WeVideo Classroom is the education spin-off of the famous video editing platform that is specifically aimed at teachers and students.

WeVideo is a very simple to use yet powerful video editor which can be used by teachers to help students learn the art of video editing. Until this latest release, that meant using external tools or in-classroom teaching to get projects set and marked.

The idea behind WeVideo Classroom is to integrate all the tools into the editor itself so that teachers can set project assessments, monitor them, comment and ultimately mark them for student feedback.

So is this a useful tool for education right now? Read on to find out everything you need to know about WeVideo Classroom.

• WeVideo Lesson Plan
• Best Tools for Teachers
• New Teacher Starter Kit

What is WeVideo Classroom?

WeVideo Classroom builds on the original video editor platform. That means you still have an easy to use software setup that will work for a wide range of ages, even those who are new to video editing. 

One standout feature of this, over other video editors, is that this is collaborative, allowing multiple students to work together on one project from their various devices and locations.

So integrating more teacher engagement as is done here makes a lot of sense. That way students only need to go into this one tool, as do teachers, to get assignments up and running. 

When teaching a class with hybrid tools this can be useful to make sure the number of video chat and LMS windows open are kept to a minimum. This should keep the strain on devices and connections low – crucial when video editing. 

How does WeVideo Classroom work?

WeVideo Classroom uses a drag-and-drop timeline which allows students to easily place video and audio items into the editable area to work with. That also helps when using this across devices like Mac, PC, Chromebook, iOS and Android, where the process is kept as straightforward and recognizable as possible.

Teachers can create project assignments and have them sent to individuals or groups of students. The students are then able to begin working on them right away, with written guidance of what's expected right there in the video editor. A date for the turn-in time can be set and there's plenty of room for detailed guidance, all while keeping this simple and minimal so it only takes minutes. 

It's then possible for teachers to monitor progress live to see how the project is going as well as make comments or offer potentially helpful feedback as they go.

The multimedia tools are made simple to use with the idea being to allow students to focus less on the building part of the project and more on the creative process. So while this can be used in a video editing class, it's also aimed at any type of class where a teacher wants to have students submit their ideas in a new and creatively freeing way. If they learn video editing skills along the way, it's a bonus.

This sample WeVideo lesson plan is designed to help implement the tool into instruction.

What are the best WeVideo Classroom features?

WeVideo Classroom is super simple to use which is a big sell as it means this can work not only across age ranges but abilities too. The wide array of over one million stock videos, images and music tracks helps to make starting from scratch simple. 

And the fact this works across multiple devices is fantastic for students using their own devices, working in class and from home -- or for teachers setting tasks from wherever and whenever they find the time.

Since WeVideo is cloud-based it means that editing is fast and can be done even on older devices. As such this makes a previously inaccessible tool available to more people. That cloud also makes the collaborative nature of this possible, with students working as a group to build a project. A particularly useful skill today when working together, remotely, is a very useful ability to develop.

Real-time feedback from teachers and fellow students aids in the project creation processes, making sure everyone is on track. But also it can mean helping those that might otherwise have struggled if set a task and left to complete it alone. 

How much does WeVideo Classroom cost?

WeVideo Classroom is a specific tool with a set price. While a WeVideo account can be bought for $89 per year for one seat, a WeVideo Classroom tier is charged at $299 per year but for 30 seats.

It is also possible to get a price for grades or specific groups. There is also a quote option for school or district wide packages.

WeVideo Classroom best tips and tricks

Don't write, show
Rather than setting a homework project with a traditional written submission, group the class and have them submit videos instead. 

Stay positive
Written feedback in this context can be taken in different ways so be sure to stay as positive as possible when offering feedback live within the tool -- best not to stunt creativity.

Group the year
Have the students edit, as a class, a video of their term or year to show what's gone on. This can be a lot of fun but also useful to show next year's students what to expect when they arrive.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers
• WeVideo Lesson Plan

WeVideo is a robust and multifunctional video creation edtech tool that can enhance any learning experience across academic subject areas. WeVideo can be used as an alternative option to traditional in-class presentations, allowing students to demonstrate their learning in creative ways. 

While multidimensional and comprehensive, WeVideo is quite user friendly and would be a great option for elementary learners all the way to high school. For an overview, check out What is WeVideo and How Does it Work for Education. 

Below is a sample lesson plan for middle school students that is focused on weather and meteorology. While this sample lesson shows just one way WeVideo can be used for teaching and learning, the options are truly endless for other subject areas and grade levels.  

Subject: Science/STEM  

Topic: Weather/Meteorology 

Grade Band: Middle School  

Learning Objective: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to present on various concepts related to weather.

Pre-Planning  

Prior to students using WeVideo to record their weather reports and forecasting, introduce students to the main components of WeVideo. This includes how to login, set-up a recording from their school devices, and adding content to the background slides. It is also best to decide if WeVideo will be used for podcasting, screencasting, or  greenscreening. 

WeVideo Creation 

WeVideo can be used as a tool for students to record themselves as they provide information on the daily weather as well as periodic weather-related disasters that impact the country and beyond. 

Assign each student a state, region, or city to focus on for their forecast and rotate throughout the year. WeVideo offers an Essentials Library that consists of more than a million royalty-free media files that students can pull from to enhance their videos. This feature is an excellent option for those who may be reporting the weather of locations that are quite different from where they are located. 

Students will build on their critical-thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills while putting together content for their weather reports and forecasting, and there is a variety of key scientific, meteorological, and weather-related vocabulary in which students can gain fluency. As part of the learning activity, students could be required to correctly include the following keywords:

• Atmospheric pressure 
• Barometer
• Climate
• Degrees (Celsius and Fahrenheit) 
• Precipitation
• Temperature

Additionally, weather reporting and forecasting is a great way for students to gain fluency in using adjectives. For example, instead of saying that the temperature is cold or hot, students can provide more specificity and use descriptions such as windy, freezing, or mild. Similarly, instead of saying that it is simply snowing or raining, words such as hail, lightning, downpour, blizzard, rainbow, and overcast can be used. It might be helpful to create a rubric for students detailing clear expectations on how many descriptive adjectives should be used in each recording. 

Students can also be creative with their videos as WeVideo allows for adding GIFs, text, graphics, and greenscreen capabilities.

Broadcasting and Sharing WeVideos 

There are a variety of ways to share students’ WeVideos! Once a video has been downloaded in either SD or HD, one of the many connected apps can be used as destinations to broadcast and share. The connected apps options include Dailymotion, Dropbox, Google Drive, FTP, One Drive, Vimeo, and YouTube.  

How Can Students Curate Shared Content? 

You may want to have students work in small weather teams to develop the WeVideo content. In small teams, students can take turns on who will report via WeVideo and who will lead the research. It may be helpful to use a Wakelet as a shared curation tool for each small team to hold their materials. In this case, all of the content will be accessible to each team member, at any time, but students can add information at different times and from different locations. Finished copies of the weather reporting and forecasting videos can also be housed on Wakelet. 

Tech Troubleshooting Tip 

Even though WeVideo is an intuitive and easy-to-use edtech tool, you and your students may need more time to explore the different features or learn to better navigate WeVideo. Thankfully, there is a WeVideo Academy with myriad tutorials and training for users. WeVideo is also compatible with Android, Chromebook, iOS, and Windows. 

WeVideo can be used to enhance the learning experiences for students in your class while they demonstrate their learning and build on key skills. After you get started with the lesson above, you can visit the resource sharing database on the WeVideo website to connect with other educators as well as use pre-made templates. 

• What Is WeVideo And How Does It Work For Education?
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

Do you want to know what my favorite digital creation tool is? Without a doubt, it's video. Video is one of the most versatile creation tools a student can use. They can put together things like commercials, documentaries, new broadcast, interviews, and more. You can even design multiple scenarios on the same topic just by changing what type of video you are doing. Video is indeed the tool that you can use in any classroom!

This blog focuses on seven video tools that can bring basic video to your classroom easy. We want to hit the broadest range, so you will notice that a couple of tools lock you in based on device, and we will not talk about video tools that trend more towards the premier exiting sides like Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro. Realistically, if you want to do video in the purest form, an iPad becomes your new best friend, but there are other tools that work pretty well. Without further ado, here are my six favorite tools to bring video creation to any classroom.

cross posted at www.bigguyinabowtie.com

David Lockhart is an edtech presenter, speaker, advocate, and coach with over ten years' experience teaching high school social studies. As an Education Technology Specialist with the Iteach Center at Kennesaw State University, he works with a metro Atlanta school district to personalize learning for students with the aid of technology. Read his blog at bigguyinabowtie.com and follow him on Twitter @bigguyinabowtie.