Vlogging about school on YouTube: An exploratory study

Abstract

An exploratory mixed-methods study involving a combination of online ethnography and descriptive statistics was conducted to investigate school-related vlogging. Five areas were emphasized: (1) characteristics of school-related vlogs, vloggers, and viewers; (2) vlog context (where recording occurred); (3) vlog content (what was said and shown); (4) vlogger culture (patterns of speech or practice); and (5) motivations for vlogging about school. A purposive sample of 120 personal video blogs (vlogs) was collected through a systematic process on YouTube during a three-month period. Results of the study revealed that vloggers were young, recorded in multiple settings including classrooms, showed and described their school experiences, shared a vocabulary for interacting with an audience, and vlogged for a variety of reasons including the desire to alleviate boredom, for fun, because friends were doing it, to build confidence or improve their speaking skills, document their experiences, share information, or to connect with others.