Evaluating YouTube videos for young children

Abstract

YouTube has become a popular digital media platform used by young children. However, concerns have been raised around inappropriate video content and limited quality. A lack of research and theoretical discussion exists on how best to evaluate the quality of YouTube videos made for children. In this study, we reviewed research and developed a set of design principles that informed the production of a YouTube video rubric used to evaluate the quality of YouTube videos targeted at young children 0 to 8 years old. From this, four key criteria were used to evaluate each video: Age appropriateness, Content quality, Design features and Learning objectives. These criteria demonstrated substantial inter-rater reliability between scorers. This evaluation tool has the potential to be used by educators to assess the quality of videos for early learning and guide YouTube creators in their production of educational videos for young children.