YouTube EDU

My previous experience with YouTube:

I was surprised when I saw YouTube listed as a tool for the class to explore this week, as I normally associate YouTube with the funny videos passed via email, Facebook links, or highlighted by Tosh.0. Then I started thinking about it and realized I have used YouTube for education purposes in the past. I love to cook and explore new recipes, and every once in a while a recipe will have a technique I am not familiar with but can normally find a YouTube tutorial. YouTube also has several step by step recipe videos that I have called upon as well.

This week's exploration:

What makes this application Web 2.0? What is the community and how is it collaborative? How can it be used for formal education?

I found YouTube EDU, a community within YouTube tailored at teachers. YouTube EDU has over 700,000 educational videos spanning from primary & secondary education, university and lifelong learning. The tool encourages and asks teachers to send in videos and recommendations that are reviewed by the site and then posted so it definitely highlights both community and collaborations elements. It also has a discussion board element.

Another cool feature of YouTube EDU is the playlists suggested for teachers based on the subject and audience (grade level) similar to an IPOD playlist.

Has anyone ever used this resource within YouTube? It seems like it would be a great tool in the classroom! (link below)
https://www.youtube.com/user/teachers/about