YouTube Learning: Investing in educational creators, resources, and tools for EduTubers

Iraq war veteran Joshua Carroll used to spend nights at his security post watching YouTube to learn trigonometry so he could pursue his passion for space. In just three weeks, YouTube helped him improve his math skills from a 10th grade level to the level required to take physics classes at New River Community College in Virginia. Today, he makes a living as a physicist, using Bernoulli differential equations in fluid flow systems. Joshua is not alone--people all over the world use YouTube to learn and follow their passions.

Whether it’s learning prerequisites for a college course or how to compete in Olympic javelin throwing, everyone seems to have turned to YouTube to learn something. Many of these learning stories are powered by an incredible community of EduTubers like PhysicsGirl and Manual do Mundo, whose videos have demonstrated the appeal of content that enriches as well as entertains.

In July, Susan, our CEO, announced YouTube Learning, an initiative to support all those who use YouTube to share their knowledge with the world and the millions of users who come to our platform to learn. And today she shared that we’ll be investing $20m to expand this initiative as we strive to make YouTube even better for educators and learners. Here’s more on the steps we’ll be taking:

Funding for Great Educational Creators on YouTube

High quality learning content is time-consuming to research, produce, and edit. That’s why we’re announcing a new Learning Fund to support creators who make some of the best learning content on YouTube. This includes videos covering a wide range of topics from career skills, like interviewing and resume building, to computer science, like coding for game development and JavaScript basics.

We’ve already completed our first round of investment in some of the most respected names in online education like TED-Ed or Hank and John Green’s Crash Course. We’re also supporting many of our emerging EduTubers like Socratica and Linda Raynier. Creators who are interested in applying to the Learning Fund can sign up for more information here.

In addition to investing in EduTubers through the Learning Fund, we’re also developing new YouTube Originals focused on learning like Mind Field: Season 3 from Vsauce creator Michael Stevens, and a new series with Vox Entertainment which was announced earlier this month.

Partnering with Trusted Institutions

We know it’s important to make quality learning content easier to find on YouTube, so we’re launching a new channel called Learning, where major partners like Goodwill and Year Up are contributing curated playlists highlighting videos that teach career skills. The channel will make it easy for users to find tutorials, DIY videos, explainers, and skill-based playlists.

We’re also excited to announce partnerships with leading online learning platforms, like edX, a non-profit offering courses from the world’s best universities and institutions, and OpenClassrooms, an education platform based in France. Together they will bring over some of their most popular video courses to YouTube.

Expanded Resources and Support for EduTubers

In 2018 we’ve held YouTube EduCon conferences in California, Mexico, and Brazil to connect EduTubers with new resources and each other. These creators are a testament that powerful educational content can come from anyone, anywhere. Here are a few more ways we plan to support them in 2019:

• Expanding YouTube EduCon to Europe and Asia, starting with India in December and the UK in February.
• Providing more resources to aspiring EduTubers like our Creator Academy course for educational channels, and our new Learning Best Practices.
• Hosting a NextUp creator camp specifically for emerging EduTubers.
• Working to connect EduTubers with brand partners through FameBit. We have already secured investments for sponsored content specifically for the EduTuber community.

We may not all become scientists or professional chefs by learning through videos, but we can promise that anyone who wants to learn and teach will have ever greater opportunities to do so on YouTube. Expect more announcements in the months and years to come as we continue to meet with you and hear how we can best support learning on YouTube.