Creative Commons is a type of copyright license that allows others to utilize the work, with credit! I am a big advocate of teaching our students about copyright and to ensure that we use images and works with a Creative Commons license to set a good example. Click Here for more information on Creative Commons.
Set Creative Commons
By default your YouTube videos are under the standard YouTube copyright license. I recommend that you go into the video manager and set your videos as Creative Commons. This allows you, and others, to edit the video. Perhaps you have an awesome 20 minute lecture on microbiology. There may be a 2 minute segment that is particularly interesting that you, or another teacher, would want to share with the students. Setting the video to Creative Commons allows you to trim a copy of the video to that exact 2 minutes.
Profile Photo
Click on your profile photo in the upper right hand corner of YouTube. This will allow you to choose “Creator Studio.”
Video Manager
On the left hand side of the Creator Studio is the “Video Manager.” Choose Videos to see a list of your videos. Videos is the default stop when clicking on Video Manager.
Actions
I check the checkbox next to the “Actions” button to select all of my videos. You can individually checkbox the videos you want to set to Creative Commons if you prefer. After selecting the videos, click on the “Actions” button. Choose “Creative Commons” from the drop down list.
Search Creative Commons
To find Creative Commons videos do a search in YouTube. After searching, click on the “Filters” button above the search results and choose the feature “Creative Commons.”
Remix Video
You are able to remix YouTube videos with a Creative Commons license. This means you can shorten the clip, mash it together with other Creative Commons YouTube videos, add text, add music and other effects.
Choose your Creative Commons video on YouTube. Underneath the video click on where it says “Show More.”
Remix
Choose the “Remix this video” option under the License.
Alternatively
You can go straight to the YouTube video editor from the Creator Studio. On the left hand side of the Creator Studio underneath “Create” is “Video Editor.”
Search Videos
The first two icons next to the video player shows (1) YOUR videos that are set to Creative Commons (2) YouTube search for Creative Commons videos.
Creative Commons
Click on the CC icon to perform a YouTube search. Only Creative Commons videos will be returned.
Drag Videos
Drag videos from your video library or from the Creative Commons search to the timeline below. You can drag multiple videos to mash them together.
Trim Video Length
Click on each video in the timeline and blue bars appear on the edges. Drag the left or right blue bar to trim the beginning or end of the video. If you need multiple segments from the same video you are able to drag the video multiple times into the timeline and trim each one differently.
Classroom Use
There is a lot of good information on YouTube to share with students but the videos can be quite lengthy. Using the remix option allows you to direct students to the exact parts of a video that are pertinent.
Even if you want the students to watch the entire video, occasionally the speaker has some dead time, slow parts, or segments that can be taken out. Editing the video helps keep students attention and to have more time in class to discuss the video. Drag the same video clip multiple times to the timeline and edit to be a collection of segments.
Mash student videos together and trim to create a trailer to allow each student to be a star.
Place text on the screen to help direct student attention to what is being spoken.