Reinventing education with video

by Angela Lin, Published TODAY, 27 Sep 2012

Growing up, my mother always said: "You'll learn more from a journey of 10,000 miles than from reading 10,000 books."

For years I thought it was a saying she had invented, to justify taking me out of school for weeks at a time to satisfy her love of travel.

I later realised she was quoting an old Chinese proverb that summed up the importance of gaining first-hand experience when learning about new ideas, people and cultures.

Of course, when it comes to learning in a classroom, first-hand experience is not always possible. That is where video comes into play, giving teachers a way to transport students to ancient lands or recreate dangerous science experiments. Videos can help break down difficult concepts while still capturing the imagination.

Take Mr Sal Khan, a gifted teacher, and one of 2011's most inspiring TED speakers. Mr Sal has digested dense textbook material into deceptively simple educational videos, gaining well over a hundred million views from students around the world.

Along with bringing lessons to life, video has its own unique educational properties. It lends itself to self-paced, customised learning.

There is no need to feel embarrassed if you do not understand a concept - just rewind and replay.

The Web has exploded the possibilities for video in education. It comes down to one important word: Access.

It used to be that students only had access to what was available in the school library. Naturally, wealthier schools had better collections. However, when the world's greatest thinkers put their material on the Web, top educational content becomes available wherever there is Internet connection.

Since the inception of YouTube EDU in 2009, we have been featuring video from the world's leading educational institutions, including Harvard, Stanford and MIT, as well as organisations like Khan Academy and partners like Numberphile.

It is inspiring to see this theoretical notion of increased access play out in real-life. As Internet connectivity improves around the world, so too does access to education. Some of the most inspiring stories we hear are from adults who had not finished high school, but have since put themselves through college after learning from Khan Academy videos.

One day, soon, we will live in a world where anyone with a mobile phone will be able to access the world's great thinkers, online.

My hope for the coming years is two-fold. First, I hope more educators utilise the wealth of educational content available on the Web.

YouTube itself has a vast array of educational videos, and we encourage teachers in Singapore to find ways to use that content in their curriculum.

The growing EDU corpus now contains more than half a million videos from 700 educational partners around the world, including the Smithsonian, TED and Steve Spangler Science.

Second, I'd love to see more people sharing their talents with us all. We believe that amazing educators can come from all walks of life.

If 2011 was the year the world discovered Sal Khan, 2012 is the year we discover even more, with new educational channels like the Vlogbrothers, @radical.media and TED-ED.

Just as YouTube serves as the world's archive of the human experience, so too can it serve as the world's biggest and most thrilling classroom. With YouTube, we will all have equal access to top thinkers, creators, artists and innovators, actively sharing content and ideas.

So, let's build a treasure trove of knowledge so we can truly use video to reinvent education.

Angela Lin oversees YouTube Education, including content strategy, partnerships and original programming.