Encounter Edu Live Lessons use YouTube Live as the broadcast platform. To test whether you can access YouTube Live on the device (laptop, desktop, etc.) that you will be using, navigate to the Live home on YouTube, and select any of the current live streams. If this works, then the settings at your school allow for lesson streams to be played. If you receive an error message, have a look at the notes below to troubleshoot the issue.
Why does Encounter Edu use YouTube Live?
YouTube and YouTube Live are popular and robust video playing platforms. However, given the range of content available on YouTube, some schools choose to block or restrict access. The Encounter Edu YouTube channel is set as ‘Made for Kids’, so there are some changes to what you can and cannot do on the channel and videos, as some of the standard YouTube functionality is blocked.
Why does it say the live lesson is restricted or unavailable?
Encounter Edu uses the YouTube Live platform to host its live lessons. YouTube Live is a robust and popular platform and YouTube is used by many schools to support teaching and learning. For child safety online, schools are able to limit access to YouTube videos in a variety of ways. When a live lesson is showing as restricted or unavailable to watch at school, it is normally because of the school settings.
There are several settings that may be causing this to happen.
Troubleshooting #1 YouTube may be blocked by a school filter
If you see a message “The connection was reset” when trying to watch an Encounter Edu live lesson, your school will need to whitelist YouTube at your school (www.youtube.com) on your school’s teacher accounts.
You can test access by visiting any YouTube Live video on your school device/network.
If you receive the message above, contact your IT administrator and ask them to allow access to YouTube Live.
Troubleshooting #2 YouTube may be restricted by your school
If you get a message that says, “Video unavailable. This video is restricted. Try signing in with a Google account.”, it may be that your school Google Workspace settings are restricting access to certain types of videos or channels.
Log in to your Google Workspace (G Suite for Education) account, and navigate to the live lesson you wish to watch on Encounter Edu (or directly on Encounter Edu’s YouTube channel).
Turn off restricted mode (at the bottom of the menu accessed by clicking on your profile icon).
If you do not have access to changing these options, you will need to contact your IT administrator to support you.
Settings can be changed back, if needed, after the end of the live lesson.
Further support can be found at:
Troubleshooting #3 Ad blockers may be in place at your school
If you see a message that says, “Please try again later. (Playback ID:xxxxxx)”, this is most likely caused by ad blocker browser extensions.
Either pause or disable these browser extensions like Adblock. These settings can be accessed via your browser settings and extension settings.
You may need to ask your IT administrator for further assistance.
Workaround #1 Use a non-school device and network
You can always try to use a personal device as a last resort to view a live lesson broadcast on YouTube Live.
Some teachers have secondary devices for accessing certain educational content online that has been blocked by filters.
Test access to a YouTube live stream by going to the YouTube Live homepage, and selecting one of the live streams to watch on your non-school device.
If you are using this method, you will need to ensure that this is within the remit of the school’s IT and child safety policies.
Workaround #2 Watch on catch-up
Some schools block live videos, but allow teachers to show videos on catch-up, i.e. when they have no longer live.
There may be specific blocks on your school network related to live streaming. If this is the case you can watch the live lesson on catch-up, i.e. after the broadcast has ended.
You can check whether you can see these archived videos by checking whether you can see this example live lesson on Encounter Edu.
Changes to accessing these catch-up videos can be managed by a school using the tools described above.
Manage which YouTube videos can be shown at school:
Further support
Please contact Encounter Edu support for further assistance.