We have been discussing that question within the ACS Committee on Chemical Safety over the past year or so and have begun development of a rubric that chemical educators and demonstrators can use to assess the pedagogical aims and safety practices demonstrated in Youtube videos or other sources of demonstrations. Many interesting questions have arisen during this conversation, which have taken a while to work through, but I have hopes that the rubric will be available this year.
One of the things that I have realized in these discussions is that it is relatively easy to identify clearly irresponsible videos and to identify videos that do a good job when it comes to including safety considerations, but no video is perfect and there is a wide middle ground that requires significant thought to assess. My hope is that the rubric will help people think through safety aspects of work they observe and will be a starting point for conversations with peers and students about what constitutes prudent chemical exercise.
I do agree with you, however, that it is important for the video to identify the safety measures that are included in the demonstration, even if they aren't used as part of the demo. There aren't a lot of demonstration videos that do this.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and teaching process with us.
- Ralph
Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Chair
American Chemical Society Committee on Chemical Safety
ralph**At_Symbol_Here**rstuartcih.org
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