Instant Tutorial: Green Screen Techniques Unveiled

The world of video-making owes much of its magic to small leaps of innovation. One of these leaps is the use of the chroma key background, which most people know by the more colloquial term—green screen.

Chroma key, also known as green screen or blue screen, is a cool hack for seamless visual storytelling, allowing content creators to replace backgrounds with any image or video they want. This technique is widely embraced in film, television, and online content, and has opened the door to limitless creative possibilities. Aside from its ability to maximize creativity, it is also cheap to employ and convenient to set up, which has made it a staple for everyone who works with visuals.

In this simple guide, we’ll delve into the fundamentals of the chroma key effect, how it is used for video making, and how to leverage that as you perfect your visual content.

YouTube Video Background Creating realistic video scenes at your will is easy to complete with Filmora green screen removal.

Create Video Backgrounds Create Video Backgrounds Learn Green Screen

How Does Chroma Key Work?

Chroma Keying is done by singling out a specific color (usually green or blue) from the foreground, removing it, and replacing it with a different background (for example, a sunset). This process typically follows a series of steps:

• Background Selection:

A solid, single-color background, often green or blue, that contrasts well with the subject must be used. The color chosen should not be present in the subject or any props in the camera field to avoid unintentional transparency.

• Color Keying:

This requires the use of specialized visual effects software to key out the chosen color. The green or blue background is designated as transparent, making everything of that color see-through. The software distinguishes between the keyed color and the subject, creating a mask for the transparent areas.

• Foreground Filming:

This involves filming the subject against the live chroma key background. During filming, the chosen background color (green or blue) won’t appear in the final result due to its transparency. The subject is captured as if separately from the isolated background.

• Post-Processing:

In post-production processing, the editor takes the keyed-out color and replaces it with the new background of their choice. This step creates the illusion that the subject is in a different setting or environment. The transparent areas become filled with the chosen background which, if done right, results in a cohesive and visually appealing composition.

Why Green?

Theoretically, the chroma key background can be any solid color. However, the most commonly used colors are studio blue and bright green, with the latter far more common.

The choice of background color depends on the specific requirements of the production and the colors present in the scenes being filmed.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Contrast

The less similar your chosen background color is to natural skin tones, the easier to isolate and replace in your footage. Bright green provides a strong contrast to most human skin tones and is less likely to be present in costumes or natural surroundings, making it easier to isolate subjects during the color separation.

Luminance

The color green emits light with greater intensity than blue, allowing for far more effective isolation by cameras during filming. This also means that blue screens demand increased lighting for proper exposure compared to green. This situation may be less than ideal if you lack powerful lighting or you don’t have the big bucks for them.

Digital Sensors

Many digital cameras and sensors are more sensitive to green wavelengths, resulting in cleaner and more accurate color keying during post-processing. Modern technology has also evolved to optimize for a green background, making it a more practical choice for the chroma key effect.

Wardrobe and Set Design

Bright green occurs less naturally in costumes and set designs than other colors, making green the optimal choice for reducing the likelihood of color spill and keying issues. However, if you know your scene will have lots of green, it is probably best to film with a blue screen, so there’s less risk of color spill and less post-production work.

Setting up Your Own Chroma Key Studio

Setting up your chroma key is convenient and straightforward, but there are some key factors to consider while setting up to ensure maximal performance.

Choosing the Right Background Color

The first step in the chroma key setup is selecting the right background color to be keyed out. This choice determines your effective color separation and ensures a smooth keying process during editing. Choosing a chroma-key background color that contrasts distinctly with the subject’s colors is essential for effective color separation. This prevents unintentional transparency, color spill, and ensures a polished final result.

Lighting Considerations

Lighting is an important part of the chroma-keying process. Bold, uniform, and consistent lighting on both the subject and the background makes it easy to delineate one from the other fully. This minimizes shadows and variations in color, creating a smooth and seamless keying process. Multiple diffuse lights from different angles are often used to illuminate the green screen evenly.

Positioning/Camera

Proper subject and camera placement are necessary to ensure an even color-keying process during post-production. To prevent shadow interference, the green screen should be smooth, tense, and without wrinkles or shadows.

High-quality cameras are essential every time, especially for chroma keying. Images with better definition are easier to key, so camera quality significantly affects the outcome. Even if your camera isn’t the best, merely shooting well can ensure a clean color-keying process during editing, resulting in professional-looking visuals.

Recording Tips for Chroma Key

• Proper Lighting

Maintaining uniform and well-defined lighting during recording is essential for a successful chroma-keying process. This consistency ensures a seamless keying process during post-production.

• Keep Distance from the Green Screen

The optimal distance between the subject and the green screen minimizes color spill and allows for natural movements. Proper distance between subject and background allows for easier isolation of the background and much smoother post-editing. A recommended starting point for the issue is around 6 to 10 feet from the background.

• Subjects and Clothing

As mentioned before, the choice of costume for Selecting appropriate clothing that doesn’t match the chroma key color prevents transparency issues. Subjects also have to be positioned in such a way that there is minimal light interference and reflection. These contribute to a flawless chroma key outcome.

3 Basic Troubleshooting Strategies

• Color Spill

Sometimes, reflected light from your green background can be cast on your subject and may remain so when the background light is keyed out. This phenomenon is known as a color spill. It is usually because of uneven lighting or shooting around reflecting surfaces. Avoiding spill can differentiate between good and lousy chroma key aftereffects.

Human hair is one area where color spill can show up unsuspectingly. Due to the translucency of hair, it is common for some unintended light to seep through. This allows some background visibility, which you do not want with a chroma key. This is especially notable with lighter hair colors like blond hair.

There are ways to account for this. Many video-editing software have features such as spill suppression and screen matte adjustments that can enhance the final footage. Specialized plugins also go a long way in ensuring minimizing spill. Addressing spill correction tackles unwanted green artifacts and ensures a clean keying process.

• Poor Lighting

Suboptimal green screen lighting can lead to inconsistencies in keying and editing, undermining your product. One way to avoid this is to light the screen and subject separately. Another tip, although expensive, is using multiple diffuse light sources and trying to maintain even lighting across every square foot of your scene. Super bright or dark spots can ruin your output, so it’s worth the extra effort if you don’t want to deal with problematic post-production.

• Poorly Refined Edges

Chroma keying should leave your videos with crisp, defined, natural-looking edges. But post-production editing can make all the difference if it doesn’t come out to your taste. Softening and refining edges make a smoother transition between the foreground object and the new background. Light adjustments to edge thickness and screen matte settings can also help enhance overall visual quality and add finesse to your work.

Conclusion

Green screen photography produces excellent results, and its ease of use makes it indispensable for videographers of all levels. In this guide, we’ve discussed chroma key technology, its role in the industry, and how to apply it to your craft to elevate visual content.

Chroma key, also known as green screen or blue screen, is a cool hack for seamless visual storytelling, allowing content creators to replace backgrounds with any image or video they want. This technique is widely embraced in film, television, and online content, and has opened the door to limitless creative possibilities. Aside from its ability to maximize creativity, it is also cheap to employ and convenient to set up, which has made it a staple for everyone who works with visuals.

In this simple guide, we’ll delve into the fundamentals of the chroma key effect, how it is used for video making, and how to leverage that as you perfect your visual content.

YouTube Video Background Creating realistic video scenes at your will is easy to complete with Filmora green screen removal.

Create Video Backgrounds Create Video Backgrounds Learn Green Screen

How Does Chroma Key Work?

Click here

Chroma Keying is done by singling out a specific color (usually green or blue) from the foreground, removing it, and replacing it with a different background (for example, a sunset). This process typically follows a series of steps:

• Background Selection:

A solid, single-color background, often green or blue, that contrasts well with the subject must be used. The color chosen should not be present in the subject or any props in the camera field to avoid unintentional transparency.

• Color Keying:

This requires the use of specialized visual effects software to key out the chosen color. The green or blue background is designated as transparent, making everything of that color see-through. The software distinguishes between the keyed color and the subject, creating a mask for the transparent areas.

• Foreground Filming:

This involves filming the subject against the live chroma key background. During filming, the chosen background color (green or blue) won’t appear in the final result due to its transparency. The subject is captured as if separately from the isolated background.

• Post-Processing:

In post-production processing, the editor takes the keyed-out color and replaces it with the new background of their choice. This step creates the illusion that the subject is in a different setting or environment. The transparent areas become filled with the chosen background which, if done right, results in a cohesive and visually appealing composition.

Why Green?

Theoretically, the chroma key background can be any solid color. However, the most commonly used colors are studio blue and bright green, with the latter far more common.

The choice of background color depends on the specific requirements of the production and the colors present in the scenes being filmed.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Contrast

The less similar your chosen background color is to natural skin tones, the easier to isolate and replace in your footage. Bright green provides a strong contrast to most human skin tones and is less likely to be present in costumes or natural surroundings, making it easier to isolate subjects during the color separation.

Luminance

The color green emits light with greater intensity than blue, allowing for far more effective isolation by cameras during filming. This also means that blue screens demand increased lighting for proper exposure compared to green. This situation may be less than ideal if you lack powerful lighting or you don’t have the big bucks for them.

Digital Sensors

Many digital cameras and sensors are more sensitive to green wavelengths, resulting in cleaner and more accurate color keying during post-processing. Modern technology has also evolved to optimize for a green background, making it a more practical choice for the chroma key effect.

Wardrobe and Set Design

Bright green occurs less naturally in costumes and set designs than other colors, making green the optimal choice for reducing the likelihood of color spill and keying issues. However, if you know your scene will have lots of green, it is probably best to film with a blue screen, so there’s less risk of color spill and less post-production work.

Setting up Your Own Chroma Key Studio

Setting up your chroma key is convenient and straightforward, but there are some key factors to consider while setting up to ensure maximal performance.

Choosing the Right Background Color

The first step in the chroma key setup is selecting the right background color to be keyed out. This choice determines your effective color separation and ensures a smooth keying process during editing. Choosing a chroma-key background color that contrasts distinctly with the subject’s colors is essential for effective color separation. This prevents unintentional transparency, color spill, and ensures a polished final result.

Lighting Considerations

Lighting is an important part of the chroma-keying process. Bold, uniform, and consistent lighting on both the subject and the background makes it easy to delineate one from the other fully. This minimizes shadows and variations in color, creating a smooth and seamless keying process. Multiple diffuse lights from different angles are often used to illuminate the green screen evenly.

Positioning/Camera

Proper subject and camera placement are necessary to ensure an even color-keying process during post-production. To prevent shadow interference, the green screen should be smooth, tense, and without wrinkles or shadows.

High-quality cameras are essential every time, especially for chroma keying. Images with better definition are easier to key, so camera quality significantly affects the outcome. Even if your camera isn’t the best, merely shooting well can ensure a clean color-keying process during editing, resulting in professional-looking visuals.

Recording Tips for Chroma Key

• Proper Lighting

Maintaining uniform and well-defined lighting during recording is essential for a successful chroma-keying process. This consistency ensures a seamless keying process during post-production.

• Keep Distance from the Green Screen

The optimal distance between the subject and the green screen minimizes color spill and allows for natural movements. Proper distance between subject and background allows for easier isolation of the background and much smoother post-editing. A recommended starting point for the issue is around 6 to 10 feet from the background.

• Subjects and Clothing

As mentioned before, the choice of costume for Selecting appropriate clothing that doesn’t match the chroma key color prevents transparency issues. Subjects also have to be positioned in such a way that there is minimal light interference and reflection. These contribute to a flawless chroma key outcome.

3 Basic Troubleshooting Strategies

• Color Spill

Sometimes, reflected light from your green background can be cast on your subject and may remain so when the background light is keyed out. This phenomenon is known as a color spill. It is usually because of uneven lighting or shooting around reflecting surfaces. Avoiding spill can differentiate between good and lousy chroma key aftereffects.

Human hair is one area where color spill can show up unsuspectingly. Due to the translucency of hair, it is common for some unintended light to seep through. This allows some background visibility, which you do not want with a chroma key. This is especially notable with lighter hair colors like blond hair.

There are ways to account for this. Many video-editing software have features such as spill suppression and screen matte adjustments that can enhance the final footage. Specialized plugins also go a long way in ensuring minimizing spill. Addressing spill correction tackles unwanted green artifacts and ensures a clean keying process.

• Poor Lighting

Suboptimal green screen lighting can lead to inconsistencies in keying and editing, undermining your product. One way to avoid this is to light the screen and subject separately. Another tip, although expensive, is using multiple diffuse light sources and trying to maintain even lighting across every square foot of your scene. Super bright or dark spots can ruin your output, so it’s worth the extra effort if you don’t want to deal with problematic post-production.

• Poorly Refined Edges

Chroma keying should leave your videos with crisp, defined, natural-looking edges. But post-production editing can make all the difference if it doesn’t come out to your taste. Softening and refining edges make a smoother transition between the foreground object and the new background. Light adjustments to edge thickness and screen matte settings can also help enhance overall visual quality and add finesse to your work.

Conclusion

Green screen photography produces excellent results, and its ease of use makes it indispensable for videographers of all levels. In this guide, we’ve discussed chroma key technology, its role in the industry, and how to apply it to your craft to elevate visual content.

Unlocking Student Engagement: Using YouTube as a Teaching Tool

Tips for Teachers Using YouTube in Classroom

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

YouTube has not only provided an incredible source of entertainment for millions of people around the globe, but also it has opened up an avenue for great learning resources in the form of educational videos.

Teachers from all around the world can now create video lessons and share with their students not only in their respective learning institutions but also with other students located miles away in other countries.

If you want to make a teaching video by your own, you should try Wondershare Filmora . Besides the basic video editing features, like trimming, cutting, splitting, rotating, and cropping, it allows you to capture your PC screen, composite a green screen video, blur objects and faces in video and more. What’s more, Filmora is a good choice for making a YouTube intro. Check the video below to see how to make it.

• Benefits for Using YouTube in Classroom
• Tips for Teachers Using YouTube in Classroom
• How to discover the best educational videos on YouTube

Benefits for Using YouTube in Classroom

The benefits of using YouTube in the classroom are immense and they include but are not limited to the following:

Global connection

YouTube makes it possible for teachers to share their lessons with millions of potential students located in different parts of the world, something which was unthinkable with the traditional modes of teaching a few years ago. Teachers can now collaborate, connect and innovate with a multitude of students in ways that were never imagined before by employing the power of YouTube.

Enhances the comprehension of complex topics

Certain subjects are technical in nature and teachers usually have a hard time explaining them to the students. By using YouTube in the classroom, teachers are an a better position to offer clear and easy to understand illustrations which will in turn demystify the tough concepts and make it easy for students to understand and comprehend complex topics.

Creates more engagement from students

Learning primarily comprises of audio and visual components. Unlike traditional modes of teaching where the teacher offered explanation and the students are expected to take notes, videos are more engaging and has the power to make students stay more alert, thus increase their chances of absorbing the lesions and getting most from the subjects.

Ideal for slow learners

When using YouTube in the classroom, the teacher has full control on the pace of learning and this is ideal for taking of both the fast and slow learners. In case a student finds a concept being explained too fast, they can simply request the part to be replayed or it can be slowed down to play at a pace that will be easy for them to grasp.

One teacher, multiple classrooms

The other benefit of using YouTube in the classroom is that after a teacher prepares his learning videos, they get the flexibility using the video in more than just one classroom. It also makes it easy for them when they are away and they need to attend classes. All they have to do is to use the prerecorded video lesions so that they don’t entirely miss out on classes.

Tips for Using YouTube in Classroom

For teachers and tutors, there are various ways of using YouTube in the classroom. These methods offer the flexibility to both the teachers and the students to give and understand lessons respectively. Here are some of the ways for teachers to use YouTube in classrooms-:

1. Trigger unique and interesting discussions– teachers using YouTube in the classrooms can trigger interesting and unique discussions amongst their students. The teachers can use relevant videos on news reports, documentaries, current affairs and much more to get the student opinions and gauge the impact of the learning on the students.
2. Access high quality education materials for free – using YouTube in classroom also makes it possible to teachers to access high quality learning materials for free. This is especially important when teaching on tough subjects or when reviewing for exams.
3. Short clips to put a topic in context – there are documentary channels such as National Geographic, BBC and Channel 4 amongst others where teachers can obtain and play short clips to put the subject matter into proper context for the students.
4. Archive your work– use videos to keep a clean and neat record of the various lessons thus making it easy for current and future students to access them with ease.
5. Review for exams – when exams are just about the corner, videos become very effective in helping the student to refresh their minds on tough topics that might require a lot of time to review during exams.
6. Flip lessons– flipped learning is taking strong roots in most of the learning institutions and it becomes easy and efficient when using videos in the classroom.
7. Teach when you are absent – instead of missing class or having a guest teacher to stand in for you, you can simply record the lesson on your YouTube channel or simply give out instructions for the students to follow when you are away.
8. Allow students to gain in-depth information– by using YouTube in classroom, teachers are essentially allowing their students to dig deeper and comprehend the lessons better.
9. Help the struggling students – videos are great for the slow learners since they can rewind or play it at their own pace.
10. Create a YouTube Channel – this is to contain all the videos relevant to a particular subject or lesion for current and future students.

How to discover the best educational videos on YouTube

YouTube is awash with millions of videos and it is imperative that you know how to search for and discover the best education videos. Below are a few tips to help you along the way-:

You may also like: Videos to Share in the Classroom >>

• Look for videos not longer than 10 minutes – these are the most ideal since longer videos might make students lose their attention and miss out on the lesions.
• Search channels by subjects so that you end up with the most relevant videos.
• Before you show the videos to the students, be sure to watch them all through so that you gauge if it has the relevant materials you wanted the students to learn.
• Rather than doing a general search, concentrate on the channels from respectable sources since this wills save you a lot of time of going through the junk.
• Don’t search for videos to replace your lessons, but instead, search for video that will complement your lesions.

Conclusion

Using YouTube in the classroom has brought a lot of efficiency to both the teachers and the students. Teachers can now access millions of students around the globe by using YT videos and students can also get a lot of detailed information, some on technical topics that would normally take a long time to comprehend. Whereas it is a relatively new concept for most teachers, it can only be expected that it will be embraced by many people and enhance the learning process in our schools, provided that the right learning videos are recorded or accessed from the pool already present in YouTube.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

YouTube has not only provided an incredible source of entertainment for millions of people around the globe, but also it has opened up an avenue for great learning resources in the form of educational videos.

Teachers from all around the world can now create video lessons and share with their students not only in their respective learning institutions but also with other students located miles away in other countries.

If you want to make a teaching video by your own, you should try Wondershare Filmora . Besides the basic video editing features, like trimming, cutting, splitting, rotating, and cropping, it allows you to capture your PC screen, composite a green screen video, blur objects and faces in video and more. What’s more, Filmora is a good choice for making a YouTube intro. Check the video below to see how to make it.

• Benefits for Using YouTube in Classroom
• Tips for Teachers Using YouTube in Classroom
• How to discover the best educational videos on YouTube

Benefits for Using YouTube in Classroom

The benefits of using YouTube in the classroom are immense and they include but are not limited to the following:

Global connection

YouTube makes it possible for teachers to share their lessons with millions of potential students located in different parts of the world, something which was unthinkable with the traditional modes of teaching a few years ago. Teachers can now collaborate, connect and innovate with a multitude of students in ways that were never imagined before by employing the power of YouTube.

Enhances the comprehension of complex topics

Certain subjects are technical in nature and teachers usually have a hard time explaining them to the students. By using YouTube in the classroom, teachers are an a better position to offer clear and easy to understand illustrations which will in turn demystify the tough concepts and make it easy for students to understand and comprehend complex topics.

Creates more engagement from students

Learning primarily comprises of audio and visual components. Unlike traditional modes of teaching where the teacher offered explanation and the students are expected to take notes, videos are more engaging and has the power to make students stay more alert, thus increase their chances of absorbing the lesions and getting most from the subjects.

Ideal for slow learners

When using YouTube in the classroom, the teacher has full control on the pace of learning and this is ideal for taking of both the fast and slow learners. In case a student finds a concept being explained too fast, they can simply request the part to be replayed or it can be slowed down to play at a pace that will be easy for them to grasp.

One teacher, multiple classrooms

The other benefit of using YouTube in the classroom is that after a teacher prepares his learning videos, they get the flexibility using the video in more than just one classroom. It also makes it easy for them when they are away and they need to attend classes. All they have to do is to use the prerecorded video lesions so that they don’t entirely miss out on classes.

Tips for Using YouTube in Classroom

For teachers and tutors, there are various ways of using YouTube in the classroom. These methods offer the flexibility to both the teachers and the students to give and understand lessons respectively. Here are some of the ways for teachers to use YouTube in classrooms-:

1. Trigger unique and interesting discussions– teachers using YouTube in the classrooms can trigger interesting and unique discussions amongst their students. The teachers can use relevant videos on news reports, documentaries, current affairs and much more to get the student opinions and gauge the impact of the learning on the students.
2. Access high quality education materials for free – using YouTube in classroom also makes it possible to teachers to access high quality learning materials for free. This is especially important when teaching on tough subjects or when reviewing for exams.
3. Short clips to put a topic in context – there are documentary channels such as National Geographic, BBC and Channel 4 amongst others where teachers can obtain and play short clips to put the subject matter into proper context for the students.
4. Archive your work– use videos to keep a clean and neat record of the various lessons thus making it easy for current and future students to access them with ease.
5. Review for exams – when exams are just about the corner, videos become very effective in helping the student to refresh their minds on tough topics that might require a lot of time to review during exams.
6. Flip lessons– flipped learning is taking strong roots in most of the learning institutions and it becomes easy and efficient when using videos in the classroom.
7. Teach when you are absent – instead of missing class or having a guest teacher to stand in for you, you can simply record the lesson on your YouTube channel or simply give out instructions for the students to follow when you are away.
8. Allow students to gain in-depth information– by using YouTube in classroom, teachers are essentially allowing their students to dig deeper and comprehend the lessons better.
9. Help the struggling students – videos are great for the slow learners since they can rewind or play it at their own pace.
10. Create a YouTube Channel – this is to contain all the videos relevant to a particular subject or lesion for current and future students.

How to discover the best educational videos on YouTube

YouTube is awash with millions of videos and it is imperative that you know how to search for and discover the best education videos. Below are a few tips to help you along the way-:

You may also like: Videos to Share in the Classroom >>

• Look for videos not longer than 10 minutes – these are the most ideal since longer videos might make students lose their attention and miss out on the lesions.
• Search channels by subjects so that you end up with the most relevant videos.
• Before you show the videos to the students, be sure to watch them all through so that you gauge if it has the relevant materials you wanted the students to learn.
• Rather than doing a general search, concentrate on the channels from respectable sources since this wills save you a lot of time of going through the junk.
• Don’t search for videos to replace your lessons, but instead, search for video that will complement your lesions.

Conclusion

Using YouTube in the classroom has brought a lot of efficiency to both the teachers and the students. Teachers can now access millions of students around the globe by using YT videos and students can also get a lot of detailed information, some on technical topics that would normally take a long time to comprehend. Whereas it is a relatively new concept for most teachers, it can only be expected that it will be embraced by many people and enhance the learning process in our schools, provided that the right learning videos are recorded or accessed from the pool already present in YouTube.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

YouTube has not only provided an incredible source of entertainment for millions of people around the globe, but also it has opened up an avenue for great learning resources in the form of educational videos.

Teachers from all around the world can now create video lessons and share with their students not only in their respective learning institutions but also with other students located miles away in other countries.

If you want to make a teaching video by your own, you should try Wondershare Filmora . Besides the basic video editing features, like trimming, cutting, splitting, rotating, and cropping, it allows you to capture your PC screen, composite a green screen video, blur objects and faces in video and more. What’s more, Filmora is a good choice for making a YouTube intro. Check the video below to see how to make it.

• Benefits for Using YouTube in Classroom
• Tips for Teachers Using YouTube in Classroom
• How to discover the best educational videos on YouTube

Benefits for Using YouTube in Classroom

The benefits of using YouTube in the classroom are immense and they include but are not limited to the following:

Global connection

YouTube makes it possible for teachers to share their lessons with millions of potential students located in different parts of the world, something which was unthinkable with the traditional modes of teaching a few years ago. Teachers can now collaborate, connect and innovate with a multitude of students in ways that were never imagined before by employing the power of YouTube.

Enhances the comprehension of complex topics

Certain subjects are technical in nature and teachers usually have a hard time explaining them to the students. By using YouTube in the classroom, teachers are an a better position to offer clear and easy to understand illustrations which will in turn demystify the tough concepts and make it easy for students to understand and comprehend complex topics.

Creates more engagement from students

Learning primarily comprises of audio and visual components. Unlike traditional modes of teaching where the teacher offered explanation and the students are expected to take notes, videos are more engaging and has the power to make students stay more alert, thus increase their chances of absorbing the lesions and getting most from the subjects.

Ideal for slow learners

When using YouTube in the classroom, the teacher has full control on the pace of learning and this is ideal for taking of both the fast and slow learners. In case a student finds a concept being explained too fast, they can simply request the part to be replayed or it can be slowed down to play at a pace that will be easy for them to grasp.

One teacher, multiple classrooms

The other benefit of using YouTube in the classroom is that after a teacher prepares his learning videos, they get the flexibility using the video in more than just one classroom. It also makes it easy for them when they are away and they need to attend classes. All they have to do is to use the prerecorded video lesions so that they don’t entirely miss out on classes.

Tips for Using YouTube in Classroom

For teachers and tutors, there are various ways of using YouTube in the classroom. These methods offer the flexibility to both the teachers and the students to give and understand lessons respectively. Here are some of the ways for teachers to use YouTube in classrooms-:

1. Trigger unique and interesting discussions– teachers using YouTube in the classrooms can trigger interesting and unique discussions amongst their students. The teachers can use relevant videos on news reports, documentaries, current affairs and much more to get the student opinions and gauge the impact of the learning on the students.
2. Access high quality education materials for free – using YouTube in classroom also makes it possible to teachers to access high quality learning materials for free. This is especially important when teaching on tough subjects or when reviewing for exams.
3. Short clips to put a topic in context – there are documentary channels such as National Geographic, BBC and Channel 4 amongst others where teachers can obtain and play short clips to put the subject matter into proper context for the students.
4. Archive your work– use videos to keep a clean and neat record of the various lessons thus making it easy for current and future students to access them with ease.
5. Review for exams – when exams are just about the corner, videos become very effective in helping the student to refresh their minds on tough topics that might require a lot of time to review during exams.
6. Flip lessons– flipped learning is taking strong roots in most of the learning institutions and it becomes easy and efficient when using videos in the classroom.
7. Teach when you are absent – instead of missing class or having a guest teacher to stand in for you, you can simply record the lesson on your YouTube channel or simply give out instructions for the students to follow when you are away.
8. Allow students to gain in-depth information– by using YouTube in classroom, teachers are essentially allowing their students to dig deeper and comprehend the lessons better.
9. Help the struggling students – videos are great for the slow learners since they can rewind or play it at their own pace.
10. Create a YouTube Channel – this is to contain all the videos relevant to a particular subject or lesion for current and future students.

How to discover the best educational videos on YouTube

YouTube is awash with millions of videos and it is imperative that you know how to search for and discover the best education videos. Below are a few tips to help you along the way-:

You may also like: Videos to Share in the Classroom >>

• Look for videos not longer than 10 minutes – these are the most ideal since longer videos might make students lose their attention and miss out on the lesions.
• Search channels by subjects so that you end up with the most relevant videos.
• Before you show the videos to the students, be sure to watch them all through so that you gauge if it has the relevant materials you wanted the students to learn.
• Rather than doing a general search, concentrate on the channels from respectable sources since this wills save you a lot of time of going through the junk.
• Don’t search for videos to replace your lessons, but instead, search for video that will complement your lesions.

Conclusion

Using YouTube in the classroom has brought a lot of efficiency to both the teachers and the students. Teachers can now access millions of students around the globe by using YT videos and students can also get a lot of detailed information, some on technical topics that would normally take a long time to comprehend. Whereas it is a relatively new concept for most teachers, it can only be expected that it will be embraced by many people and enhance the learning process in our schools, provided that the right learning videos are recorded or accessed from the pool already present in YouTube.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

YouTube has not only provided an incredible source of entertainment for millions of people around the globe, but also it has opened up an avenue for great learning resources in the form of educational videos.

Teachers from all around the world can now create video lessons and share with their students not only in their respective learning institutions but also with other students located miles away in other countries.

If you want to make a teaching video by your own, you should try Wondershare Filmora . Besides the basic video editing features, like trimming, cutting, splitting, rotating, and cropping, it allows you to capture your PC screen, composite a green screen video, blur objects and faces in video and more. What’s more, Filmora is a good choice for making a YouTube intro. Check the video below to see how to make it.

• Benefits for Using YouTube in Classroom
• Tips for Teachers Using YouTube in Classroom
• How to discover the best educational videos on YouTube

Benefits for Using YouTube in Classroom

The benefits of using YouTube in the classroom are immense and they include but are not limited to the following:

Global connection

YouTube makes it possible for teachers to share their lessons with millions of potential students located in different parts of the world, something which was unthinkable with the traditional modes of teaching a few years ago. Teachers can now collaborate, connect and innovate with a multitude of students in ways that were never imagined before by employing the power of YouTube.

Enhances the comprehension of complex topics

Certain subjects are technical in nature and teachers usually have a hard time explaining them to the students. By using YouTube in the classroom, teachers are an a better position to offer clear and easy to understand illustrations which will in turn demystify the tough concepts and make it easy for students to understand and comprehend complex topics.

Creates more engagement from students

Learning primarily comprises of audio and visual components. Unlike traditional modes of teaching where the teacher offered explanation and the students are expected to take notes, videos are more engaging and has the power to make students stay more alert, thus increase their chances of absorbing the lesions and getting most from the subjects.

Ideal for slow learners

When using YouTube in the classroom, the teacher has full control on the pace of learning and this is ideal for taking of both the fast and slow learners. In case a student finds a concept being explained too fast, they can simply request the part to be replayed or it can be slowed down to play at a pace that will be easy for them to grasp.

One teacher, multiple classrooms

The other benefit of using YouTube in the classroom is that after a teacher prepares his learning videos, they get the flexibility using the video in more than just one classroom. It also makes it easy for them when they are away and they need to attend classes. All they have to do is to use the prerecorded video lesions so that they don’t entirely miss out on classes.

Tips for Using YouTube in Classroom

For teachers and tutors, there are various ways of using YouTube in the classroom. These methods offer the flexibility to both the teachers and the students to give and understand lessons respectively. Here are some of the ways for teachers to use YouTube in classrooms-:

1. Trigger unique and interesting discussions– teachers using YouTube in the classrooms can trigger interesting and unique discussions amongst their students. The teachers can use relevant videos on news reports, documentaries, current affairs and much more to get the student opinions and gauge the impact of the learning on the students.
2. Access high quality education materials for free – using YouTube in classroom also makes it possible to teachers to access high quality learning materials for free. This is especially important when teaching on tough subjects or when reviewing for exams.
3. Short clips to put a topic in context – there are documentary channels such as National Geographic, BBC and Channel 4 amongst others where teachers can obtain and play short clips to put the subject matter into proper context for the students.
4. Archive your work– use videos to keep a clean and neat record of the various lessons thus making it easy for current and future students to access them with ease.
5. Review for exams – when exams are just about the corner, videos become very effective in helping the student to refresh their minds on tough topics that might require a lot of time to review during exams.
6. Flip lessons– flipped learning is taking strong roots in most of the learning institutions and it becomes easy and efficient when using videos in the classroom.
7. Teach when you are absent – instead of missing class or having a guest teacher to stand in for you, you can simply record the lesson on your YouTube channel or simply give out instructions for the students to follow when you are away.
8. Allow students to gain in-depth information– by using YouTube in classroom, teachers are essentially allowing their students to dig deeper and comprehend the lessons better.
9. Help the struggling students – videos are great for the slow learners since they can rewind or play it at their own pace.
10. Create a YouTube Channel – this is to contain all the videos relevant to a particular subject or lesion for current and future students.

How to discover the best educational videos on YouTube

YouTube is awash with millions of videos and it is imperative that you know how to search for and discover the best education videos. Below are a few tips to help you along the way-:

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• Look for videos not longer than 10 minutes – these are the most ideal since longer videos might make students lose their attention and miss out on the lesions.
• Search channels by subjects so that you end up with the most relevant videos.
• Before you show the videos to the students, be sure to watch them all through so that you gauge if it has the relevant materials you wanted the students to learn.
• Rather than doing a general search, concentrate on the channels from respectable sources since this wills save you a lot of time of going through the junk.
• Don’t search for videos to replace your lessons, but instead, search for video that will complement your lesions.

Conclusion

Using YouTube in the classroom has brought a lot of efficiency to both the teachers and the students. Teachers can now access millions of students around the globe by using YT videos and students can also get a lot of detailed information, some on technical topics that would normally take a long time to comprehend. Whereas it is a relatively new concept for most teachers, it can only be expected that it will be embraced by many people and enhance the learning process in our schools, provided that the right learning videos are recorded or accessed from the pool already present in YouTube.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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