ANU joins YouTube education program

The Australian National University (ANU) has joined YouTube's education partner program in a bid to increase the visibility of its free public lectures, and engage with a wider audience.

The move followed its launch of a basic YouTube channel on 23 October 2009, which was used to broadcast its high-profile public lectures.

Joining YouTube's education partner program this year removed YouTube's usual 10-minute video length ceiling for the university's video channel.

ANU's channel was managed by its Communications and External Liaison Office. A spokesman told iTnews that the channel did not cost much to maintain, since many of the videos were already being recorded by the university.

"Much of the material loaded onto the site is already being recorded, so putting it online brings few additional costs," he said.

"YouTube-specific material, such as interview pieces highlighting research, has been done in-house using established resources.

"A more comprehensive presence will bring additional costs," he noted.

ANU reported that staff and students were responding positively to the channel.

"The videos that seem to get the most views are where we profile the work of our students, which is a very pleasing response," the spokesman said, adding that the channel's most popular video to date was a profile of an undergraduate student who received a Prime Minister's prize.

"Many of our lecturers see sharing their research with a wide audience as one of the responsibilities of being an academic," he said. "The YouTube channel allows us to reach a broad, worldwide audience."

Videos uploaded to the so-called ANUchannel have attracted a total of 8,304 views since the channel was launched.

UNSW, which joined YouTube in May 2006 and was granted an official YouTube channel in late 2007, has attracted a total of 1,167,658 views.