20 YouTube Channels for Educators

YouTube has proven to be a go-to place when you want to learn something new. You can find educational videos on how to round numbers, educational experts giving speeches, how to use Google Classroom, and so much more. 

I recently presented YouTube Can Do That?! at the annual TCEA Conference. One of the participants came up to me afterwards to ask where to find good educational channels. That prompted me to create this list of the educational channels I recommend.

Professional Development on Digital Tools 

• Teacher Cast (Jeffrey Bradbury) - TeacherCast Podcasts, Broadcasts, App Reviews, Screencasts
• Richard Byrne - videos to support his Free Tech for Teachers blog. 
• Kelly Fitzgerald (shameless plug...) - my videos centered around integrating digital tools

Focusing on Google for Education tools

• Google for Education - official channel of Google for Education
• Google Chrome - official YouTube channel for the Chrome browser, OS, Web Store, and Chromebooks
• The Gooru - great informational resource to learn about Google for Education tools. 
• Eric Curts - information and tutorials for educational technology resources centered around Google for Education. 

Teaching Strategies

• Edutopia - highlights the evidence-based teaching strategies, such as project-based learning, STEAM, response to intervention, tech literacy, etc. 
• Buck Institute for Education - centered around project based learning (PBL). 

Inspirational Videos

• Ted-Ed - collection of inspiring videos in animation format
• TedX - videos from TedX talks around the globe
• Big Think - showcasing videos from educational experts
• Infinite Thinking - engaging Internet TV show for educators to inspire creativity and innovation

Content Specific

• Amoeba Sisters - videos focusing on explaining difficult science concepts through animation and humor. 
• Khan Academy - content based teaching videos
• Discovery Education - stories and experiences from the world of science, natural history, anthropology, survival, geography, and engineering.
• National Geographic - videos featuring stories on natural history, wildlife, and so much more
• SciShow - explores the unexpected of science
• Mathantics - fun videos centered around math concepts
• Educator - instructional videos in math & science 

Participate Learning - One Stop Shop to Find, Collect, and Share Digital Resources

As an educational technologist, I am always looking for new tools to learn and then share with educators. To find digital resources, I search online, read blog posts, and scour through social media. I save the resources using the Tweetdecks collection feature, Pocket, or Citable, so when time permits I could review the tool. I then share the resources via my blog, website, email, social media, etc. The process is quite daunting and takes a great amount of time and effort. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but until now I didn't have a very efficient method for my madness.  

Participate Learning, is a free website that allows educators to search, collect and share digital resources all in one location.  Quickly search the websites database for digital resources by keyword, content, topic, or grade level. 

You can narrow your search down by price, type, and/or grade level in order to find tools that will work for you and your students. Read reviews of the digital resources by Participate Learning experts. 

Gather the resources you find into collections that can be shared via link, email, embed code or through social media. Easily add additional web resources or upload files, photos or videos into your collections. I use the Participate Learning Chrome Extension to bookmark the resources I find, so I can easily add them to my collections. Control who has access to your collections by changing the visibility setting. Everything that I used to do with multiple tools can now be done with Participate Learning.

Here is one of the collections I am currently building around Creativity Tools.

In addition, you can add collaborators to your collections in order to build a collection of resources together. Now team/departments can create one collection for their students or the curriculum department can create a collection for teachers. 

If you are interested in learning more, please check out this brief overview of Participate Learning. 

Participate Learning should be a go-to website for any educator looking to curate digital resources for themselves and their students. Happy curating!