VIDEO: Parent's Guide to YouTube (2017)

ISPP Students and YouTube Use

Students from Grade 1 to Grade 5 were asked to complete a short survey regarding their use of YouTube outside of school. Grade 1 and 2 students were guided through the questions by teachers. All students were encouraged to provide honest answers with no repercussions for identifying choices or behaviour discouraged or prohibited at school.

With 54% of student respondents watching videos five or more days a week, YouTube clearly plays a major role in the entertainment choices of students at ISPP. Most content appears to be fine (if a bit silly or weird). Many popular channels feature educational, DIY or other productive content. Following is a summary of data collected from 257 elementary student respondents to a survey regarding their use of YouTube. All answers were provided independently by students, and may include all the biases and irregularities that go along with that.

TOP 10 Most popular YouTube channels by ISPP survey respondents (257 responses):

Out of a total 197 YouTube channels recommended by 257 elementary survey respondents, these received the most mentions. Though some of these channels may contain risque content targeted at teens and older, the creators mostly self-censor to reach a wider audience. Ten minute reviews of each only identified one channel containing harsh language, violence and aggression that was clearly inappropriate for elementary school children (#6, pewdiepie). If you investigate further, please send your opinions and reviews to the technology coach, or leave a comment below.



Notably, our school accounts do not support YouTube, so this requires a private email address to create. Many parents ask about this during conferences. It's not currently an option in Cambodia, but should this change in the future the school will review our policy to see if this is the best option for protecting our kids.

Students are encouraged to use their school accounts as much as possible, but it's more child-appropriate, secure and accountable to use a private account with YouTube than no account at all.

Outside of school, a private account is necessary to use restricted mode (formerly safe mode), which removes all content tagged inappropriate for kids by YouTube.

Please see the Parent’s Guide to YouTube video for more information.

Phone/ iPad or other tablet / Laptop or Desktop computer / TV

Most students watch YouTube on a laptop or desktop computer, with iPads and tablets coming in a close second. Note that students were able to select more than one device here, and many students have access to more than one device for consuming video. This has implications for parental controls such as restricted mode, which require an account to be signed in, and identifies a clear weakness in website filtering or blocking software unless it can be consistently applied across all devices the child uses. It may be interesting to note the trend that younger children prefer tablet and phone devices, with older children preferring laptops or desktop computers.


These categories were taken from YouTube analytics and Common Sense Media studies of the most popular genres of YouTube videos.

• "Let's play" videos (playing videogames with commentary) were by far the most popular category of video, highly popular with Grades 1-3 where they often do not have access to the games themselves.
• "Challenges" were a big trend popular with grades 2-5. Flash mobs, mannequin challenge and bottle flip are examples of these.
• Fashion and cosmetics, a huge category for YouTube and teens, was oddly only popular in Grade 3 (and a couple G5s).
• vLogs (video blogs) were non-existent in G1/G2, but very popular in G3+. This category is worth note because of the personal nature of the videos and likelihood of these YouTubers being role models for kids. This category often blends with Fashion and Cosmetics, where YouTube personalities may endorse products or discuss their personal lifestyle choices (including fashion). May include examples from all other categories.
• Educational (how-to) videos were very popular with 4th and 5th graders, but almost non-existent below that.
• Music was popular in all grades, Funny/Silly stuff in all grades.

The 9.7% here that are publishing on YouTube without parental help are 25 students made up of 5th graders (11), 4th graders (8), and 3rd graders (6). Though this is a minority, it indicates an increased need for digital citizenship and privacy conversations regarding online publishing in these grade levels.
Please see the Parent’s Guide to YouTube video for more information on publishing and privacy.

Resources

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Thank you so much for reading, watching, and being engaged with what your children are doing online.

It’s taken me a few months to complete this project, and I appreciate the patience of those who’ve been discussing it with me this whole time. I hope the time spent on research and in my own efforts to better understand our students will be valuable to everyone! Our students, our children, are living in a world with unprecedented access to media. It is our responsibility to become a part of that.

I welcome feedback, suggestions, your own experience and comments via ISPP email or comments here on the blog.

Yours truly,

Matt
PYP Technology Coach

As seen in the Oct./Nov. issue of ISPP's The Pulse magazine. Unlike the impressions left in the rainy season mud, or packed in the sand along a recently explored beach, digital footprints aren’t so easily washed away.

When we explore the internet, read articles, watch videos, comment or “like” things, and publish about our work and learning, we leave behind a trail. This trail can be followed to create a map of our interests, habits, opinions and creations in a very public way, especially if we don’t take steps to obscure our path. This map of our internet activity is often referred to as our “digital footprint”, our impression on the internet, and once made public it can be a very difficult thing to hide; records of its existence are replicated and backed up on computers around the world. And although there are many methods that can be used to cover our tracks, and much discussion about what things people want to hide, the real discussion that needs to happen in schools is about what we want to show.

The internet is now the go-to resource for finding out about stuff. What if the thing that someone wants to find out more about is you? The searcher could be anyone, true enough, potentially even someone who wants to harm you… but most likely that person searching for you on the internet has a vested interest: A job or school you’re applying to, a potential employer or client investigating your potential. These are parties that have influence on your life, and they’re going to make decisions based on what they find. So the discussion becomes not about what you don’t want people to know about you on the internet, but just exactly what do you want them to know?

You want them to know you exist. You want them to see examples of your best work, in a variety of fields. You want to demonstrate that you can grow, adapt, and change over time. You want to focus on your strengths, and show that you are working on your weaknesses.

Students at ISPP are not just building an internet presence, they’re building an internet portfolio. They are learning what sorts of information are okay to share online, and what types of things they should keep private. They are learning how websites track and use their information and then using that knowledge to promote their best work. With proactivity like this, those who go looking may find our students, but they will find a person with a history of learning and growth, not a one-time bad party photo or an anecdote meant only for close friends. Those things should remain private, but should they ever leak, they will be buried beneath years of authentic, principled, publicly visible learning. -M

Some of our students have adopted the THINK strategy before posting anything online. By making this practice a regular part of their routine, it helps improve the quality of student work and communication while helping to make the internet a better place. While students are empowered by using technology in a social context, by having a voice on the net, strategies like this will keep students of today from turning into the internet trolls of tomorrow.