Pedagogical Research Project proposes the use of YouTube as an autonomous learning strategy

 youtube1 project

The research is directed by Professor Elvis Campos, Director of the ULS School of Pedagogy in the Humanities, together with Dr. Rodrigo Ruay, research scholar at the Integrated Management of Pedagogies Unit (UGIP).

The use of technologies has been advancing by leaps and bounds in recent years, and every day different digital tools emerge that are being used by various areas and sectors. One of the best known is YouTube, a leading platform used to share videos that address various topics and interests.

youtube project 2Considering that young people currently spend the highest percentage of their daily time connected to the Internet, it is necessary to take advantage of the platforms offered by the digital world as teaching resources that can be used in classrooms.

In this context, professors Elvis Campos and Dr. Rodrigo Ruay are working on the research project “Use of the YouTube platform as an autonomous learning tool: a case study”, which seeks to implement a method to develop autonomous work. in students and in this way they can enhance the learning of English language skills.

For this, 7 third-year students from a municipal school in the Coquimbo Region and 11 second-year students from the Ped program were summoned. in English ULS, who presented difficulties in acquiring English language skills. The study participants had to attend classes in English for four months, through certain YouTube channels, resulting in an improvement in the learning of English language skills, which was reflected in the grades obtained in the respective course closures.

“The research preliminarily informs us that following a YouTube channel directed by English-speaking teachers improves the motivation and learning of the students, who felt more confident with learning the language,” explains Professor Elvis.

Presentation at the VII International FID Congress

On October 3 and 4, the VII FID International Congress “Good Educational Practices” was held at the University of Los Lagos (Osorno), which addressed five thematic areas related to educational innovation, research and reflection on educational practice, the evaluation of teaching-learning processes, teaching and sustainable development objectives, as well as new challenges and problems in initial teacher training.

The main purpose of the Congress is to strengthen the initial training of teachers in the south of the country, and highlight good practices exercised in the classroom.

For this reason, professors Elvis Campos and Dr. Rodrigo Ruay presented the project and case study about students and the contribution that the use of YouTube has in autonomous learning. “Research has a contribution mainly to scientific production in education and provides a tool that can be constituted as an element to account for the learning that the student needs to do outside the classroom,” said Professor Campos.

Finally, this experience allowed the research to be disseminated among its peers and to share the experience with other universities, awakening interest in being replicated in other colleges and higher education institutions.

Written by Daniela Ledezma, UGIP