Opening Access to YouTube Right Move for Chicago Public Schools

COMMENTARY | The Chicago Tribune recently reported that the Chicago Public Schools system has changed its position on the website YouTube. Teachers, previously blocked from using YouTube, now have access to the ubiquitous video site. This is the right move for the district. Technology offers unlimited ways to engage and challenge students, and districts would be foolish to take away such valuable tools for its teaching staffs.

There are valid concerns about using YouTube in schools. The district where I teach briefly shut down student access to the site last year when our technology director did a study and discovered that student use of YouTube was hogging an inordinate amount of the school's available bandwidth, causing other online applications to bog down. Similarly, many videos (or more specially the ads accompanying those videos) aren't appropriate for use in schools.

These are problems for teachers and technology directors, but not ones that should cause us to shut down great tools for the classroom. Our students are plugged into technology, if you'll excuse the pun, and they are comfortable using the latest devices. Yesterday I had a girl in my class taking notes on her Kindle Fire . For book report assignments I now see more and more kids using digital book readers.

Schools are already moving away from traditional textbooks and toward putting those texts on smaller-sized netbook computers or tablets. New Trier High School, admittedly one of the more affluent districts in the state, has announced a trial program for next school year to give some student iPads instead of textbooks.

Technology is expensive, of course, and school districts have to balance prudent use of financial resources with trying to help students learn digital skills necessary to help them in college, and later, in the workplace. Just in the last five years my school has added a technology integration specialist to help teachers incorporate more technology into their lessons, installed a wireless network in the entire building, and gradually upgraded classrooms with newer-generation LCD projectors, interactive whiteboards and portable netbook labs. These costs add up quickly, and districts want to see returns on their investments.

Schools also have to spend their money wisely so their equipment doesn't become obsolete too quickly. Technological advances move so rapidly that an article written just four years ago by professors at Illinois State University found that "15 percent of teachers reported using email," a finding that is laughable today. That is another great benefit of free, online resources such as YouTube. As the resources update themselves and evolve, districts with Internet access can make use of the improved sites with no additional cost.

I applaud the Chicago Public School system for putting another valuable tool in the hands of teachers. For their part, of course, the teachers need to use the tool in professional manners and be vigilant so students make effective and appropriate use of YouTube. I believe that YouTube, as well as the many other online tools are just that - tools. They will not replace dynamic, engaging teachers in the classroom, but they can certainly help those teachers do their jobs well.