Brighton School Board OKs YouTube in Schools

Board of Education members unanimously voted to update an existing school policy to allow the usage of online video services such as YouTube during their Monday night meeting.

Superintendent Greg Gray said the current policy was designed for rated, full- length, Hollywood movies in traditional formats, such as VHS or DVD. Now there is new technology that enables online access to short video clips that can be targeted for specific subjects and learning objectives.

"Our teachers would use it in various means," Gray said. "There are lots of different lectures and experiments and those types of things that they can use as other levels of teaching."

Some of the factors leading to the school board's approval were that YouTube has become a primary source for educational content from organizations such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Smithsonian Institution; YouTube has improved its system for removing inappropriate content; and Google Document presentations can embed video clips only from YouTube.

Teachers will be allowed to use publicly available online videos that are included on the lists of school-authorized videos. Teachers will also be able to add videos to the authorized list by following protocol steps, such as previewing the material and answering questions regarding subject areas and grade levels for which the video will be used.