As a social studies teacher, Kristy has found new ways to get her students excited to express themselves and demonstrate their learning using WeVideo on Chromebooks. WeVideo sat down with Kristy to see how video creation has helped transformed her classroom, and why she values video projects over traditional-style assessments.
What is your role at Fairfield Ludlowe High School?
I am a secondary social studies teacher here at Fairfield Ludlowe High School.
What do you like about using WeVideo on Chromebooks in your classroom?
WeVideo is amazing because it opens up the opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding in really novel and creative approaches. Gone are the days of traditional poster presentations! This is a program that really allows for students to work collaboratively and innovatively to come up with a product they're really proud of.
How has learning evolved for students using WeVideo on their Chromebooks?
There's a lot more flexibility and creativity with WeVideo in allowing students to demonstrate their understanding in different ways. With WeVideo, it is definitely different than what students can demonstrate on a more traditional style assessment, like a poster or even a presentation, which was once really novel and exciting.
Collaboration can be really effective with WeVideo on Chromebooks. We've had a lot of different opportunities where students are working together as a whole group and we are able to see their thought process with the use of the differing narrations. One student might look at the sound effects and audio files, while the other student might look at some of the more visual files while someone's narrating. And then it seamlessly embeds together.
What's the most valuable skill you believe kids learn by editing videos on Chromebooks?
One of the most valuable skills that students are learning is, quite frankly, a love for learning. To me as an educator, one of the biggest goals is to instill that value of lifelong learning. To do that you have to create assignments where students don't realize they're learning at all! Students get so excited and engaged, they like the challenge of the task, and they are very proud of what they come out with.
How well does WeVideo integrate with Google?
WeVideo and the world of Google are very streamlined. Something I do prior to the WeVideo program is use Google Docs so that students who are working collaboratively can color-code and demonstrate that they're a contributing member to the group. In WeVideo, once projects are done, they're very easily uploaded into Google Drive and Google Classroom for all of us to look at and preview, but also for me as an educator to assess.