The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Wired Campus

February 13, 2008

More Colleges Show Interest in Hooking Up With YouTube

Today Research Channel, a nonprofit consortium of colleges and universities that runs a TV channel featuring videos of campus events and lectures, started a page on YouTube, joining a growing number of colleges and educational organizations using the popular video-sharing site.

Since we wrote about professors on YouTube, officials from three different colleges have asked us, via e-mail, who to call at YouTube to find out more about setting up a YouTube channel. “I am having trouble contacting YouTube about signing up,” said one. Indeed, the site seems to offer no information about how to become an academic partner, and so far officials from the company have not answered follow-up questions from The Chronicle about the project.

It is not even clear how many colleges have set up channels. It turns out that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has one, though the company did not mention it when supplying a list of college YouTube channels to The Chronicle last month.

Meanwhile, several academics gathered the other day at the DIY Video Summit to discuss the social impact of Internet video, especially the kind of homemade creations made by Internet users around the world (some of them professors). Naturally, some video from the event is available online. —Jeffrey R. Young

Update: Just got an e-mail message from a YouTube spokeswoman with a list of additional colleges that have set up channels on the site: Auburn University, Carnegie Mellon University, Purdue University, and Texas Tech University.

Posted on Wednesday February 13, 2008 | Permalink |

Comments

  1. “three different colleges have asked us, via e-mail, who to call at YouTube to find out more about setting up a YouTube channel”

    You’re kidding, right? Simply open an account and post videos, make your page look pretty, and you’re done. No need to get on the phone and call Mr. YouTube. Way to dive in.

    — tsand    Feb 13, 05:07 PM    #

  2. As we wrote in our previous coverage, by setting up a channel, colleges can post longer videos (such as hour-long lectures) than regular YouTube users are allowed to do. But it is certainly true that anyone can set up a YouTube page… in fact some college names (such as http://youtube/princeton) have been taken by individual users who don’t seem to be representatives of the university.

    — wired campus    Feb 13, 05:28 PM    #

  3. Looks like YouTube doesn’t want to be overwhelmed by requests from colleges, even though Mr. Higher Ed at YouTube presented at some selected conferences over the past few months.

    — Karine Joly - www.collegewebeditor.com    Feb 13, 05:57 PM    #

  4. The University Tube http://theuniversitytube.com is a new Video site very similar to youtube, but each school has their own specific site. We recently created a channel called “Lectures” to allow faculty and professors to post their lectures.

    Currently, we house 125 schools and we plan to add more on a need basis. We welcome any and all professors from around the country and world to post their lectures at any Number of our schools.

    If we currently do not have a site for your school you can visit our site and we will create a school site within 48 hours.

    — The University Tube    Feb 13, 09:57 PM    #

  5. Vanderbilt has one, too.

    — Derek    Feb 14, 12:52 AM    #

  6. Vanderbilt page is at
    http://www.youtube.com/vanderbilt
    and not
    http://www.youtube.com/vanderbilt/
    The extra slash at end gave me a NOT FOUNDmessage

    — lwood    Feb 14, 09:31 AM    #

  7. Actually the first comment is wrong. It is possible to set up an account, however, to be an educational partner and be allowed to stream video longer than 10 minutes, your new account must be approved as a director. That approval can be solicited from an account rep at YouTube.

    — Jason Stone    Feb 14, 09:38 AM    #

  8. I just did a search on YouTube Channels with the word “University” and came up with 136 U.S. Universities that have a YouTube Channel. Many of them have multiple channels. There were also several from the UK and Canada not included in that count.

    — Layna Evans    Feb 14, 10:35 AM    #

  9. Thanks to Ferris State University for reaching out to The University Tube.

    You can find their new Video site located at Ferris State

    If wish your school to have a video site on The University Tube please visit our site and submit your school. Ferris State makes our official 126th school to be a part of our Network.

    — The University Tube    Feb 14, 12:30 PM    #

  10. Leave Professor Britney aaaaalone!!!!!

    — marci    Feb 14, 01:24 PM    #

  11. @JasonStone – I stand corrected, I read “YouTube channel” which anyone can have—I’m easily confused.

    As for the “director” title, I thought anyone could have one of those, too???

    from YouTube: “Now you can convert to a Director Account without filling out an application. From your Channel Info page, click on “change channel type” and you can select “Director” as the type of account you’d like. Once you’ve converted to a Director Account, you’ll be able to create or choose your own customized logo.”

    — tsand    Feb 14, 04:21 PM    #

  12. The University Tube is proud to announce the addition of three more schools which contacted us from this article. Ferris State University, Institute of Construction and Management Technology, and Milwaukee School of Engineering all had new sites built and put online today. A few other schools contacted The University Tube and we are working through some details, but hopefully they will be online soon!

    With these three additions The University Tube Network grows to 128 schools strong.

    If you would like your school to be considered please visit to submit your school.

    To see anyone of the newly added schools see below:

    Milwaukee School of Engineering

    Institute of Construction & Management Technology

    Ferris State University

    — The University Tube    Feb 15, 12:09 AM    #

  13. Youtube Channel we’ve been playing with for the
    University of Arkansas at Little Rock
    http://youtube.com/ualr

    — drew    Feb 15, 03:15 PM    #

  14. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County has an enhanced YouTube site: http://youtube.com/umbc

    — Bill Shewbridge    Feb 19, 10:14 AM    #

  15. The University Tube adds another school to it’s rapidly expanding network. Elon University makes the 129th school added to the network. Unlike the previous sites in The University Tube network Elon’s videos site is the first to roll out in a new format. The site will be hosted and maintained by The University Tube, but the Elon video site is locked to only allow select school faculty to upload content.

    This is a new model we are introducing which is currently free for schools. We are still looking for other schools to trial this model. The University Tube will except 5 schools in this new model during the trial.

    We at The University Tube are very excited about the Elon Video Site and believe this new model may be better suited to position partnerships with schools.

    If you are interested to trial this program for your College or University please visit
    The University Tube and Submit your School

    — asweat@theuniversitytube.com    Feb 22, 12:33 AM    #

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