A step in the right direction for collaborative video editing.
Community Review for WeVideo
My Take
I think WeVideo can be a great teaching tool, but it does have its limitations.
What I liked:
-The ability to collaborate within projects and share content with other members
-The program is web-based
-Google single sign-in
-Variety of built-in content: backgrounds, images, sounds, etc.
-Robust tool options for editing videos
-Easy to share final project in multiple ways
How it could serve users better:
-Continue to work on true collaboration - allow multiple users to edit a video simultaneously
-Lower the per user price of the school
How I Use It
I used this product with several upper school classes. This was a pilot program to trial the school version with 50 user licenses. The classes were: 9th grade English, 9th/10th geometry honors, and 9th world cultures.
9th grade English - Students filmed themselves acting out a recreation of a scene from Richard III by William Shakespeare. Students then edited the video clips of their scenes into a movie in WeVideo. As this was the first project using WeVideo, there was a learning curve in introducing and providing support for the tool. Students and teachers learned alongside each other and it did take longer to edit than normal due to this learning curve.
9th/10th geometry - Groups were tasked with re-designing the math wing of our upper school. Each group member had a specific task, one of which was creating a documentary film to document the design process. These documentary filmmakers worked individually within WeVideo to create a documentary film that was included as part of the final project presentation. The individual students were tech-savvy students that enjoyed working on movie editing, so it was not difficult for them to learn the specific features of WeVideo. Most of the films included live video interviews, transition slides, and still images from the project.
9th world cultures - Students worked in collaborative groups to create a video about significant events that happened within one decade from the 1400s through the 1700s. Groups had time in class to conduct library research, search for images, and film/edit videos. Students had mixed feedback - some students enjoy video editing, while others were not interested in investing the time to learn the details of a new tool.
Overall, I think the students enjoyed using WeVideo even though it was difficult at first. The teachers were pleased with the administrative features, being able to see what amount of time students spent on their project and easily adding/creating student groups. WeVideo is a huge improvement from our last software, Windows Live MovieMaker, and adds a level of collaboration and seamless integration that is very valuable in the classroom setting.