Alternatives to YouTube's Video Editor - It's Going Away

Earlier this summer Google announced that the YouTube video editor will be "going away" on September 20th. Since then I have fielded many requests to suggest alternatives to the YouTube video editor. Here's a run-down of the recommendations that I have been making.

YouTube enhancements are not going away. 
It's important to note that if you have only been using the YouTube video editor for things like cropping the length of your video or applying visual filters, you will still be able to do that in your YouTube account. Trimming the length of a video, adding interactive end screens, blurring faces and objects, and applying color filters are all considered part of the "enhancements" that you can apply to your videos. Those features are not going away.

YouTube Photo Slideshow Alternatives:
YouTube's photo slideshow creator was a nice tool that let you pull images from your desktop or from your Google account, drag them into a sequence, then add music from a library of more 100,000 Creative Commons-licensed music tracks. Fortunately, there is not a shortage of websites and apps that offer the same features.

Stupeflix, Sharalike, and Animoto all let you import a batch of pictures and add music to quickly create an audio slideshow. Animoto and Stupeflix both let you add text over your images while Sharalike does not. Sharalike, however, allows for much longer videos than Animoto and Stupeflix will create. Sharalike and Animoto offer iOS and Android apps while Stupeflix does not. Finally, Animoto and Stupeflix offer free education versions for teachers.

Basic Video Editing:
iOS and MacOS users have access to iMovie for free now. If you're looking for a video editor for your students to use on iPads or Macs, iMovie is more than adequate for the vast majority of classroom projects.

Windows users can still use Windows Movie Maker. Microsoft is not officially supporting it on Windows 10, but you can still download it and use it on Windows 10 computers. But later this year Microsoft will be releasing Story Mix which is essentially the replacement for Movie Maker. This video provides a preview of Story Mix.

Chromebook users and those who cannot install software should look into Adobe Spark and WeVideo. Adobe Spark is free to use. You can upload images and videos to use in your final product. Adobe Spark will let you record narration on a scene-by-scene basis by simply holding a record button while you talk. I have some tutorials on Adobe Spark that you can watch here and here.

WeVideo offers a robust web-based video editing tool that rivals the features you can find in iMovie. The limitation of WeVideo is that in order to access its best features like voiceover, green screen, and high resolution production you will have to purchase a subscription. School pricing starts at $199/ year for 30 seats.

How Do Glaciers Move?

Five years ago my old pal Morrison (RIP) and I traveled down the Columbia Icefields Parkway. It was a great way to experience part of the Canadian Rockies including seeing the glaciers that melt and feed tributaries of rivers that will eventually reach the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans. That begged the questions of how long will these glaciers last and how do glaciers move? The answer to the latter question is the topic of a new It's Okay to be Smart video.

How Do Glaciers Move? explains how glaciers are formed, the physical properties of glaciers, and how glaciers move. The video also answers the question of whether a glacier is a solid or a liquid.


Use one of these seven tools to create a science lesson with this video.

What Happens to Your Brain When You Get a Concussion

As the return of football season approaches we hear more stories about professional and student athletes dealing with concussions. TED-Ed recently published a timely lesson about what happens to our brains when we have concussions. The six minute video explains what a concussion is, the short-term and long-term effects of concussions, and myths about concussions. The video from the lesson is embedded below.


Applications for Education
What Happens When You Have a Concussion? could be a great video lesson to have middle school and high school athletes complete before their fall sports seasons begin. The video could help improve students' awareness of the symptoms and effects of concussions.

Get Your Year Organized With Keep, Calendar, and Classroom

Tomorrow afternoon at 4pm EST I'm hosting a Practical Ed Tech webinar titled Keeping Track With Google Keep, Calendar, and Classroom.

In the webinar you will learn:
1. How to streamline your workflow through Google Classroom.
2. How to organize and share resources with students.
3. How to keep track of goals (yours and your students’) through Google Keep and Calendar.
4. How to manage multiple course calendars without losing your mind.
5. How to streamline meetings and meeting scheduling.

Your $20 registration fee includes:
1. Access to the live webinar.
2. Live Q&A
3. Unlimited access to the recording of the webinar.

Reserve your spot in this webinar. 

Space is limited.