Students and teachers alike will now be able to access the video sharing website YouTube on computers administered by the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) due to popular demand from teachers.

“Teachers throughout the district all agree that YouTube possesses useful teaching material for the students,” IUSD EdTech Coordinator Shaney Berzansky said.

YouTube channels such as Professor Dave Explains and Bozeman Science are commonly used by students at home, and they now can be seen in classrooms and during tutorial on school computers. Students may potentially benefit from these channels by understanding newly taught concepts. In addition, it will also make it easier for teachers to visually teach new concepts in classes during lectures by having students watch videos on their own devices.

“YouTube could potentially benefit my learning by researching something or learning a new method, like for math problems,” senior Tianren Dong said.

The new policy will unblock YouTube for students and teachers who have undergone a brief, five-minute training with certified educators.

That being said, there are concerns with inappropriate materials on the YouTube platform.

“The YouTube algorithms don’t always filter out unsuitable videos,” Berzansky said. “There’s always a risk that students may watch something they’re not supposed to.”