Alright, I know that this is old news for most people who read this, but I have to talk about it for reasons of completion.
The University of California, Berkeley has put over 200 (!!!) videos on YouTube and created a dedicated page for their institution on the no. 1 video sharing site on the internet:
University of California, Berkeley on YouTube
Apart from the odd marketing video, most of these pieces are recorded lectures. So this is for current students only… or is it?
Have a look at the feedback on the left side: people are praising those efforts in the highest voices! Of course. If my university did the same, I would also be pretty euphoric, but we all know that universities are very slow movers when it comes to video production. And then having the guts to not only put a couple of videos on, but over 200 to start with… great stuff! At the point of writing, they have 6,571 subscribers and 851,608 channel views. I hope that nobody dares to argue with those numbers.
Let’s talk about the target audiences:
Future students - can see what studying at UCB is like, get acquainted with the lecturers, can check out the vibes –> manages to get this elusive “student life” message across beautifully
Current students - don’t have to go to lectures but can download it, or can watch it again after attending the lecture, as a quick refresher. Also a great document for little arguments like “But you said that…”
Parents - get convinced easily that they are not simply wasting their money by sending their kids to UCB
Wider community - very prestigious first move into this new educational space, and therefore a lot of media attention and “Me too!” reaction.
Yes, I am jealous…
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