Unisel Censorship

UPDATE: Videos in YouTube and other websites like Discovery Channel and news websites are working now in UNISEL. I thank Mr. Mohd Fariz for reading this and dealing with the issue. I also thank those of you who got the word around.

I had a tough lesson in class a couple of days back. The lecturer was not able to get the points across very well. It was one of those lessons where the lecture itself is not enough for you to grasp the concepts, so I thought I’d browse for lecture videos online later in the day in order to have a greater understanding of the lesson. Then I remembered that YouTube and most video sites are blocked in Unisel. But it was only a matter of which proxy to use in order for me to watch the videos I needed.

However, that’s not the point. The question is: why is Unisel blocking video access on sites like YouTube?

In today’s world, students and faculty are required to spend large amounts of time on the internet for work and school. Sites such as YouTube not only serve as entertainment venues, but contain an ever-increasing amount of educational material. Many world class universities and educational institutions are operating channels within YouTube with full-length lectures and tutorials for their schools. We all know that in Unisel, like any other university, students occasionally leave the class without fully understanding the lesson, so they sometimes need the help of online videos to understand a certain topic or lesson a little more deeply. An ever increasing number of educators are using the might and outreach capability of YouTube to post lectures online, so that their students and other students around the world may benefit. As a student, by watching the video clips, I am often reminded of what the lecturer spoke about in class. This reinforces the material into my memory and makes it easier to study and recall the material when I need to.

Many institutions have embraced the new age and what YouTube has to offer in terms of education. Students are sometimes asked to view certain clips and answer questions based on them. This not only reinforces the lesson material, but serves to help them improve their critical thinking and writing skills, two very important skills which are sadly not focused on by the lecturers.

This is 2011, and technology is an essential part of students’ day-to-day lives, and to have similar stimulation in classrooms or for lessons will aid the students in grasping new concepts easier. YouTube is basically a virtual library where videos are available and support the material covered in class. Yes, there are countless numbers of other entertainment videos, but that does not justify blocking a whole website which could immensely aid students with their studies. Unisel might claim that the reason for the blockage is bandwidth, but who are we kidding here. It’s not like YouTube offers streaming movies like Netflix or Hulu which might be a cause for concern. Most videos are under 20 minutes and the video-sharing site has strict guidelines regarding what can be uploaded. Its policies bar sexually explicit or violent material, as well as videos portraying animal abuse, drug abuse, smoking, under-age drinking, and the making of weapons such as bombs.

Unisel, like the rest of the world, will soon discover that people have many ways to access information. But why must a student go through the hassle of using proxies and other means to get educational material? Instead of blocking such sites, the university should be encouraging the faculty to embrace sites like YouTube to further supplement their class lessons with interactive videos. Lecturers from the Faculty of Business can have classes that feature group debates about business trends or ethics and have their students film introductions and rebuttals for others to watch. Similarly, students from the Faculty of Communication and Media can use the dynamism of YouTube and broadcast their work for everyone to admire. In addition to having design and building contests, engineering students can also upload documentary style videos of their projects from the initial brainstorming processes to the final building stages and have people vote on the best videos in different categories. The IT department can carry out programming contests and can even broadcast them live on YouTube. In a similar way, the Faculty of Art & Design can hold art galleries and have the beautiful works of art displayed for the whole world to see via YouTube. The university can even broadcast the graduation ceremonies live on YouTube for relatives and friends to rejoice as they watch loved ones close another chapter in their lives. The ideas are endless.

To the suits in the chancellery building, with all due respect, instead of carrying out meetings discussing how to make us pay our outstanding fees and how to cut costs, try encouraging the staff to be more creative with their lectures. Try to encourage the heads of the faculties to come up with some inter-faculty competitions. Try to find ways to get students into extra-curricular activities which will improve their speaking skills such as debate tournaments and public speaking. Try to invite industry professionals to give a couple of lectures and have them answer questions. Try to improve Unisel and put it on the map. After all, it’s supposed to be a shining example since it carries the ‘Selangor’ name.