Fifteen-year-old Jaimie Moreano is on YouTube all the time.
She can learn how to do anything she wants using the video-sharing platform. She uses it to watch hair and makeup tutorials and get-ready-with-me videos to see what鈥檚 cool to wear.
But makeup tutorials aren鈥檛 the only videos she watches on the popular video platform.
鈥淲hen I鈥檓 doing my homework, I鈥檒l look up how to solve a problem on YouTube,鈥� said Moreano, a sophomore at Locust Valley High School outside New York City. 鈥淚 like it because it鈥檚 really easy to follow. I can pause it, or I can rewind it if I have a question.鈥�
She鈥檚 part of a majority of Generation Z kids who have a higher preference for learning from YouTube and videos, compared with printed books. That shifting preference is driving curricula and technological changes in some school districts, but also raising questions and concerns about the downsides of relying too much on video.
In a survey released last month of people ages 14 to 23鈥攖he so-called Generation Z group鈥�YouTube ranked the highest as a preferred learning tool. Fifty-nine percent picked YouTube as a learning preference, 57 percent chose in-person group activities, 47 percent picked learning apps or games, and 47 percent chose printed books. The study鈥攃onducted by a global market research firm, The Harris Poll, on behalf of education company Pearson鈥攅xamines the differences between Generation Z and Millennials鈥攄efined as ages 24-40鈥攚hen it comes to their outlooks, values, and experiences in education and the use of technology.
The Generation Z age group has a 鈥渟pecific brand relationship鈥� with YouTube, said Peter Broad, the director of global research and insights for the education company. 鈥淲hen younger learners are looking for answers, they鈥檙e going to the most straightforward, familiar force, and for them that鈥檚 YouTube.鈥�
The Google-owned platform is 鈥渇ull of explainers and tutorials鈥� and content that is 鈥渟hort and easily digestible,鈥� he added.
鈥楪rasp the Concept鈥�
Those Generation Z preferences are driving significant changes in some school districts.
In the Mineola school district outside New York City, Superintendent Michael Nagler has been encouraging teachers to use more video in the classroom. The district has a YouTube channel for educators and students, with videos covering topics from growth mindset to science and math lessons. Videos complement the regular curricula and give students real-life connections about why they鈥檙e learning something, Nagler said.
鈥淚f all the facts and figures are available on the internet, then students don鈥檛 need to sit and listen to you,鈥� Nagler said. 鈥淏ut what鈥檚 the bigger connection? Videos can give them that bigger connection, engaging them in the content and lesson itself.鈥�
Despite his enthusiasm for the power of video learning, Nagler emphasizes that teachers still need to be the ones guiding students through the content.
The members of Generation Z seem to agree. According to the Pearson study, 78 percent of respondents said that teachers are 鈥渧ery important to learning and development.鈥�
For younger learners who have grown up with technology, it鈥檚 all about efficiency and using any resource they can get their hands on easily, Broad said.
鈥淭hey want to learn as quickly as possible,鈥� he said. 鈥淭heir assumption is that [the answers they need] will be available to them.鈥�
YouTube is a good source when Moreano has a test coming up, she said. She just types 鈥渃rash course鈥� on whatever subject the test is on and she鈥檒l find YouTube videos of 鈥減eople simplifying everything,鈥� helping her to really 鈥済rasp the concept.鈥�
Privacy and Content Concerns
Educators and researchers alike agree that young people鈥檚 tendency to gravitate toward YouTube has to do with the fact that they鈥檝e grown up with this technology and expect it to always be available to them. The website launched in 2005, around the same time the Generation Z age group was growing up.
Andrew Biggs, a social studies teacher at New Technology High School in Napa, Calif., said that students like YouTube because 鈥渋t鈥檚 on-demand content.鈥�
For students, the strength of video is that you can play and pause it 鈥渁s many times as you want, without having to feel like you鈥檙e inconveniencing someone,鈥� Biggs said. It also makes sense to use it for learning because 鈥渁 lot of students already use YouTube recreationally.鈥�
The video-sharing website is widely popular among kids and young adults.
A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 85 percent of U.S. teenagers use YouTube, and 32 percent say they use the video-sharing platform more often than other social media platforms. Forty-seven percent spend three or more hours a day on YouTube, according to the Pearson study.
YouTube, however, has recently been accused of targeting children with advertisements and violating the Children鈥檚 Online Privacy Protection Act, Education Week reported in April. More than 20 consumer advocacy groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging that YouTube has been gathering data of children to target advertisements.
It has also been criticized for recommending inappropriate content to children, said Josh Golin, executive director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, one of the advocacy groups that filed a complaint with the FTC. YouTube recommends videos that contain 鈥渆xtremist viewpoints, conspiracy theories, violent and adult content,鈥� he said.
The platform is also 鈥渄esigned to keep you watching one video after another, exposing kids to risks,鈥� Golin said. It鈥檚 something educators should think about before sending students to YouTube for educational purposes, he added.
69传媒 also have concerns.
Eva Clark-Dupuy, a junior at New Technology High School, said she uses YouTube as a learning tool because it鈥檚 more accessible to her.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a free app,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to look at. You get millions of results when you search something.鈥�
But the downside of YouTube being a 鈥渇ree-for-all space,鈥� she said, is that anyone can upload a low-quality or misleading video, and the videos could contain inappropriate content.
Other students are concerned that the video-sharing platform is becoming more commercialized.
鈥淓ven the YouTubers themselves are advertising products, and you don鈥檛 know whether to believe them or if they鈥檙e just getting paid to say that,鈥� said Ben Danialian, a senior at Mineola High.
The Role of Visual Learning
The preference for YouTube and videos signals a shift in learning styles, Pearson鈥檚 director of global research and insights said. The role of video and visual learning is 鈥渆ssential in rising learners and the generation to come,鈥� Broad said. Pearson has also found that there is growing interest in other video-based learning platforms like Khan Academy.
Some teens are turning to YouTube because they find that it鈥檚 easier to understand something when they watch someone explain it visually. It also helps that they can pause and rewind a video if they don鈥檛 understand it right away.
Watching a video can be more helpful than having someone lecture at her, Clark-Dupuy said.
鈥淪ometimes learning from a textbook doesn鈥檛 help me,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes it鈥檚 much easier to watch a video on a topic. If I have a visual, it鈥檚 easier to grasp.鈥�
The visual aspect of videos isn鈥檛 the only reason younger learners are turning to YouTube. They also find the videos more relatable than books.
Moreano said that YouTube is 鈥渁lmost more personal than reading a book, because you see them and what they鈥檙e actually doing, and not just what they鈥檙e writing.鈥�
She also gets to follow people her age, which makes the video-sharing platform better than a book, she said, because 鈥渂ooks feel old to me.鈥�
