Create Educational Videos

Last week I wrote about some stellar YouTube channels in education. Of course, not everyone can afford to set up a studio with professional lighting and cameras, and there are also people who simply don’t like to be in front of the camera. But that does not mean that there is no way for those people to join the video teacher crowd and create educational YouTube videos that look good and are engaging at the same time.

One way is to simply mix still images and a recorded audio narration in free tools like Animoto, Windows Movie Maker or iMovie. The learning curve for this kind of editing is not that high and you can already create some nice videos this way by adding transition effects or text overlays.

But today I would like to show you some great tools that enable anyone to create educational YouTube videos right on the platform.

When you go to youtube.com/create you will find a list of different apps and services that are directly integrated into the YouTube platform. A year ago there were only three or four services, now you can already choose between nine, and I suppose that list will only grow over time. Here are my three favorite tools for education.

 

1. Stupeflix

Stupeflix is what I would call a digital scrapbook. At the beginning you choose one of the them, then you can easily add photos and videos via drag and drop. Of course, there is also the possibility to add text, you can even use a text to speech feature if you don’t want to add your own voice to the video. Music and maps are also available.

I could imagine using this app for videos about geography or history as the map feature would come in handy here. You could create an animation about the different battlefields in the Civil War, show pictures from different climate zones or take a tour of the monuments along the river Nile.

 

2. Go!Animate

Go!Animate lets you create great looking cartoons in no time. You can pick different scenarios for the characters to play in, personalize the different characters, use text to speech for the conversations or, even better, record your own narration. You can then add reactions and movement based on the story you tell and the cartoon characters will also automatically lip sync to the narration track.

http://youtu.be/UCOCJKGi6xY

Due to the variety of characters and backgrounds there are lots of different possibilities for using Go!Animate in education. They also offer school accounts with features like group management, content moderation and other premium features. And of course, the school accounts get a discount compared to the business accounts.

 

3. One True Media

One True Media seems to be a really robust online video editor. With lots of transition effects, easy editing of video clips and photos, text and music overlays and a user friendly interface, you can create some really professional looking videos. Another plus is that you can download the edited video or even get it on DVD.

This is a tool you want to use for bigger projects, maybe documentaries or art projects you create with your students as it offers a lot of different tools to enhance the videos and pictures you shoot.

 

And don’t forget: there are also the three whiteboard apps for the iPad I wrote about in my first post here on Fractus Learning which are another great way to easily create video lessons. So, do you already create education YouTube videos? Please share them in the comments below, especially when you try out one of the tools above.

 

If you are really interested in using video to enhance your teaching, or your school is considering “flipping the classroom”, check out our just released online course: How to Use Online Video to Flip the Classroom

 

Image courtesy of Flickr, visualpanic

8 Comments

  1. GoAnimate is a favorite of mine!

    1. KirstenWinkler says:

      Yes, I like it also a lot. Need to do a video for my German learners :)

  2. Fiona Boughey says:

    Yes, I’ve looked into these but you need to pay to get all the best features! Have you tried PowToon? It’s free and makes cool animated videos.

    1. FractusLearning says:

      Hi Fiona. I haven’t seen PowToon, but after watching their video I can’t wait to give it a go. Looks a great tool for any audience, students, colleagues or other. Thanks for the hot tip and do let us know any other tools that catch your eye.

      Cheers
      Nick

  3. Very good information Kirsten !
    l really liked it !

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