Benet Davetian

Harnessing YouTube as an in-class educational aid (2011)

A generation grown up with high tech media is bound to have a different neurology and different patterns of thought than one brought up on linear media such as print. Even broadcast media have changed in the manner they affect attention and interest; the sequential plot has been replaced with quick-cut vignettes that demand rapid eye movement and rapid reassembly of the storyline.

This new generation requires new methods of teaching. The text is no longer sufficient to engage the interest and involvement of students. In a YouTube video viewed by over 3 million people (“A Vision of Students Today”) students confess what they do with their time every day. A great deal of it is spent on social media. In my presentation I will propose that, in view of limited funds in schools and universities for the acquisition of videos, YOUTUBE offers tremendous opportunities for multimedia teaching aids. In my own director’s channel youtube.com/sociologicalI maintain playlists for each course. I am able to accompany my lectures with excellent videos that provide living examples of the material being discussed. I will share this concept and practice at the Conference and be available for anyone who wishes to know how they can also set up such a teaching aid. I will also discuss empirical evidence showing how the brain processes images and thoughts and how such knowledge can facilitate the educational process.

Benet Davetian is former chair of the Sociology and Anthropology Department at UPEI and Associate Professor of Sociology. He is also director of The Civility Institute (http://www.civilityintsitute.com). Dr. Davetian also maintains a sociology website which provides students with web resources and access to online course materials (http://www.bdavetian.com). His latest book is Civility – A Cultural History (University of Toronto Press, 2009). 

PhD University of Sussex; SSHRC Doctoral and British Commonwealth Scholarship
Post Doctoral SSHRC Fellow Concordia University.
B.A. and MA with great distinction Concordia University