Customizing YouTube Videos

Having your students watch and interact (note-taking, annotating, researching, analyzing, etc.) with YouTube videos is a great instructional tool to add a dynamic and engaging layer to any lesson.  Some students learn better with visuals, and all students can enjoy the ability to pause and/or playback certain parts to help them understand the content.  However, YouTube has its faults when used in a classroom.  Almost any teacher has experienced the following things on YouTube that are inappropriate, distracting, and disruptive:

• Inappropriate suggested video thumbnails after the video ends
• Distracting "Up next" videos on the right side of the screen
• Crazy comments below the video
• Not being able to automatically start and end a video at a certain time

Here comes ViewPure to the rescue!  ViewPure is a free website that will solve all those problems and more.  It will remove the suggested videos after the YouTube video.  It will hide the "Up next" videos on the right side of the screen.  It vanishes the comments.  And it allows you to set a custom start and end time for the video, so you don't have to worry about wasting any class time to show the relevant ten minutes out of the hour-long video.  After using ViewPure, you get a ViewPure web link to the video you want to show.  Going to that link shows the video and only the video - no video thumbnails, no comments, no distraction.

Here's how to use it:

1.  Copy the web address of the YouTube video you want to show.

2.  Go to viewpure.com.  Click the gear icon.  This is what you'll see.

3.  Paste the web address of the YouTube video in the "Enter YouTube URL" box.

4.  ViewPure will create a custom link for the video automatically once you click "Purify".  However, you can create your own custom link in the "Enter custom URL" box if you want.  To make the link easy to remember, you can name it viewpure.com/hailstorm if it's a video about hail storms.  This step isn't required.

5.  You can create a password for the video, so only those who have the password can watch it.  This step isn't required.

6.  If you want, set a start and/or end time to show the specific portion that is relevant.  This step isn't required.

7.  Finally, click "Purify".  You'll be redirected to a webpage with the video.  Copy the web address for that page, and then use it for your class.  The web address will be live until it has fewer than ten views in a six-month period.

But, wait, there's more!  You can use the Purify button bookmark on the ViewPure website to purify any YouTube video in one click.  Go to viewpure.com, and look for this:

Click and drag the orange Purify button to your bookmarks bar.  Then, when you're on a YouTube video you want to purify, just click that Purify button in your bookmarks bar, and you'll be brought to the webpage with the purified video.  Use this only if you don't want to do any of the customization in the above steps.

Now, you and your students can watch YouTube videos in peace!