According to Lifewire.com, YouTube is the second most visited website with 25.19 billion visits per month after Google, which boasts a figure of 63.14 billion – while YouTube is followed by Facebook’s 21.18 billion monthly visitors – i.e. according to reports released in April 2019. In June 2019, it was revealed around 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube on a daily basis. When compared with other social media platforms that display video content, Google stated four times more people are said to prefer YouTube’s video content over any other similar social networking site. One of the top reasons why people watch YouTube is to relax and get entertained, and the most watched content niches on YouTube are categorized as: comedy, music, and entertainment/pop/culture and how-to videos. As a matter of fact, Google reported that around 68% people are also said watch YouTube before making any purchase.
The timeless and most watched content on YouTube falls into the how-to category – where everything is explained with comprehensive description either through a tutorial, or a visual step-by-step guide or simply by expounding the subject verbally. The best teachers incorporate a bit of all options to help viewers in the most effective way possible. The how-to category is not bound to any particular niche, as depicted by the variation of content on YouTube in general, in fact the how-to content on YouTube proves to be the most helpful and solution oriented for almost anything anywhere – also why it is rare for it to go out of date unless a product or idea becomes obsolete. However given the volume of the instructional video content on YouTube, we cannot easily segregate the strictly educational from the whole.
Irrespective of the fact that how-to videos on YouTube are largely speaking highly educational, here we will discuss the content developed for students, oriented towards learning a specific skill, and aimed to assist students and teachers alike. We will also talk about content created by highly educated groups of people, online schools, and inspirational individuals, who share their knowledge, experiences and thoughts through YouTube videos. Channels with massive watch-time and a voluminous following include the likes of National Geographic & TED – these channels share their original content on YouTube through which millions of people learn of new dimensions of thought and action. Similar in spirit to the idea that drives these channels, there are countless schools and even small to medium sized businesses that contribute to sharing educational content on their channels to coach and inform the masses.
There is a subdivision of YouTube called YouTube EDU, aside from all the educational videos and channels made by external and separate entities. As reported by National Education Association (NEA), YouTube EDU offers more or less 500k educational videos from organizations such as Stanford University, TED, Steve Spangler Science, Khan Academy, and the likes. In this article, I will jot down a list of some educational channels on YouTube, so learners can quench their thirst by watching, subscribing or saving these to watch later. These YouTube Channels have landed in this list on the basis of the following criteria:
- The number of subscribers, views, and that of videos uploaded on that YouTube channel
- Value and dependability of video content
- Ranking on YouTube
- And of course, quality of content in terms of providing educational value
1. Learning and Work Institute
Details:
Frequency: 2 videos per month
Number of total views: 163,095
Number of Subscribers: 299
Joined: 5th October 2011
Location: United Kingdom
2. OTAN (Outreach and Technical Assistance Network)
Details:
Frequency: 7 videos per week
Number of total views: 201210,354
Number of Subscribers: 304 subscribers
Joined: 29th June 2012
Location: United States
3. Coalition on Adult Basic Education
Details:
Frequency: 3 videos per month
Number of Videos: 163
Number of total views: 29,860 views
Number of Subscribers: 281
Joined: 25th July 2015
Location: United States
4. San Diego Continuing Education, California
Details:
Frequency: Approx. 1 video per month
Number of Videos: 148
Number of total views: 73,164 views
Number of Subscribers: 369
Joined: 13th July 2009
Location: United States
5. AONTAS – The National Adult Learning Organisation
Details:
Frequency: Approx. 1 video per month
Number of Videos: 127
Number of total views: 16,949
Number of Subscribers: 65
Joined: 27th May 2008
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Conclusion:
Albeit this write-up only highlights 5 quality educational channels on YouTube, following our criteria you can find countless more. By utilizing online technology these channels are working with a vision to educate and train people as far as skill development, and continuation of education – initiated by organizations of varied nature, they play key role in helping masses integrate technology in the classroom experience thus bringing knowledge only one click away for everyone. All these channels are started with a vision to elevate societal standards by educating people and making them capable of getting jobs, promotions or starting their own venture and earning better than before.