YouTube is a great instructional tool, but there is a good bit of questionable content both in videos and in comments. While many educators lean toward the "teach, trust, and monitor" mentality, most school boards and central office level administrator, the people who have to deal with the legal repercussions of students accessing inappropriate content, often lean more toward the "restrict access to questionable content" side of the debate. This post isn't about that debate, but rather about how to safely share your teacher content on networks where access is restricted.
Our school division is a Google Apps For Education (GAFE) division. Our teachers have access to YouTube, but students do not. Some teachers would like students to have this access, but many are happy to not have to deal with one more distraction while teaching lessons using laptops and other devices. This is all well and good until a teacher wants to share a video online with students or embed a video into a site, document or presentation. Since GAFE only allows embedding of YouTube videos, which means embedded videos are out for teachers sharing Google slideshows with students during school. Linking, however, is another option, and frankly works just as well, you just don't see the video in the slide.
The biggest downside to viewing YouTube videos in YouTube is all the "related videos" that show up. There are a few simple solutions for this problem. For more on that, here is a link to a blog post from Richard Byrne: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/01/3-clutter-free-ways-to-display-youtube.html#.VPtT3PnF_6w
At the school where I teach, we are fortunate to have a tool that works with our filter to allow us to clear YouTube videos for student viewing. We can create accounts for teachers where they can link YouTube videos, then share those links with students. While direct YouTube links are still blocked, the new Go Live Campus links are available for students. If your school uses something other than iBoss for filtering, this probably won't work, but check with someone in your IT department; they may have a similar solution.
http://www.golivecampus.com/media/action/login
Another option for teacher in GAFE domains sharing videos is uploading them to Google Drive. From here you can link and share videos the same way you would share any other document. Just remember that videos count against your total drive storage space. I've heard rumors in the last few days that Google+ Photos photo and video storage will soon be integrated into drive, so I'm looking forward to more options becoming available once this happens since that is how Google product updates often work.
https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2423694?hl=en
Several tools are available for creating videos in Chrome browser. WeVideo and SnagIt are two that I have used and really like, but search the Chrome Web Store; you may find something you like more or that better suits your individual needs. The free version of WeVideo is pretty limited, but for a relatively modest fee (especially if you use it frequently), you can step up to a premium account that is packed with features.
https://www.wevideo.com/overview (Free Plan or Premium Plan $48/yr. or $7/mo.)
The second tool I recommend is SnagIt. It is developed by the same company that makes Camtasia and is great if you want to narrate a Google slideshow or put together a quick flipped lesson for your students using something that can be displayed on your computer screen.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/techsmith-snagit/fcnghgbgmemnlbckdipnmelbanpgneik
