Students at a US college have begun a course on the online video site YouTube. The classes, assignments and even reading on the course at Pitzer College, in California, will be filmed for the site as well as being about it. Students will have to get a majority vote from their classmates before doing work outside the site.
Before leaving YouTube (for instance, to read a book about digital learning or corporate media control), a student-authored statement of rationale must be voted on favourably by more than half of the enrolled class members.
Alexandra Juhasz, professor of media studies, said: "After finding myself decidedly underwhelmed by the offerings on YouTube, I wanted my students and the online community to have the opportunity to learn more - and teach me - about the potential (and pitfalls) of corporate-sponsored democratic media expression."
She presented her findings at the May 2007 meeting of the International Communications Association and has written a book chapter on YouTube.
The class's page is at www.youtube.com/Media Praxisme