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WeVideo
Pros: Create screencasts, podcasts, or videos. Abundant stock footage and audio libraries. Helpful support.
Cons: Mobile app not as good as web version. Classroom vs. Classic modes can be confusing. PlayPosit integration still new.
Bottom Line: This is an excellent way to provide multimodal learning experiences to students.
WeVideo is a powerful and versatile multimedia tool that could have a place in most learning settings. Schools or classrooms that use project-based learning (PBL), Universal Design for Learning (UDL), or similar approaches would likely find the addition of WeVideo to their teaching and learning toolset worthwhile.
The best way to use WeVideo is to put it in the hands of students. To kick things off, teachers can show students how to import stock media (video, sound effects, music), and then cover some basic editing techniques like splitting and trimming clips. After, allow students to play around, see what they can do, share what they've learned, and help each other. If anyone gets stuck, the WeVideo Academy has tutorials that should answer every question, as well as a variety of project ideas to use with students.
Once students understand basic editing, they'll be able to use WeVideo to create media like videos, podcasts, or screencasts to demonstrate learning. Many teachers have used WeVideo to have students create book reviews or trailers, weather PSAs, historical biographies, cultural explorations, personal vlogs, experiment demos, and more. Although these projects can be done solo, having students work as part of a team to plan, produce, and edit their own content offers a meaningful collaborative experience that matches with how real-world jobs get done.
WeVideo is also useful for quick assignments. Students can turn in video responses to questions with no or minimal editing. This is particularly easy to do with WeVideo Classroom, which connects a teacher and all of the students in their classroom together (more on this in the "What Is It?" section).
Of course, teachers can also create learning materials to support students. For example, a teacher might demo a science activity, show how a paragraph is structured, walk through a math problem, or record a lecture.
WeVideo is a cloud-based multimedia (videos, podcasts, etc.) creator. There's a web version as well as mobile app versions. Since it's a cloud-based editor, teachers and students can log in from any device and pick up where they left off.
Upon logging in, teachers and students will choose whether they want to use the Classroom or Classic version of WeVideo. WeVideo Classroom has several benefits, like allowing teachers to create assignments and push them out to students. Teachers can even place students in groups or have students self-select groups. Students can work on a project, and the teacher can drop in to help out or leave feedback. Classic mode doesn't feature this level of collaboration, though the editing process is essentially the same. The Classic mode does have the option to switch from timeline editing to storyboard editing, which some people will find simpler (though less powerful) to use. Completed videos in Classroom mode can be downloaded or saved to Google Drive, while finished videos in Classic have these options as well as choices to upload to Vimeo, YouTube, Dropbox, and others.
The editor itself will look familiar to anyone with video editing experience, but it's simple enough that novices can learn to use it. In WeVideo Classroom, editing is done on a timeline. Drag imported pictures, clips, and audio onto the timeline to trim, split, edit, resize, animate, or apply effects. With practice, students can apply advanced effects like color keying (green screen).
WeVideo recently acquired a company called PlayPosit. While this is technically a separate product, it's good to be aware of it. This is because once teachers or students finish editing, they may notice the option to "Send to PlayPosit." PlayPosit has similar features to EdPuzzle, where users can add interactive features such as questions to their videos (or to videos found on other websites, like YouTube). The integration of PlayPosit is certainly welcome, though it requires its own account and still feels new. Hopefully, the process of using PlayPosit will become more seamless and classroom friendly in the future.
Disclaimer: While this tool has received a Common Sense Selection for Learning, its privacy policy contains unclear information which should be considered when using the tool.
WeVideo will help students acquire editing skills, but the educational impact extends far beyond that. When students create videos or other types of media, they have an opportunity to exercise creativity, work in an authentic, real-world way, and practice their communication and critical thinking skills. While some other platforms might frustrate students as they try to learn all the technical intricacies, WeVideo strikes a nice balance. It offers some nice bells and whistles and focuses students more on the act of creation. This, in turn, gives students agency and choice over their learning and how they demonstrate it. WeVideo also is a good platform for supporting Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practices. Teachers can create content in different modalities to support students, and students themselves can use WeVideo to showcase learning in ways that lean into their abilities and strengths.
Learning Rating
Overall Rating
Great for Podcasting!
I believe this is an excellent teaching tool that works both for teacher-led instruction, as well as content crafted by students. I enjoyed that students could use the embedded audio and video tools to craft their very own video and audio creations. For audio-only content (we use this for Podcasting), WeVideo exports directly to students Google Drive which makes it SO easy for students to record and submit their content to me via Google Classroom.
One issue I noticed is that there are some slight glitches from time to time when screen recording while also using the webcam that I noticed while making asynchronous videos this year. This has happened a few times to me while I have been creating video content, and I haven't found a fix for it yet.
Overall, I think this resource is a very useful tool for student and teacher content creation. I can definitely recommend that it worked well for my students!
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