Lumen5 – Quickly Turn Your Writing Into Videos
ChatGPT might be the first thing you think of when you read AI today, but there have been plenty of other AI tools before it. One such tool is Lumen5. Lumen5 is a tool that will produce a video for you based upon your written work. To create a video with Lumen5 you can enter the URL […]
Create Animations from Audio in Adobe Express
I like to end the week with something fun. If you do too, head over to Animate from Audio hosted by Adobe Express. Animate from Audio is a fun little tool that matches your spoken words to an animated character of your choosing. The finished product is a fun little video that you can download […]
My Updated Big List of Tools for a Variety of Classroom Video Projects
Around this time last fall I published a big list of my go-to tools for creating videos with students. Since then some of the tools in the list were rebranded and or had some notable updates. This is my updated list of recommended video creation tools for classroom projects. By the way, I created the […]
My Favorite Fall Video Project
It’s September and here in Maine the leaves on some of the maple trees are already starting to change color. This is my favorite time of year! And it’s time that once again I share my favorite fall video project. The project is to create a time-lapse video of autumn. The outline of my time-lapse […]
An Easy Way to Make a Stop Motion Video
Disclosure: Cloud Stop Motion is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com. Cloud Stop Motion is a free tool for creating stop motion videos in your web browser. I wrote about Cloud Stop Motion back in February when it was relatively new. Since then some helpful updates have been made it. The most significant of those updates […]
Free Course – A Teacher’s Guide to Creating Common Craft Style Videos
For more than a dozen years Common Craft videos have been used by teachers to help students understand topics including digital citizenship, personal finance, and many big technology concepts. One of the things that makes Common Craft videos popular is the clear and concise manner in which information is presented using a whiteboard, simple cutouts, […]
Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom – Deep Dive
The single most popular Practical Ed Tech webinar that I hosted last year was 5 Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom. More than 150 participated in it in live or recorded form. The most common piece of feedback that I received about it was, “I wish there was time spent on each project.” That’s why […]
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where it’s a balmy -7F outside. My dogs went outside for about thirty seconds before coming right back to the house this morning. Most mornings I have to call them back in. Needless to say, we’ll be waiting for it warm up a little bit before going to ski this morning. […]
Creative Bridge – A Next Vista for Learning Video Contest
I have been a fan and supporter of Next Vista for Learning for the last decade. Next Vista is a video site for students and teachers to share video lessons with other students and teachers. Videos submitted to Next Vista are reviewed for accuracy before they appear on the site. Speaking of videos on the […]
5 Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom – Webinar on Thursday
Every month I host at least one Practical Ed Tech professional development webinar. This month’s webinar is an updated version of my popular 5 Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom. 5 Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom will be held this Thursday at 4pm Eastern Time. In the webinar you’ll learn how you and your […]
7 Styles of Classroom Video Projects – Tools and Tips for Making Them
In the 2019-20 Practical Ed Tech Handbook I included a section all about student video projects. In that section I outlined seven styles of classroom video projects along with tools and tips for making each style of video in your classroom. That section is excerpted and embedded below as a PDF that you can view […]
These Cool Cats Will Teach You About Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verbs Friends is a fun YouTube channel that features cats explaining phrasal verbs. The videos use pictures of cats in green-screen settings to show and explain the various meanings of phrasal verbs like “warm up” and “take care.” Applications for Education Phrasal verbs can be tricky for students to understand. These cute cat videos […]
How to Make Stop Motion Movies – And The Apps You Need
It’s funny what you remember about students that you had ten or more years ago. Earlier this week I ran into an old student of mine while I was getting coffee at my favorite cafe. While I struggled to remember his name (it came to be eventually) I clearly remembered a stop motion video project […]
StudentCam 2020 – Student Documentary Contest
Every year C-SPAN hosts the StudentCam video contest for middle school and high school students in the United States. This annual event invites students to produce short videos about current issues related to United States government and politics. This year’s C-SPAN StudentCam contest asks students to produce a 4-6 minute video about the issue they […]
Three Ideas for Green Screen Video Projects
Making green screen videos can be a good way to engage students in researching and planning. That research and planning is fundamental to making a good video. The video is the reward at the end of the process. There are many things that students can do with green screen video production tools. Here are three […]
5 Ways to Quickly Create Audio Slideshows for End-of-Year Events
Around this time every year I start to field a bunch of emails from readers who are looking for advice on how to quickly create audio slideshow videos for end-of-year events. Here are five options that I like for making audio slideshow videos. This list is arranged according to my preference for the quickest way […]
From Basic to Advanced Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom
My last presentation of the day the 2019 MACUL Conference was 5 Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom. Before the presentation started I introduced those who came early to cell phone crashing. 5 Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom is a progression of easy to difficult projects that can be adapted for use in almost […]
Videezy – Free Video Clips for Multimedia Projects
Last week I shared a video overview of three great places to find free video clips to use in classroom projects. Videezy is another good site to add to that list. Videezy offers more than 1,000 video clips that you can download for free. The videos are organized into twelve categories. Within each category you’ll […]
21 Places to Find Media for Classroom Projects
Yesterday, people who subscribe to the Practical Ed Tech newsletter received a copy of my guide to finding copyright-friendly media for use in classroom projects. The guide includes explanations of Public Domain, Creative Commons, and Fair Use. In the section on using self-created media I included an example of how I unintentionally committed a copyright […]
Free Webinar – How to Make Your Own Common Craft-style Videos
If you have followed this blog for more than a few weeks, you’ve probably seen me make references to Common Craft videos. More than ten years ago Common Craft pioneered a unique style of online video that has since been imitated, but never quite duplicated by others. That style uses paper cut-outs on blank white […]
The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival – Videos Based on Newbery Winning Books
Thanks to one of the great teachers that I am working with at Sigsbee Charter School I learned about the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. The festival is really a contest that is organized by YA author James Kennedy. The purpose of the contest is to encourage students to create short videos based on Newbery-winning books. […]
Planning a Student Video Project? – Don’t Forget the Storyboards
Earlier this week I shared details of Next Vista for Learning’s Creative Storm student video contest. One of the rules of that contest is that videos have to be 90 seconds or less. That’s generally a good guideline of classroom video projects too. Even though 90 seconds might not seem like a long time, it […]
Creative Storm – A Next Vista Video Contest
Next Vista for Learning is a great place for teachers and students to share short video lessons that they create. I have been recommending the service for almost ten years now. One of the aspects of Next Vista for Learning that I particularly like is the video contests that are run a couple of times […]
Fall Time-lapse – A Video Project
The fall is my favorite season of the year. I love waking up to cold, crisp mornings then enjoying mild days outside. In fact, that’s what I’m planning to do tomorrow morning. This time of year always reminds me of one of my favorite uses for time-lapse video creation tools. The outline of my time-lapse […]
How to Use Flipgrid to Publish Instructional Videos
In Sunday’s Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week I mentioned three ways to use Flipgrid now that all features are free for all users. One of those ways is to have students record and publish instructional videos. They can do this is a few ways. They can record themselves in front of a whiteboard, […]
5 Ways to Make Stop-motion and Time-lapse Movies
Creating a stop-motion video or a time-lapse videos can be a good way for students to tell a story in the style of Gumby. Making stop-motion and time-lapse videos can also be a good way for students to demonstrate how a lengthy process works without making people watch a long video. The following free tools […]
Five Options for Creating Animated Videos on Your Chromebook
Creating animated videos can be a great way for students to explain a science concept, to tell a history story, or to bring to life short stories they’ve written. One of last week’s most popular posts was about how to do those things on an iPad. Chromebook users have some good tools available to them […]
Caring for Comics – And Other Ideas for Video Projects
Earlier this week the Library of Congress Twitter account posted a link to the LOC’s reference page about the deterioration of paper. From that page I stumbled into the library’s Collections Care reference pages. Those pages are full of information about how to care for and preserve a variety of physical media including newspapers and comic […]
Coming In May – The Complete Guide to Classroom Video Projects
Back in March more than 100 people participated in my one hour webinar titled 5 Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom. If you missed it, you can access the recording here. That webinar was designed to provide an overview of some of the tools that you can use to make videos with your students and for […]