It’s hardly surprising that a college course about YouTube is making its debut this fall. But it is, perhaps, somewhat unexpected that the professor leading the class admits she’s “underwhelmed” by much of the material on the site.
Alexandra Juhasz, a professor of media studies at Pitzer College, tells the Associated Press that her “Learning From YouTube” course will do more than just ask students to gawk at viral videos. The course will probe some weighty issues, she says, like the implications of “corporate-sponsored democratic media expression.”
Ms. Juhasz isn’t just talking the talk. She’s encouraged students to put videos on YouTube, and she posts recordings of her own lectures as well. The response to those clips proves that YouTube can be a fickle mistress: Some of the videos attracted positive comments, but others have already received negative reviews from viewers complaining about sound quality. —Brock Read
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