YouTube.com EDU

With WRPS schools moving to Google Apps for Education, I'm keeping my eyes open for various Google tools to use in conjunction with our new accounts. YouTube is owned by Google, so your school Google Account can be linked to a YouTube account.

YouTube is working on an educational portal that screens out most of what is annoying about YouTube when using it in schools. As the article says,

"Schools across the country commonly block access to YouTube, shielding students from the irresistible distractions of, say, the cat in a T-shirt playing a piano, or worse. So in December, Google started YouTube for Schools, offering schools the ability to pluck only the videos they want, scrubbed of all comments and linked only to other related educational videos."

Or, as the headline of the New York Times article says, "YouTube Subtracts Racy and Raucous to Add a Teaching Tool."

You know what that mean: No More Skittles. (Ask a VCA teacher who's been around a couple years.)

Here is a link to the New York Times article, and here is a link to the YouTube EDU portal.