It looks like the wait is finally over: YouTube just launched yesterday its new channel dedicated to videos produced by higher ed institutions and finally came up with a clear way to apply to get the education partner status.
And, you can thank YouTube employees if you know any, because this baby is the results of their work as explained in this paragraph in yesterday’s release notes published on YouTube’s blog:
Do You EDU? Educational Hub Launches: Using YouTube as a vehicle to democratize learning is one of the coolest, unintended outcomes of its existence. YouTube EDU is a volunteer project sparked by a group of employees who wanted to find a better way to collect and highlight all the great educational content being uploaded to YouTube by colleges and universities.
I’ve been writing about this topic for sometimes, providing some tips for your YouTube videos or suggesting last summer among others the non-profit status workaround, so I was really excited when I found out about YouTube EDU, its new portal aggregating content from colleges and universities (via @nancypricer on Twitter).
Beyond showcasing the most viewed videos produced by higher ed institutions as well as the most subscribed channels, YouTube EDU also offers to its visitors what seems to be a comprehensive directory of its college and university partners along with a dedicated search engine.
So. how do you get your YouTube channel on YouTube EDU if you’re not there yet?
Very easily.
Follow these steps and tips
- Just fill out this online form requesting your YouTube username and some basic contact information.
- Make sure you just do a single application per institution (YouTube advises offices, departments and other entities to seek guidance from Public Affairs or Academic Technology)
- Use your institutional email account in the application
- Be patient as the new partners will be included on a periodic basis as specified in the introduction of the form.
- For now, YouTube will only consider applications from “qualifying two- and four-year degree granting public and private colleges and universities.”
I’d love to figure out how long the average wait is going to be.
So, please post a comment including the date of your application submission and come back to tell us when you’re finally added.