Using WeVideo in the Classroom

by Joel Levy

The topic of the lesson will be Traveling, which is something I will work with my students, who are adults and have an upper-intermediate level. The idea is that students learn some new vocabulary related to the topic while they practice skills such as reading, speaking and listening.

LESSON PLAN

Warmer

Teacher asks some questions in order introduce the topic and gain students’ interest.

· Have you ever traveled anywhere? Where?

· Was it on business or pleasure?

· What are your favorite places and why?

· Is there a place you would like to visit but you have not had the chance yet?

After that, T will open a Wordwall activity where there will be pictures of important places in the world and STs will have to say what that place is and say what they know about it.

Web

Now STs will watch a video about the Taj Mahal: “10 Secret Facts About Taj Mahal”

As you watch the video, take down notes on a Google Document and try to write down at least 5 interesting facts about Taj Mahal mentioned in the video.

Then, get in pairs and discuss with your partner:

· What were the places that called your attention the most?

· Have you ever considered traveling or traveled to any of those places?

· Would you like to go there? Why? Why not?

What next

Now get in groups of 4 students and pick a destination you all really like. Do some research on it, gather important information about the place and then create a 4-minute-video about it with videos, pictures and information about the place you have picked. You should use the Wevideo.com which is easy to use. You will find a tutorial on this tool below.

After you have finished the video, you have to post it on your class blog so all your classmates can see it and learn of those places.

Some benefits of using WeVideo:

it is really easy to use and it also has videos that explain how to use it. One very important aspect is that it is useful nowadays during the pandemic as it can be used for online teaching and also in blended settings.

TUTORIAL on wevideo.com

1) Sign up and create your account.

2) You may choose to start with a created template or a new video.

3) Now you have to add all the pieces of the video you want to edit.

4) You can add titles, effects or transitions if you want in order to make it more appealing.

5) You can see a preview of what you are working on any time you want in the preview section.

6) When you are satisfied with the final result, you click on “Finish” and then you can download or share the video on any platform you want.

Reviews by educators

Sandra W. - “Easy to Use Even for Elementary Students”

Pros: WeVideo is easy to use and helps even beginning users create a professional looking final video. I love the stock library of images and the software works well with many formats of video when you upload your own. My students can find the pictures and video clips they need for their projects in a safe environment. It is very easy to save and share projects. Plus you can use the same software to record video, a screen cast and a podcast.

Cons: You can find tutorials online for WeVideo. It would be nice to have help feature or FAQ section available within in the editing screen.

Carol Z. - “WeVideo Rocks for Educators and Students”

Overall: I have loved using WeVideo. I teach a Broadcasting class, and it is very intuitive for our students. They pick up the basics very quickly, so that I can then focus on the creativity for my class.

Pros: My district adopted WeVideo and it has been a game changer for our students. It is easy to use, but full of features. Students can present their ideas in a creative way using the stock library of videos, images, and audio which is a huge plus compared to other video editing platforms. Teachers also use it to create presentations for teaching.

Sheila W. - “WeVideo for students and staff!”

Overall: We have been using WeVideo on our student and staff Chromebooks for over 3 years. I provide professional development for our staff and also go into classrooms to co-teach. Students love the features and staff enjoy being able to rely on the library of images, sounds, video clips and animations right in the program!

Pros: WeVideo is powerful enough for all of of users, but the design of the software is intuitive enough to support beginners!

Cons: Real time collaboration-though I hear this is coming!

Katrina C. - “Best program for video editing in school environment”

Overall: Due to the simplicity of the program I find I am doing very little training on the program itself. The short "Help" videos are an excellent resource! The site is surprisingly stable. In fact I can recall the site going down once in the last 8 years I have used it!

Pros: I have been using WeVideo for 8 years. I have found nothing comparable for the price. Simple enough for elementary students to use, yet robust enough for the prosumer in your organization. Over the years WeVideo has worked consistently to improve the program by continually adding new features as requested by users. I have and will continue to recommend WeVideo to all.

Cons: WeVideo has worked diligently over the years to improve the program. Generally, new features are added when requested by users within months. New features are generally fairly stable, even in beta, and support is quick and consistent. I really don't have anything I disliked about the program.

https://www.capterra.com/p/173401/WeVideo/reviews/

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

It is an extension of the original Bloom's taxonomy and creates a hierarchy of learning activities in a digital environment in order to enrich the learning experience. It depicts a pyramid that illustrates the lower order thinking skills at the base and the higher ones at the bottom.

When creating this lesson plan, this framework was taken into account. Students have to understand, analyze, evaluate and create content along the lesson. They process information, they have to think about it and then create a video with the information they have picked from the lesson.

Triple E Framework

It is a framework for teachers to measure how well technology tools integrated into lessons are helping students engage in, enhance and extend learning goals.

In this lesson the three features are present. Engagement, as there are many activities in which they have to use technology, which is more engaging for students. Enhancement, by the use of different technological tools, the experience is better and it can help students who have different intelligences understand better what is traditionally taught using the blackboard. Extension, as students all through the lesson have to relate what they are learning to their real life and experiences. By the end, they create a video that will be shared with the whole classroom.

To read more about my work you can go to my blog:

https://joelict.blogspot.com/

References:

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Verbs For 21st Century Students (2016)

WeVideo (2020). Retrieved from wevideo.com

https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/blooms-digital-taxonomy-verbs-21st-century-students/

García, ML (2018) chapter 8, Differentiated learning: teacher’s pathways to meaningful technology Integration. In Adapting to meet diverse needs in ELT. Selected Papers from the 43nd FAAPI Conference. Retrieved in September 2019

http://www.faapi.org.ar/downloads/FAAPI2018SelectedPapers.pdf