You Tube

I love YouTube. You can find a video on any topic on YouTube. From cooking videos and movie clips to reliving a golden moment, you tube has something to offer everyone. I explored the educational uses of YouTube this past week and discovered a world of possibilities. A video can be so helpful when trying to teach something. Health Science students have to learn many clinical skills and obtaining those skills can be an intimidating experience for new students. Venipuncture is an essential skill that some students struggle with, and I found the following video on You Tube that explains the process in a clear and concise manner. I think that videos like this one could help students build up more confidence in their skills even before practicing on an actual patient. The commenting process on YouTube is brilliant. It benefits the viewer to comment because you may encourage the person who broadcast the video to share other useful videos. I find the "Search options" helpful as you can sort videos based on view count, date added, rating, etc, to help sort through the videos and turn up an optimal search result. I always knew that YouTube had great entertainment value, but I am impressed with the vast amount of educational videos that can also be found. I think that videos (if used correctly) can be invaluable in education to help teach a skill or idea, or to help students refocus in the middle of a long lecture. I will definitely keep exploring YouTube searching for videos that could be useful in clinical teaching. I will leave you with a video that delivers a powerful (and cute) message that is always important to remember in our wonderfully diverse world, we can always find a way to see past our differences and get along!