Why is scicomm winning, and other questions about edutube

by Sayraphim on May 13, 2019

So I’m in the pre-phd research phase of my phd on edutube. A phd consists of two parts, one is the Big Question which you’re trying to answer and the other is the theoretical framework which you use as a lens to examine your Big Question. I don’t know what my Big Question is going to be yet, nor the theoretical framework, but I figure that one I know the Big Question, it’ll make working out what framework I want to use easier.

So, a few weeks ago, I started writing down as many questions about edutube as I could think of. I’m a curious beastie, I always have loads of questions about everything. So 3 pages into these questions and I realised that I was beginning to recognise the categories  that these questions fell into. Categories like:

What is edutube: Does it need to be teachers making it? Does it’s aim need to be educational? What is the difference between ‘learning something’ and ‘educational’? etc.

Who is making edutube? Teachers creating resources just for their classes vs creating a public resource. Independents vs creators backed by cultural organisations. Who are they making it for? Why are they making it? etc.

Who is using edutube? Classroom use vs independent study. What’s the demographics of people using it for independent study? What’s the demographics of teachers using it in the classroom? etc.

The craft of making edutube: narration vs presenter vs interview formats. What equipment are creators using? Regular set up vs various locations. What resources are out there to help creators make it? etc.

Current research about edutube: Who named it? What research is out there? What does the research focus on: scicomm/ humanities/ creators / audience etc. What are the regular articles saying about to to the general public? etc.

But I keep coming back to this question.

Why is scicomm winning?

(Scicomm = science communication) Why are all the big edutube channels scicomm? Are all the big edutube channels scicomm? Are the humanities called different things in different countries, unlike ‘science’ and so there is no unifying/umbrella title? Is science curriculum more ‘set’ than the humanities, meaning many classes study chemistry, but not every English class studies Jane Austen – thus videos on the humanities are less watched? Are the sciences more core subjects than the humanities? Are the sciences ‘harder’ or ‘more difficult to understand’ therefore they need more explaining and thus is a ripe field for edutube? Is it that there are more science/STEM subjects offered/taken than humanities? Is there a push from governments for more students to do STEM than the humanities/arts? Of students who get outside tutoring, what is the breakdown of subjects they need tutoring in? Does STEM feature highly in the tutoring? What is the STEM/humanities breakdown of electives selected by students?

SO many questions.

So many scicomm questions.

I don’t got no answers yet.

Stay tuned….


Image by Mars P. found here:

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