William and Mary ’10 alumna Loretta Scott was named “Next EDU Guru” by YouTube in October, 2012.
Loretta Scott, an English/Japanese bilingual “edupreneur”, recently joined an international panel of 10 individuals known as the “Next EDU Gurus”. Loretta was chosen for her YouTube channel “KemushiChan: Bringing You Some Japan”, where she shares her tips and tricks to learn Japanese through funny skits, flashy subtitles, popping sound effects, and Japanese interviews. As a Next EDU Guru, she and the 9 other content creators were giving funding, exclusive promotions and training by YouTube to enhance their channels and grow their audiences.
“I first began uploading YouTube videos from my dorm room in 2006. Since then my channel KemushiChan has seen over 490,000 hits and grown to more than 5,800 regular subscribers,” says Loretta. “At William and Mary, I had many opportunities to learn about how people study and teach Japanese. I worked with Professor Kato as a Japanese T.A., and with Professor Hamada-Connolly in Japan on a research fellowship about digital communications. My favorite part of all of this was posting YouTube videos about what I saw, and hearing from viewers in the comments about some of their favorite ways to navigate such an amazing language and culture.”
In October, Loretta and the 9 other Gurus were flown out to the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, CA where they received special training with the YouTube Staff, and met with some of the top name-brands in education today: Sir Ken Robinson, Salman Khan (Khan Academy), Coursera, and more. Since then, Loretta has already begun collaborating with other educators, like in her recent video in Japanese about Nuclear Chemistry in Japan.
Currently, Loretta works in New York City as an independent teacher and translator developing a Japanese Language company. Through her company she writes and designs personalized textbooks for her students, creating custom lessons that are fit especially to each student.
“I have some big plans for the next steps of my language company, but in the meantime I’m thankful that I’ve had such a loyal and supportive audience of fellow students through YouTube.”
VIDEO LINKS:
Loretta’s Most Recent Collaboration, Nuclear Chemistry in Japan:
Loretta at Youtube HQ:
A Sample Japanese Video from Loretta:
Loretta’s Bio Video: