovative ways to put multimedia resources to work in engaging and teaching their students. In recent years, YouTube has emerged as one front in the new paradigm of online video learning.  Universities such as MIT, Yale, Harvard, and Stanford led the way by posting a handful of their college lectures free on YouTube. To encourage the trend, YouTube released a sister site, YouTube EDU, in 2009. This site collects thousands of lectures from universities across the country and serves them up to users, completely gratis.

The latest chapter in YouTube’s emergence as an online video learning center has users posting their own instructional lectures that share their expertise. In a recent Chronicle of Higher Education feature, “College 2.0″, financial analyst Salman Khan is profiled. Kahn developed a recurring series of 10-minute lectures on science and technology specifically for YouTube. Over time, he’s launched more than 1,400 mini-lectures on mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, and finance. His efforts have lead to a dedicated following from college students, “netizens,” venture capitalists, and more who are all eager to explore alternatives to traditional higher education.

YouTube for IT Education?

Information technology is well-represented among YouTube’s educational videos. For example, YouTube EDU includes lectures on the following:

• Health informatics
• Global IT
• IT policy
• System architecture
• Library information science

YouTube itself has thousands of IT instructional videos ranging from basic educational topics to promotional videos and joke content. The emphasis is on how-to videos, ranging from “How to Install an Operating System” and “Basic Desktop Publishing,” on up to more complex concepts and techniques.

Is YouTube a Match for Higher Education?

YouTube’s instructional content gets a lot of press, and educators and students are constantly evaluating the site’s promise as a medium for online video learning. The general consensus among these groups is that YouTube is a worthy complement to traditional higher education—not a replacement. Students who watched the Khan Academy videos, for example, reported they saw the service as a “helpful supplement to the classroom experience” rather than an alternative to a college education.

YouTube online video education does offer some advantages:

• A multimedia experience
• Self-directed learning
• Short, targeted information sessions

Yet YouTube’s videos can’t replace formal IT training programs, and the resume boosting degrees that come with them. Colleges and online IT training programs feature:

• Accreditation
• Degrees and IT certifications
• Reliable, high-quality content
• Instructors with professional and academic credentials
• Full IT courses, offering comprehensive training
• Hand-on training alongside online video education
• Robust online video learning tools

Formal IT training, either on campus or online, extends well beyond a short lecture. An IT course online, for example, includes video demonstrations, discussions with peers and instructors via IM, live instruction via digital whiteboards, and other interactive features. Campus and online courses create a comprehensive learning experience, explains John Moravec of Education Futures: “In these environments, student learning does not occur as much within lecture halls as it occurs outside of the classroom–through interactions with other students, individual and informal study groups, independent or directed research, etc.”

KnowledgeWave, a Certified Learning Training center for Microsoft who also delivers computer training and technical certifications in Citrix, Cisco, and ITIL, is an example of such online training success in the modern digital era. Combining the advantages of face-to-face instructor led training with that of the latest conferencing technology, KnowledgeWave can effectively and conveniently provide quality video training sessions with their subscribers via multiple platforms; instructor led training, live remote training, on-site training, and a unique on-demand library via Log on to Learn that has over 1,000 video tutorials that range from beginner to advanced. Additionally, KnowledgeWave has created a YouTube Channel providing free tutorial content.

YouTube has its place in IT education, but the innovative service can be limited when it comes to educating listeners. Professional IT courses that are taught online, on the other hand, are comprehensive and aren’t likely to be replaced by YouTube any time soon.

Professors used to complain about students sitting in class, surfing sites like YouTube or listening to their iPods. But now, it’s thanks to sites like YouTube EDU and iTunes U, that the one-time classroom distractions may now be vital learning tools.

Debbie Lawrence is a content editor who primarily writes for an online schooling blog. You can contact her at dlawrence2[@]quinstreet.com with any suggestions, questions, or comments. You can find her on Twitter here.

Date(s): October 17 – October 21, 2011
Duration: 5 days
Format: Instructor-led, Classroom training, Attend Live or Remotely from your Location

KnowledgeWave is pleased to introduce MS6419 Configuring, Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2008 Servers. This five-day instructor-led course combines five days worth of instructor-led training content from the Network Infrastructure Technology Specialist, Active Directory Technology Specialist, and IT Professional Server Administrator courses of Windows Server 2008 to provide students with the knowledge and skills that are required to manage accounts and resources, maintain server resources, monitor server performance, and safeguard data in a Microsoft Windows Server 2008 environment. This course covers the core skills required by anyone working with Windows Server 2008 Servers.

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Objectives:

Module 1: Introduction to Managing Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Environment
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Module 5: Configuring Active Directory Objects and Trusts
Module 6: Creating and Configuring Group Policy
Module 7: Configuring User and Computer Environments Using Group Policy
Module 8: Implementing Security Using Group Policy
Module 9: Configuring Server Security Compliance
Module 10: Configuring and Managing Storage Technologies
Module 11: Configuring and Managing Distributed File System
Module 12: Configuring Network Access Protection
Module 13: Configuring Availability of Network Resources
Module 14: Monitoring and Maintaining Windows Server 2008 Servers
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Date(s): August 9-11, 2010
Duration: 3 days
Format: Instructor-led, Classroom training

KnowledgeWave is pleased to introduce MS6461 Visual Studio 2008: Windows Communication Foundation. This three-day instructor-led course provides students with the knowledge and skills to build and configure a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) solution.

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Objectives:

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Module 8: Implementing WCF Security
Module 9: Implementing Transactions

The value of a live, instructor-led training experience is undeniable. If the instructor is a competent teacher who knows how to engage adult students so that they understand and retain the material, live classroom training offers the most bang for your training buck.

But it’s difficult to give workers time out of the office and the price of gas will probably never drop below $3.50 per gallon again. If you need highly specialized training, there may not be a training facility anywhere near you that can meet your needs. Online training looks like the solution.

Part of what makes this decision difficult is that people are not aware of what online training really consists of or what forms it can take. Here’s a quick breakdown of the kinds of online training. Some of them might be new to you.

The 6 Types of Online Training

• Web pages with text information for learning courseware instead of a printed book. The web pages contain explanatory material, step-by-step instructions, and screenshots.
• Ebook courseware, with explanatory material, step-by-step instructions, and screenshots.
• Interactive learning with audio, video, and clickable elements onscreen like quizzes.
• Screencasts, which are recorded video of onscreen actions in a software application, usually with voice-over narration.
• Webinars, which often consist of a shared group environment online for chat, audio, video, and whiteboard. These can be participated in live when they run or watched as recordings after the live event.
• ILEs, which are interactive learning environments. ILEs offer a comprehensive learning program that often incorporate all of the above methods. Whereas the above methods are often paid for as individual products, ILEs are often purchased as a recurring membership.

Classroom training is still the most effective because of the live, dynamic interactions between the students and the instructor. Except for live webinars, this interaction does not exist in any of the other online training methods mentioned above. However, there is a solution that offers the best of both worlds.

Remote Classroom Instruction

In Remote Classroom Instruction (RCI), A student take a class where by using a regular conference call, two monitors, and some special software, the live classroom experience is gained. The student only has to travel a short distance to an RCI-enabled training facility. If such a facility is set up within a company, no travel is required at all.

So Which is Better?

One size does not fit all. It depends on your needs.

• Generally, live classroom training is better for beginners or students who are below-average in their computer and internet skills.
• For intermediate and advanced students, online learning such as can be found in an ILE is extremely cost- and time-effective.
• For advanced technical classes, the sophistication of the questions and discussions needed to learn point to remote classroom instruction as the best method.