«My tutor is called Youtube»

Children learn a lot more than we think with the help of video portals. Educators use this for innovative forms of teaching. However, the best learning support is always a balanced mix.

When children spend time on YouTube, parents often have mixed feelings about it. After all, hardly any other online service is as enticing as the world's largest video portal. As the next film starts straight after a clip - apart from the adverts - the viewer is usually tempted to continue watching.

So it's hardly surprising that the next generation can't find an end to this bursting supply of music videos, Let's Play and influencer films. However, YouTube also has its practical side. Educational and explanatory videos on any topic from the real world have a very high utility value.

For example, if you don't know how to change the rear wheel tube on a bike, you can watch a tutorial on YouTube. Children and young people are also increasingly turning to the video platform for school-related matters, for example to get a more detailed explanation of something they didn't quite understand in class.

It is not surprising that pupils voluntarily watch learning clips: this generation thinks pragmatically and uses everything that is useful to them.

Educational software versus tutorials

It used to be different. Just a few years ago, when there was still a thriving educational software market, children's enthusiasm when their parents gave them a maths or English program was limited. Moreover, the term educational software did not really apply. Rather, these products - for the common school subjects of maths, German and English - were purely practice offers for the afternoon.

They had clear limitations: If you hadn't grasped the basic principles of fractions or terms and equations, even such learning software couldn't help you. However, this is exactly what good and plausible tutorials on YouTube can do.

With smartphones and tablets, the advantages of video tutorials are literally obvious:

  • Das Videoportal funktioniert so einfach wie eine Suchmaschine.
  • Es ist kostenlos (worunter übrigens die kostenpflichtigen Nachhilfeportale im Internet leiden).
  • Videos sind in der Rezeption niedrigschwellig, lassen sich leicht und rasch ansehen.
  • Filme und Animationen können bestimmte Vorgänge besser darlegen.
  • Es muss nichts gelesen werden – das kommt dem Medienverhalten junger Menschen entgegen.
  • Die Clips lassen sich jederzeit anhalten oder wiederholen.
  • Im Gegensatz zum Nachhilfelehrer aus Fleisch und Blut haben die Erklärfilme dann Zeit, wenn Kinder und Jugendliche auch Zeit dafür haben.
  • Hinzu kommt der Coolness-Faktor: Manche Online-Tutoren sind nur knapp älter als ihre Zielgruppe. Sie sprechen ihre Sprache, sind mitunter witzig und kommen nicht so verstaubt rüber.

If children and young people use YouTube to help them succeed at school, other important learning steps are promoted at the same time: Pupils can realistically recognise their weaknesses and do something about them without being pressured or having to ask or plead with anyone.

In this way, the learner's own motivation is awakened, which has a driving effect. The learner concentrates independently on their (learning) goal and develops a sense of responsibility for their own actions and learning. These are all qualities that will be of great benefit to them later in their training, studies, career and life.

The principle of the flipped classroom

Educators have also recognised the benefits of digital media. Teachers are no longer as relaxed and uptight as they were a few years ago when it comes to digitality in the classroom. «The natural and differentiated use of media in the classroom,» writes media educator Thomas Merz from the Thurgau University of Teacher Education in «Media Education in the Digital Age», «makes it possible to open up teaching methods, initiate self-directed learning processes, promote participation and break up old, entrenched teaching structures and hierarchies.»

Some teachers are therefore already using the «flipped classroom» model. This reverses the previous learning principle: the teacher does not prepare the topic in class, but allows the students to work on it independently at home and then practise applying it together in class. This also serves to strengthen individual initiative in learning. "Flipped classroom" adds new and motivating facets to teaching methods - but is not a panacea for poor grades.

Poor grades are worrying

When children and young people bring home poor grades, parents are quick to sound the alarm. Although poor grades are a sign of a dicey situation at the moment, they do not explain the causes. Although pupils are often accused of being lazy - which may not be entirely wrong at times - the reasons may be more diverse.
There are teachers, for example, who orientate themselves towards good pupils as they progress through the subject matter, or they are so deep in their subject matter that they don't even notice when weaker pupils fall by the wayside. In addition, there are strong fluctuations in the mood and concentration of pupils in puberty. Some pupils are distressed, others may be bullied. If a child's grades are poor, it is therefore important to take a close look at how they are feeling and what other things are on their mind.

Conclusion: Tutorials from the internet can support children and young people on several levels, explain the subject matter well and encourage independent learning. That's great. But they don't take away the burden of learning vocabulary, for example. Of course, checking and monitoring can be more fun with a computer and smartphone, but the learning afternoon should consist of a good learning mix: In addition to technical devices, the card system and quizzing from parents help. YouTube is not the ideal tutor, but rather a balanced mix.

Learning with and without the Internet

  • Lerngruppen aus Schülern können sinnvoll sein, weil sie sich untereinander ­Vorgänge auf Augenhöhe erklären.
  • Manche Kinder empfinden es als Druck, wenn Vater und Mutter sich zu sehr als Lernpartner anbieten.
  • Aussagen wie «du bist doch intelligent» oder «dir liegen doch eigentlich Sprachen» helfen bei schlechten Noten nicht weiter.
  • Schauen Sie sich Tutorials für den Schulstoff gemeinsam mit Ihren Kindern an, um zu entscheiden, welcher Beitrag ­hilfreich ist und welcher nicht.
  • Die Schule ist für uns Eltern sehr lange her. Wer seinem Kind helfen möchte, muss sich den alten Stoff wieder ­erarbeiten. Erklärvideos können uns auch dabei unterstützen.
  • Kinder brauchen eine gute und ruhige Lernumgebung.
  • Kein Smartphone beim Lernen, Computer aber schon.

To the author:

Thomas Feibel, 56, is one of the leading journalists on the subject of «children and new media» in the German-speaking world. The media expert runs the Office for Children's Media in Berlin, gives readings and lectures, and organises workshops and seminars. His most recent book for parents, «Jetzt pack doch mal das Handy weg», was published by Ullstein-Verlag. Feibel is married and has four children.

Read more from Thomas Feibel:

  • Ist mein Kind fit für die Berufswelt? Vielen Jugendlichen fehle es heute an Umgangsformen und Durchhaltevermögen, beklagen Ausbilder.
  • Wie man Kindern beibringt, Fake-News zu erkennen Fake News bringen Menschen in Misskredit und beeinflussen Wahlen. Und über das Smartphone erreichen sie auch die Kinder. Wie Eltern damit umgehen sollten.
  • Wie kann ich ein gutes Vorbild sein?  Oft werden Eltern mit dem Vorwurf konfrontiert, ihrer Vorbildfunktion nicht gerecht zu werden. Unser Kolumnist Thomas Feibel hat entsprechende Tipps.