SchoolTube

Video-sharing site offers safe environment for students

Learning rating

Community rating

Based on 6 reviews

Privacy rating

Expert evaluation by Common Sense

Grades

1–8

Subjects & Topics

Classroom Management, Digital Citizenship, News & Media Literacy, Professional Development, Relationships & Communication

Price: Free
Platforms: Web

Pros: Safe and easy video hosting without advertising and side video recommendations.

Cons: Students may lack motivation since the site is purely educational and removes what makes YouTube so popular.

Bottom Line: A great solution for schools hoping to publish videos in a tightly controlled space.

Teachers create accounts on SchoolTube by finding their school in a drop-down menu and submitting an email address. If no school account exists, SchoolTube prompts teachers to register their school. Students hoping to register have to also find their school in a drop-down menu. If the school isn't there, they're directed to ask an adult at school to create an account. There were plans in 2020 to connect SchoolTube to Google Classroom.

Uploading, creating, editing, and sharing on SchoolTube is simple. Various options for privacy settings offer flexibility. Once a teacher's account is confirmed, they can approve their own videos and publish them instantly. Teachers can organize videos into a playlist, which can also be added to a channel. This is especially handy if you have several classrooms during the day and need different resources. Users can be added to a channel, allowing students to upload or create their own videos. Sharing is an easy process using Facebook, Twitter, or hyperlinks, or by embedding videos into a webpage. New features include the ability to add attachments and a video quiz. The recent updates allow more interaction with videos, increasing learning and interest.

SchoolTube is a safe environment for hosting and sharing videos without advertising and side video recommendations, which can distract learners from their main purpose. In SchoolTube, teachers and students can add a YouTube video into their playlist, but all the surrounding content usually found on the YouTube site has been removed, including advertising. On the SchoolTube website, there are several options, which include uploading videos, capturing a device screen image, recording video within the program, and adding attachments to videos, plus the ability to add a video quiz. The editor has more options after digging deeper into the program. This is a solid program for teachers and students, enabling them to add or create their own videos with new features that offer greater interaction by the students in a safe digital environment.

SchoolTube allows teachers to control the content that students are viewing by removing distracting advertising. Channels and playlists help organize the videos for easy access and sharing with students and parents. It's best for teachers and schools who want to create and publish videos but have concerns about YouTube's questionable content. The process to upload and share content is straightforward, but how-to videos and FAQs are available if more help is needed. A SchoolTube blog discusses current issues about cyberbullying, the benefits of sharing student video productions online, or how to use a green screen.

SchoolTube may not have the largest or most exciting compilation of videos, but the ability to share videos from other sites such as YouTube adds a layer of interest with digital safety. The new updates enhance teacher-created videos, offering a blended learning approach.

Learning Rating

Overall Rating
Engagement

Publishing videos for the world can be inspiring. Students will enjoy seeing other kids' school projects and performances, but probably won't navigate to SchoolTube on their own because of the academic nature of the site.

Pedagogy

Great place for uploading and sharing videos with kids and families. Once videos are up, kids can link to them and embed them in another website, or share videos on Facebook or Twitter.

Support

How-to guides are at the top of the page, making it easy to find step-by-step examples. An additional FAQ page is also available.

Common Sense reviewer
Sandy W.
Sandy W. Teacher

The content is good, but too many ads

The video functions works just fine, and there're also tags for video for reference. But five ads for one webpage is just too much.

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Privacy Rating

Data Safety How safe is this product?

  • Users can interact with trusted users.
  • Unclear whether personal information can be displayed publicly.
  • Unclear whether user-created content is filtered for personal information before being made publicly visible.

Data Rights What rights do I have to the data?

  • Users can create or upload content.
  • Processes to access or review user data are available.
  • Processes to modify data are available for authorized users.

Ads & Tracking Are there advertisements or tracking?

  • Personal information is shared for third-party marketing.
  • Traditional or contextual advertisements are displayed.
  • Personalised advertising is displayed.

Continue reading about this tool's privacy practices, including data collection, sharing, and security.

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