1. MEDUC 612:
Instructional Design and Development
Fall 2009
Professor Jesse Wisnouse
Suzanne Garrett
Web 2.0 Evaluation
Online Video Websites
November 23, 2009

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Introduction and rational
Online videos are a great tool for teachers to use to support curriculum in the
classroom. There are many different sites that house online videos and it can be quite a
difficult task to choose which one would be the best tool to use. Depending on the school
system’s Acceptable Use Policy and subscriptions purchased by specific schools, access
to all of the websites may not always be feasible. The three websites I chose to evaluate
that have a variety of online videos are http://www.youtube.com/,
http://streamingdiscoveryeducation.com/, and http://www.teachertube.com/.
I chose to evaluate online videos because I use them to supplement my teaching,
especially in science. My students love it when I put little clips of video or even entire
videos in my lessons. Since good teachers try to incorporate all of their students’ learning
styles into lessons, using online videos really help to meet the needs of the visual learner.
Videos, when used appropriately within a lesson can help to reinforce concepts that may
be difficult for some students to understand. For example, I used a search for a video on
electricity, since I am currently teaching a physical science unit on that right now. My
students were having a hard time understanding the idea of atoms having protons,
neutrons, and electrons, and how the transfer of electrons caused electricity. I showed a
video on Discovery Education that animated that concept and it helped my students to
make sense of that vocabulary and process. Online videos are a great tool to supplement
curricular objectives in an interesting way and help the students to enjoy learning.

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Benefits to each site
YouTube has many benefits to it. First, there are millions of videos for everything
you could ever think of. It is almost a given that you will find exactly what you’re
looking for or a link to it. In fact, when I searched for the concepts of electricity and
adding fractions with unlike denominators, I was taken through YouTube to a Teacher
Tube video, which I also evaluated using my rubric. I found pages of videos directly
related to my search for both curricular indicators. There were also links to additional
videos and suggestions for other videos to view. It was quick and easy to use the video in
full screen mode and some videos had closed-captions. An account was not needed to
view, download, or share videos. Links for navigation were clearly labeled, consistently
placed, allowed the reader to easily move from a video to related videos (forward and
back), and took me where I expected to go. All the links were active and load time was
very quick for all pages and videos.
Teacher Tube had fewer benefits to the website than I would have predicted.
Like, YouTube, switching to full screen mode was quick; and channels were sorted by
content, subject, and age level. There was a good relationship with curriculum content.
A person would not have to login to share or embed a video in an online document.
Pages and videos typically load reasonably quickly, but it took longer to get the videos to
show in full screen. To view a video in full screen mode, Windows Media Player or
Internet Explorer had to be used. In Firefox, you could only use it with Windows Media
Player to view it in full screen mode. There were also other media to use such as audio,
documents, and photos.

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Discovery Education had many great tools, which I find to be one of the best
benefits that an online video site could give you. One tool was the access to lesson plans,
quizzes, and tools for building them. Academic levels and curricular alignment were
clearly stated and even a way to search for content, so finding age- and content-related
materials was simple. Some videos provided options to go to other linked videos in that
series, gave citation information, and/or offered related materials such as blackline
masters, teacher guides, and/or quizzes. Lessons could be aligned to any state curriculum.
Searching for videos was easy as you could search by subject, grade, media type, video
detail, materials, or source. Videos were effective in teaching the desired content in an
interactive way that students would enjoy while learning. All links were active. Storage
of materials and videos in folders was made easy. There were many different media types
such as audio, video clips, clip art, full video, images, reading passages, quizzes, and so
much more to use on this website.
Drawbacks to each site
YouTube had a few drawbacks to it. I could not access this site from school. The
content was blocked. There was also no way to align grade levels or curricular standards
to the videos. Another fact that was considered a drawback to me, but may not be for
many other people, is the whole social aspect. After I logged in, I was connected with
people I knew and it became a social video network. Since I was searching for
educational videos, I didn’t intend on using it for socializing and I’d rather not be
bothered with that. There were so many videos on YouTube. It was quite overwhelming
and many videos were just inappropriate. It got very busy to look at. There were no

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additional activities for lesson plans or pre- and post-activities. The different channels
didn’t help me to find any age-appropriate or content-appropriate videos.
Teacher Tube had many more drawbacks that YouTube had. The pages took an
extremely long time to load especially if your search didn’t produce any results, which
happened very often. It was hard to search. I had to reword my searches multiple times to
find any videos. Most of the time, I got messages that there weren’t any subcategories
while under the Channel search. There was a section with documents (worksheets) to use
but were not directly linked with the videos or matched together for pre- or post-
activities. It was quite slow going from video to video and between links. When I
searched for electricity under the science channel, no searches provided a video. When I
looked for adding fractions with unlike denominators, I was taken to pages of video links
on adding whole numbers, identifying fractions, dividing fractions, and comparing
fractions. It was until I was scrolling through, that on page three I finally found an
appropriate video. Teacher Tube also had the whole social network capability and again
that was not what I was looking for. That may very well not be a drawback to many other
people.
Discovery Education had a few drawbacks to using it. To view a video in full
screen mode or closed-captioned, Windows Media Player or Internet Explorer had to be
used. In Firefox, you could only use it with Windows Media Player to view it in full
screen mode or closed-captioned. Navigation through my folders was a pain. Once I back
clicked, I lost where I was in searching my folders and had to start over. I had to log in to
have access to any videos. That could be a problem if a school does not have a
subscription. That isn’t a drawback for me because I have a login.

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Rankings
The rankings of the online video websites were based on the total scores
determined by the rubric I created. Discovery Education was the best website for using
online videos in education. It received a rubric score of 17.67. The breakdown for each
category was the following: relativity to content- 4, ease of use by instructors-3,
effectiveness in teaching-4, design, aesthetic appeal, and navigation accessibility-3.67,
and load time-3. The strengths this website had were the additional tools, ease of
searching content, availability of related materials, and the ability to align videos to any
state curriculum. The weaknesses of this site were that you needed to have a subscription
to view or use its materials and that you could not view the videos in full screen mode
directly from their site if you are using Firefox, but it does work well in Internet Explorer
or using a Windows Media Player.
The next website, as ranked by my rubric, was You Tube with a rubric score of
17. The breakdown for each category was the following: relativity to content- 2, ease of
use by instructors-4, effectiveness in teaching-3, design, aesthetic appeal, and navigation
accessibility-4, and load time-4. There were a few strengths for this website. One major
one was that there were millions of videos that were easy to access and loaded very
quickly. Also, searches offered suggestions for other videos or linked videos. Last, an
account was not needed to view or use the videos. One major weakness was that due to
its social networking ability, it was banned by some school systems, like FCPS, and
access to the website was denied. The other weakness was also its strength. There were

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so many videos that it got to be overwhelming to search for what I was looking for, and
most of the content on YouTube was inappropriate for use in education.
The worst website, according to my rubric, was Teacher Tube with a rubric score
of 14. The breakdown for each category was the following: relativity to content- 3, ease
of use by instructors-4, effectiveness in teaching-3, design, aesthetic appeal, and
navigation accessibility-4, and load time-2. This website had a few strengths, such as no
login is required, unless you want to download content, it only housed educational
content; and there were also other media to use such as audio, documents, and photos.
The drawbacks outweighed the benefits to this site. There were so many weaknesses. One
was the amount of time it took for the pages to load, if your search didn’t produce any
results and that happened often. Another was that it was hard to find what you wanted
quickly. Next, there were no additional materials to use linked to the videos. Also my
searches did not consistently give me appropriate videos for my search, and it was also
another social networking site, though more for teachers and students to network. That
may not be a weakness for other people, but I felt it was.
Rubrics
#1 Score: 17.67/20
Discovery Education
http://streamingdiscoveryeducation.com/

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CATEGORY 4 Excellent 3 Good 2 Fair 1 Poor
Relativity to Direct Good Limited No relationship
Curriculum relationship relationship relationship with
Content with with with curriculum
curriculum curriculum curriculum content exists.
content. content. The content. Website does
Clearly states website Website has not state
the academic randomly states limited videos academic levels
level of target the academic suitable for and contains
audience and level of target target audience. few videos for
contains audience and Few videos can target audience.
content and videos are be used in the No clear use of
videos relevant mostly suited classroom the videos in
to the audience. for audience. setting and regular
Videos can be Videos can be there are little classroom
used in integrated in to no additional activities.
classroom and classroom activities for
the website activities and whole class,
includes there are individual or
additional suggested uses group lessons.
activities for for whole class,
whole class, individual and
individual and group lessons.
group lessons.
Ease of Use Graphics/links Graphics/links Graphics/links Graphics/links
by are labeled or are mostly are seldom are not labeled
Instructors have rollover labeled or have labeled or or don't offer
labeling; fonts rollover seldom offer rollover
are consistently labeling; fonts rollover labeling, fonts
easy to read. are mostly easy labeling; fonts are difficult to
Links for to read. Links are sometimes read. Some
navigation are for navigation used for ease of links do not
clearly labeled, are clearly reading. Links take the reader
consistently labeled, allow for navigation to the videos
placed, allow the reader to take the reader described. A
the reader to easily move where s/he user typically
easily move from a video to expects to go, feels lost.
from a video to related videos but some
related videos (forward and needed links
(forward and back), and seem to be
back), and take internal links missing. A user
the reader take the reader sometimes gets
where s/he where s/he lost.
expects to go. expects to go.
A user does not A user rarely
become lost. becomes lost

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Effectiveness Videos are Videos are Videos are Videos are
in teaching effective in mostly partially ineffective in
teaching the effective in effective in teaching
desired content teaching teaching desired content.
in an desired content, desired content, Interactivity is
interactive way with some with limited unrelated to
that students interactivity interactivity learning, not
will enjoy that appeal to and appeal to directed at
while learning. students. students. student
enjoyment.
Design, The site is The site is The site is The site is not
Aesthetic visually appealing to mildly visually
appeal, and appealing to audience. appealing. appealing to
Navigation target audience There is a There is a lack target audience.
Accessibility and contains a slight balance of balance No balance
good balance between between text between
between graphics and and graphics. graphics and
graphics and text. Home The home page text. Home
text. Home page contains contains some page does not
page contains direct links to links to other contain links to
direct links to other parts of parts of the other parts of
other parts of the web site but website and the website.
the web site, links are not all only a few are Difficult to
links are current or active and access the
current and active. The current. The videos and
active. The web site can be web site can be logins are
web site is accessed with accessed with required to
easily some effort and effort, (time view and
accessible and logins are not consuming) download/share
no login is required to and logins are all content.
required to view content, required to
view and but to view some
download/share download/share content and
content. it. download/share
it.
Load Time Pages and Pages and Pages typically Pages and
videos videos takes more than videos typically
typically load typically load 15 seconds to take a more
very quickly reasonably load, but the than 15
(10 seconds or quickly (10-15 videos load seconds to
less) on a 54k seconds) on a quickly. download due
modem due to 54k modem to large
small graphics, due to small graphics,
good graphics, good animations,
compression of compression of sounds, etc
sounds and sounds and

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graphics, and graphics, and
appropriate appropriate
division of division of
content. content.
#2 Score: 17/20
YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/
CATEGORY 4 Excellent 3 Good 2 Fair 1 Poor
Relativity to Direct Good relationship Limited No relationship
Curriculum relationship with with curriculum relationship with with curriculum
Content curriculum content. The curriculum content exists.
content. Clearly website randomly content. Website Website does not
states the states the has limited state academic
academic level of academic level of videos suitable levels and
target audience target audience for target contains few
and contains and videos are audience. Few videos for target
content and mostly suited for videos can be audience. No clear
videos relevant to audience. Videos used in the use of the videos
the audience. can be integrated classroom setting in regular
Videos can be in classroom and there are little classroom
used in classroom activities and to no additional activities.
and the website there are activities for
includes suggested uses whole class,
additional for whole class, individual or
activities for individual and group lessons.
whole class, group lessons.
individual and
group lessons.
Ease of Use by Graphics/links Graphics/links Graphics/links Graphics/links are
Instructors are labeled or are mostly are seldom not labeled or
have rollover labeled or have labeled or seldom don't offer
labeling; fonts are rollover labeling; offer rollover rollover labeling,
consistently easy fonts are mostly labeling; fonts are fonts are difficult
to read. Links for easy to read. sometimes used to read. Some
navigation are Links for for ease of links do not take
clearly labeled, navigation are reading. Links for the reader to the
consistently clearly labeled, navigation take videos described.
placed, allow the allow the reader the reader where A user typically
reader to easily to easily move s/he expects to feels lost.

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move from a from a video to go, but some
video to related related videos needed links
videos (forward (forward and seem to be
and back), and back), and missing. A user
take the reader internal links take sometimes gets
where s/he the reader where lost.
expects to go. A s/he expects to
user does not go. A user rarely
become lost. becomes lost
Effectiveness Videos are Videos are Videos are Videos are
in teaching effective in mostly effective partially effective ineffective in
teaching the in teaching in teaching teaching desired
desired content in desired content, desired content, content.
an interactive with some with limited Interactivity is
way that students interactivity that interactivity and unrelated to
will enjoy while appeal to appeal to learning, not
learning. students. students. directed at student
enjoyment.
Design, The site is The site is The site is mildly The site is not
Aesthetic visually appealing to appealing. There visually appealing
appeal, and appealing to audience. There is a lack of to target audience.
Navigation target audience is a slight balance balance between No balance
Accessibility and contains a between graphics text and graphics. between graphics
good balance and text. Home The home page and text. Home
between graphics page contains contains some page does not
and text. Home direct links to links to other contain links to
page contains other parts of the parts of the other parts of the
direct links to web site but links website and only website. Difficult
other parts of the are not all current a few are active to access the
web site, links are or active. The and current. The videos and logins
current and web site can be web site can be are required to
active. The web accessed with accessed with view and
site is easily some effort and effort, (time download/share
accessible and no logins are not consuming) and all content.
login is required required to view logins are
to view and content, but to required to view
download/share download/share some content and
content. it. download/share
it.
Load Time Pages and videos Pages and videos Pages typically Pages and videos
typically load typically load takes more than typically take a
very quickly (10 reasonably 15 seconds to more than 15
seconds or less) quickly (10-15 load, but the seconds to
on a 54k modem seconds) on a 54k videos load download due to
due to small modem due to quickly. large graphics,

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graphics, good small graphics, animations,
compression of good sounds, etc
sounds and compression of
graphics, and sounds and
appropriate graphics, and
division of appropriate
content. division of
content.
#3 Score: 14/20
Teacher Tube
http://www.teachertube.com/
CATEGORY 4 Excellent 3 Good 2 Fair 1 Poor
Relativity to Direct Good relationship Limited No relationship
Curriculum relationship with with curriculum relationship with with curriculum
Content curriculum content. The curriculum content exists.
content. Clearly website randomly content. Website Website does not
states the states the has limited state academic
academic level of academic level of videos suitable levels and
target audience target audience for target contains few
and contains and videos are audience. Few videos for target
content and mostly suited for videos can be audience. No clear
videos relevant to audience. Videos used in the use of the videos
the audience. can be integrated classroom setting in regular
Videos can be in classroom and there are little classroom
used in classroom activities and to no additional activities.
and the website there are activities for
includes suggested uses whole class,
additional for whole class, individual or
activities for individual and group lessons.
whole class, group lessons.
individual and
group lessons.
Ease of Use by Graphics/links Graphics/links Graphics/links Graphics/links are
Instructors are labeled or are mostly are seldom not labeled or
have rollover labeled or have labeled or seldom don't offer
labeling; fonts are rollover labeling; offer rollover rollover labeling,
consistently easy fonts are mostly labeling; fonts are fonts are difficult
to read. Links for easy to read. sometimes used to read. Some
navigation are Links for for ease of links do not take

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clearly labeled, navigation are reading. Links for the reader to the
consistently clearly labeled, navigation take videos described.
placed, allow the allow the reader the reader where A user typically
reader to easily to easily move s/he expects to feels lost.
move from a from a video to go, but some
video to related related videos needed links
videos (forward (forward and seem to be
and back), and back), and missing. A user
take the reader internal links take sometimes gets
where s/he the reader where lost.
expects to go. A s/he expects to
user does not go. A user rarely
become lost. becomes lost
Effectiveness Videos are Videos are Videos are Videos are
in teaching effective in mostly effective partially effective ineffective in
teaching the in teaching in teaching teaching desired
desired content in desired content, desired content, content.
an interactive with some with limited Interactivity is
way that students interactivity that interactivity and unrelated to
will enjoy while appeal to appeal to learning, not
learning. students. students. directed at student
enjoyment.
Design, The site is The site is The site is mildly The site is not
Aesthetic visually appealing to appealing. There visually appealing
appeal, and appealing to audience. There is a lack of to target audience.
Navigation target audience is a slight balance balance between No balance
Accessibility and contains a between graphics text and graphics. between graphics
good balance and text. Home The home page and text. Home
between graphics page contains contains some page does not
and text. Home direct links to links to other contain links to
page contains other parts of the parts of the other parts of the
direct links to web site but links website and only website. Difficult
other parts of the are not all current a few are active to access the
web site, links are or active. The and current. The videos and logins
current and web site can be web site can be are required to
active. The web accessed with accessed with view and
site is easily some effort and effort, (time download/share
accessible and no logins are not consuming) and all content.
login is required required to view logins are
to view and content, but to required to view
download/share download/share some content and
content. it. download/share
it.

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Load Time Pages and videos Pages and videos Pages typically Pages and videos
typically load typically load takes more than typically take a
very quickly (10 reasonably 15 seconds to more than 15
seconds or less) quickly (10-15 load, but the seconds to
on a 54k modem seconds) on a 54k videos load download due to
due to small modem due to quickly. large graphics,
graphics, good small graphics, animations,
compression of good sounds, etc
sounds and compression of
graphics, and sounds and
appropriate graphics, and
division of appropriate
content. division of
content.
Websites Used
http://www.rcampus.com//indexrubric.cfm
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

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http://streamingdiscoveryeducation.com/
http://www.teachertube.com/
http://www.youtube.com/