Browsing by Author "Halavaara, Lauri"

Objectives. The objective of this Bachelor’s Thesis is to discover how self-motivated use of YouTube can exercise the large-scale skills presented in the curriculum of 2014. YouTube is a social video service, where anyone can post their own video and watch others’ videos at all times. YouTube has increased its popularity among children and youth, as they increasingly use the service. Jenkins (2009) has presented the idea of participatory cultures, of which YouTube is a well-known example. The participatory cultures have emerged, as internet has become a part of our everyday life. Studies have shown that in YouTube and other participatory cultures self-motivated usage one can acquire a large scale of skills. In this study there is a focus on the large-scale skills that are presented in grades 3-6 in the curriculum of 2014 and how they can be learned in YouTube. Methods. The study was realized as a descriptive literature review. First the literature and the concepts about YouTube were studied in educational, cultural and technological viewpoints. Then the curriculum of 2014 was studied and the large-scale skills objectives were chosen. The large-scale skills area that was chosen was information and communications technology (L5). The area was chosen because it suited YouTube best due to its technological nature. The area had four sub-objectives, which were all analysed comparing them to YouTube’s functions and the literature reviewed. Results and discussion. The self-motivated use of YouTube can exercise quite many of the learning objectives presented in the curriculum. Technological skills, interaction and networking are skills that one can very well exercise when using YouTube. However, responsible and safe actions in YouTube are not skills that one can acquire when using the service self-motivated. The studies suggest, that acquiring these skills there is a need of systematic media education.