The Impact of YouTube Videos on the

Student’s Learning

Yousra Chtouki1, 2, Hamid Harroud1 Mohammed khalidi2 Samir Bennani2

1Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane 2RIME Laboratory,

P.O Box 104, Ave Hassan II 2Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingénieurs

Ifrane 53000, Morocco Ave Ibn Sina, Rabat, Morocco

{y.chtouki, h.harroud}@aui.ma {s.bennani, m.khalidi}@emi.ac.ma

Lastly, YouTube videos have been a useful source of educational

Abstract— An important part of education is student’s content, it is a free web based tool, and the impact has been
learning. Good quality education is based mainly on how well important based on our study on students’ performance.
student attain the knowledge. One way to achieve that is to Educators have used YouTube videos in other fields such as
simplify the content and make it as intuitive as possible. This can nursing in [1] and have proven to be an effective tool to enhance
be challenging especially for introductory computer science students learning and engagement.
courses for non-computer science students. Such courses are
supposed to cover a wide range of complex computer concepts Index Terms— Blended Learning, E-learning, Web Services,
such as networking, computer internal hardware, databases, YouTube Videos.
operating systems and others.
In this paper we are presenting the results of a study done on
the use of YouTube videos to enhance students’ learning. We I. INTRODUCTION
have evaluated the student’s performance in an introduction to
computers course for non-computer science students by
comparing two groups of students, The first one is a test group in
which we have supplied the students with a set of videos from
I n Education the aim is always to ensure that students attain
the intended learning objectives. According to the national
committee of inquiry into higher education, the aim of higher
YouTube to illustrate different concepts such as multiple core
versus single core processor, hard disk internal components, education should be to sustain a learning society. Two of the
using fiber optic cables to connect continents under water..ect. four main purposes which make up this aim as mentioned in
The second is a control group in which we have only used the [2] are: 1.to inspire and enable individuals to develop their
traditional resources, such as the textbook, in class lectures and capabilities to the highest potential levels throughout life, so
handouts. The results of the study have shown that students that they grow intellectually, are well equipped for work, can
understand and can remember the complex concepts much better contribute effectively to society and achieve personal
when they are exposed to a visual explanation video. We found fulfillment. 2. To increase knowledge and understanding for
that most of the students if not all watched the short videos, their own sake and to foster their application to the benefit of
which is not the case with textual content. One of the main
the economy and society. One way to achieve that is to make
advantages of YouTube is that it is a free web based service that
contains short contents about specific concepts taught in schools. the students interested in the subject regardless of the
Educators can easily search and review videos related to a techniques used in or outside the classroom. Once the student
specific concept or knowledge, and then provide the students is interested and sees a direct benefit from learning a given
with the link. In our case the videos were downloaded using topic, then learning becomes intuitive and an enjoyable
RealPlayer plugin, which allowed us to download any video experience.
streaming content on the web. Then we have uploaded the videos
in our LMS (learning management system). We have opted to In blended learning environments, both classical and new
include the videos in the LMS so that we can track the number of electronic methods are used in teaching. Several studies were
students who have downloaded the videos and keep track of the done in health care education [1][5] shows that Web 2.0 in
number of downloads. In this study we have found that using general and YouTube videos specifically are effective in
YouTube videos encouraged students to look for similar videos, education. Web 2.0 applications, such as the popular YouTube
and get a habit of using YouTube as an educational resource. The online video network, may enhance health care students'
only challenge is the evaluation of the reliability of the content, learning and retention while providing connections with peers
for that reason content selection has to done by the instructor. and faculty [5]. As social media, which combines user-
generated contents and social networking features, has become
a major source of information dissemination and social
Manuscript received June 1st, 2012. sharing [6]. According to YouTube 48 hours of video are
(e-mail: [email protected]).

978-1-4673-2334-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 8 years of content
uploaded every day [7]. Therefore YouTube can be a valuable
source of information from which we can extract useful
learning content.
In our case the introduction to computers course is thought in
the classroom the classical way. There is also a learning
management system ‘LMS’ where we make use of content
delivery, assessment and collaboration tools. This paper is
presenting the results of a study done to evaluate the impact of
YouTube videos on the students’ performance.

Ongoing monitoring and frequent evaluations of the

student's performance are necessary to determine if the student
is making progress [3]. The students’ performance is evaluated
in terms of their understanding of the concepts and their
applications. The term evaluation means to examine, judge, Figure 1: Survey of introduction to computers students about the
appraise, and assign value or worth. The word performance usefulness of the concepts thought in class
refers to the actions of carrying out or completing some
function, role, or obligation [3]. The challenges in introductory B. The test group: using YouTube videos
courses for non-major students are: The students may not be The test group is the group of students taking introduction
interested with the subject taught, the concepts may be to computers course, the same content is delivered and
difficult to grasp, It’s challenging to understand a complex
students are assessed the same way as the control group. The
concept without any prior knowledge, the limitation of how
only added tool is the use of YouTube videos that have been
much is covered in introductory courses, and finally the time
limitation doesn’t allow the instructor to elaborate or go into uploaded on the existing LMS for the students to watch
much specific detail on a given topic or concept. Again, in our outside the classroom. The videos were about topics covered
paper we are emphasizing on introductory computer science in the first part of the term excluding database. This means
course for non-major students. The computer related concepts that the videos were about software, hardware and networking
thought are software, hardware, database, networking and topics. For database we have used reading material instead and
programming. The course is divided into two parts, the first were also supplied on the LMS for students to read outside the
part in which the first four concepts are covered and the classroom.
second which is dedicated to computer programming.
The rest of the paper is organized as follow: II.a We present First we have to see the percentage of students whom have
and analyze the survey results performed on a control group, watched the YouTube videos. Figure2 shows that 80% of the
which is a group of students that has completed the students have watched most, all or even looked for more
introduction to computers course the classical way. IIb & IIc videos on YouTube. This indicates that students find it easy to
We present and analyze the survey results performed on the use and interesting enough to view videos related to course
test group where we used YouTube videos as an extra support content which is not the case with reading material. This
tool. III Conclusion and future work. encourages us to further investigate the reminder of the survey
questions.
II. SURVEY RESULTS

A. The Control group: teaching the classical way

The students in the control group were taught the classical
way in the classroom, using the typical resources, the
textbook, the handouts, in class presentations and illustrations.
Added to that, instructors also use collaboration, assessment
and content delivery tools in the existing LMS. We should
mention that the LMS contains only the resources provided in
the classroom: syllabus, lecture slides, handouts and
assignments. Figure 1 presents the survey results taken at the
end of the term.
The 1st chapters means the first part of the term which covers
application software, computer hardware, networking and
database. We noticed that a large number of students find the
first part of the term less interesting and do not find the
content to be useful.
Figure 2: Survey results to check the percentage of students whom have
watched the YouTube videos supplied by the instructor
 of YouTube videos. Also, confirmed by the control group
The second item that we need to test for is the change in the survey.
students interest in the topics covered during the first part of
the semester which are: software, hardware, networking and C. Evaluating students’ performance using grades:
database. Figure3a shows that Figure3b shows that 43% of the
In order to shed more light on the effectiveness of the
students find that one of the topics covered in the first part of
impact of the use of YouTube videos, we will investigate the
the semester is the least interesting. This number is smaller
students’ grades on the networking concept specifically for
than the one in the control group. We can conclude then that
several reasons. One is because this has been a difficult topic
YouTube videos have helped in increasing the students’ for students to understand due to its complexity and to the
interest in the subject. time limitation in which we cover it. After teaching the course
for 12 consecutive semesters we noticed that students have a
Figues3a also shows that 29% of the students find that hard time grasping different components in networking.
database is the least interesting which the only topic for which Concepts details such as: network architectures, topologies,
we didn’t supply any YouTube videos, instead we supplied transmission media, and networking devices. We should
reading material. This is a high percentage, knowing that mention that networking is the only chapter that doesn’t have
students get to create and manipulate databases in the lab. So a lab application that goes along with it. This may have
the lab time was not enough to get all of the students contributed to the abstraction and nontangible feel to the topic
interested in the topic. This can mainly be because database is itself. For all these reasons, we have provided the students
such a large concept that students may not see the direct with a set of YouTube videos to illustrate those concepts. Also
implication of databases in their life. Especially that the we opted to include some real life projects such as the fiber
database applications covered in the lab remain fairly basic. optic project that aims at connecting East Africa with the rest
of the world. An evaluation of the students’ performance in
networking was done in class; the results are shown in figure5.
65% of the students have a passing grade. This is a good
improvement compared with previous years where the
percentage of success reached 50% at the most.

Figure 3a: Least interesting topic

Figure5: Students performance in networking after using YouTube videos

as an extra support tool

D. Reading Material verses YouTube Videos:

Reading is considered to be an important part of learning
and education. Reading offers a productive approach to
improving vocabulary and word power. It is advisable to
indulge in at least half an hour of reading a day to keep abreast
Figure 3b: Most interesting topic of the various styles of writing and new vocabulary [4].
However we notice that students are losing interest in reading.
Figure3b on the other hand shows that 24% of the When we use alternative teaching methods we are not only
students have found that the software, hardware and helping the students better learn, we are also increasing their
networking are the most interesting. This we consider as a interest in the topic taught. Subsequently, the students are
remarkable change in student’s reaction towards the subject. more likely to read about topics they are already interested in.
Especially that we have been having a difficult time to get Therefore the use of technology such as YouTube videos is
students interested on those topics using the textbook only. not replacing reading; it is instead supporting students love
And this has been noticed by instructors during four learning and thus pushes and helps students read more.
continuous years of teaching the course prior to the integration
 Figure 4 shows that students find the textbook the least of possibilities and the potential for the future in terms of
useful tool to learn. This further confirms the decrease in technology use in education seems to be promising.
reading among people especially the youth.
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Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, Leeds, viewed 28 May
2012, <http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/ncihe/>. "
[3] Allyn and Bacon adapted from Horejsi, C.R. & Garthwait, C. L.; ‘about
evaluating student performance’; The social work practicum: A guide
and workbook for students 2nd ed., pp. 210-216. Boston2002.
[4] R.Young “Professor Uses High-Tech Tools to Make Case for
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[6] Qian Tang, Bin Gu, Andrew Whinston, "Content Contribution in Social
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[8] Z. Wang, M. Zhao, Y. Song, S. Kumar, B. Li. “YouTubeCat: Learning
Figure4: Evaluating the usefulness and the interest of students in using
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reading material.
and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 2010.

Obviously from the figure we can also see that the direct
interaction with the instructor is always the best way to pass
on the knowledge; however it must be supported by other
tools that may be used outside the classroom. Due to the
limitation of class time, the amount of information that needs
to be covered, there is always a need to make the students
continue the learning process outside the classroom.
Hopefully, technology will not only assist in enhancing
education but also help the students increase their passion for
reading and learning in general.

III. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

A fruitful and successful learning experience mandates
that students are interested in the subject and that the
knowledge is presented in an intuitive way. Due to the
decrease in students’ interest in reading, educators have to use
other methods to ensure that learning is still taking place. In
this paper we have presented the results of a study performed
on an introduction to computers course for non-major
students. The aim of every educational institution is to
increase the students productive and success rate. Therefore,
the study presented in this paper tackles one of several
existing web solutions that may enhance the learning
experience of students.
Since YouTube videos have only been used for two terms on a
total number of 150 students. For future work we intend on
continuing to perform the survey for the coming terms. We
also want to explore the possibility of automatic search and
filtering of YouTube videos and its integration in the existing
Learning management system. On-line services for archiving
and sharing personal, Automatic categorization of videos is
important for indexing and search purposes [8] such existing
research done in this area opens the doors for broader range