Abstract
The exponential growth of YouTube has changed how individuals access and contribute to video content.Yet despite the wide spread impact of YouTube on the lives of students and educators, little research has been conducted to determine how YouTube is being used in educational settings. The purpose of this study is to investigate how and to what extent college students and educators in Japan and USA are creating YouTube videos and using the vast archive of online video content on YouTube. This research also looks into the implications of YouTube culture for college media literacy education. Even though there was a big difference in the number and age distribution of American and Japanese students, and a small number of educators participated in the study, the findings indicate that there are some differences in how YouTube is used by students and educators from the USA and Japan. Differing socio-cultural cultural perspectives between both countries offer an interesting insight into educational content creation and implementation in teaching and learning.
