YouTube download

Unlisted Youtube

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Uploading video to Youtube is nothing new. It's the quickest, and probably most simplest way to share video with the world. It works on pretty much all devices, and is supported across all operating systems. Unfortunately, school rules prohibits you from sending video out to the internet without parental permission. In my last school, I was prohibited from uploading anything to Youtube because of this, as it was seen to be a full 'public' forum with no privacy. What I never quite understood however, was why we were allowed to post student photos out to the intranet or shared drives on the network, with no parental permission at all. This may not be a true form of 'public', however there was still a lot of people with full read/write/copy access to these photos and no way to prevent them sending these on further.

I then discovered Youtube's ability to post videos as 'unlisted', which essentially means it's removed from all search engines. The video becomes accessible via a link only, which can be distributed via email or embedded into a website. This video now takes on the same form as a photo, with it having as much security as text in an email or a photo on a private network. Schools can use the benefits of Youtube, without compromising students privacy and safety.

In short: Posting a video to Youtube in a school IS possible if you enable 'unlisted', thus eliminating it from search engines and making it available only to people who have the link.

More information can be found here

Downloading YouTube clips

This has to be one of the most common questions that students (and teachers) ask me. And it can be a tricky one to answer. The legalities around ownership of these videos is a consideration, and is it right to download YouTube clips to be used in your own presentations or assignments. Well the discussion usually ends up on "if its on YouTube... it's gotta be fair game... right?". Well my job isn't to judge, just to assist, so here goes Use Firefox so that we can expand it with the 'Add Ons'

  1. Launch Firefox and simply Google 'add ons'
  2. Your top result will be our destination - Add Ons for Firefox
  3. This will take you to the Firefox add on search tool.  Simply search for YouTube.
  4. Now, scroll down the results until you find the most popular "YouTube download"  add on.  This will most likely be the most stable add on.
  5. Then all you need to do is click 'Add to Firefox'
  6. A warning window will pop up but just click 'Instal Now'.
  7. Now just restart Firefox and navigate to YouTube.
  8. It is here where you will see the difference, just have a close look below the video which you are after and a new option has appeared 'Download As:'
  9. MP4's work best in a Mac environment.  And don't forget to credit your source when you use the video!