10 Free Video Editors

Free Video Editors

Image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr

Over the course of the year I have been looking for a simple free video editors that I can use with my students. In the process of reviewing the many different options I decide to post my results to save everyone the time looking at the variety of options out there.

If you know of any others please let me know and I will post them here as well.

Free Video Editors: Editors that are free to users.

1. Animoto Easy to use and creates great looking videos. Students have really enjoyed this application. However, you can only create 30 second videos for free and you are limited in editing in the free version. You must register to use the free version as well. Animoto will provide educators with a free code to allow their students to create full length videos for FREE for 6 months otherwise this application only has free 30 second videos.
2. One True Media Easy to use and creates nice looking videos. Charges for anything more than 30 seconds and limited to 15 minute of finished video per month. Must register to use free portions of this application. They do have a mobile app for the pay version. This application only has free 30 second videos.
3. Flixtime This site also is easy to use and you are able to create 60 second videos. However you have limited resources and are unable to add transition, voice and create HD videos. This application only has free 60 second videos and are limited in effects.
4. YouTube This editor allows you to do the basic editing effects to videos upload to YouTube. You can add text, audio and voice, transitions, trim clips and combine YouTube videos. You must have a YoutTube account. Difficult to use ion schools since it is often blocked. This application is FREE!
5. Stroome.com Easy to use video editor. Allows you all of the basic video editing features and share with many different social networks but does not provide ability to download file or upload to YouTube. This is a free application.
6. Creaza This is a free editor and allows you to upload directly to YouTube. As far as I can tell there is no real limitation to the free version however if you upload your video to YouTube using the free video it will place a Creaza logo in the lower right corner. This is a limited free application.
7. Masher Very simple and easy to use video editor. Has a good collection of videos to use from the BBC. Easy to add and edit with the basic features. Can embed videos and email but can not upload to YouTube or download them. This is a Free Site at this time.
8. Stupeflix This is a great web-based editor. Simple to use and has many options that are easy to apply to your videos. It even includes an option to integrate to your webcam. This site offers free one minute video. This is a partially free website.
9. FileLab This site allows you to edit video and audio and share them on the web. This is a free site and quite simple to use. Can only be used on a Windows machine.
10. Magisto Simple free video editor. It has limited transition and effects but is very simple and organized well. Does a lot of the editing and transitions for you.

For more information of video editors and other resources check out my video project resource page at the following link. Click Here

90-9-1

According to Jakob Nielson Participation Inequity: Encouraging More Users to Contribute there is a 90-9-1 rule for online participation: 90% are lurkers, 9% are intermittent contributors, and 1% are heavy contributors. On the flip side 90% of posts came from 1% of users, 10% of posts came from 9%, and 90% never post. He then goes on to show in charity on Facebook less than 1% give donations. He gives some suggestions for overcoming this disparity but I think his first statement is most true: you can’t.

I think this is true is any organization and on-line is no different. There will always be lots of people who just “show up” compared to the few who do the lion’s share of the work. So relating this back to education, I do not know any research into this but I would be willing to guess that around 1% of educators are involved in on-line communities such blogs, Twitter, Plurk, Nings, etc. There is often talk on-line about how to get more teachers involved in the learning and sharing that takes place in these kind of spaces.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetruthabout / CC BY-SA 2.0

Based on this article I wonder if we are fighting a losing battle to get a large number of educators to be involved in on-line learning. It would be great if we could get 90% of teachers to even lurk in on-line communities, but even that seems unlikely.

I am not saying that we should stop trying to encourage people to get involved in these kinds of spaces, but I do wonder if we at some point accept it as fact that many teachers will never choose to participate in on-line learning activities and instead focus on having a “go to” person per building who is active on-line and can be a resource to other teachers. I know this could be looked at as enabling the lazy, but I think it is utopian to think that someday all teachers will be involved in on-line communities and sharing.

So what do you think? Do you have a plan to get all teachers active in on-line learning or should we consider alternate methods to share our learning such as “building experts”?

This post is part of EdTech Blog Swap and was written by guest blogger Michael Kaechele (concretekax on Twitter) who blogs at the Concrete Classroom.

Fun and creative ways for students to make online video projects

Over the past year I have begun to transform my class into a project-based classroom.  This constructivist approach to learning has allowed me to really incorporate technology into the classroom.  Students are creating projects that contain many different technologies, and I have been able really become a type of consultant in the classroom pointing out technologies and information for them to use in their projects.  It is my students who have  become quite creative with their projects, and they have begun using a variety of online resources to create videos to show their learning.  They have created all types of videos from short animated videos to fully edited movies.  I have kept a list of the many different sites students have used to create their projects for other classes.  Take a look.

Online video resources for students:

• Memoov: http://memoov.com/ A unique video site based in Israel. They provide the characters and settings and you provide the audio for each of the characters.  These videos can be created and shared on a variety of websites like YouTube and others. My students found it simple to use and very intuitive. They were able to create interesting videos in just two days.
• Voki http://www.voki.com/ Voki allows users to create talking avatars to present information.  You can use your own voice or choose from voices provided for you.  This is an easy and fun website to use.
• Go!Animate: http://goanimate.com This site allows you to create animated stories to present information or quick stories.  They have many different options and objects to choose from and are constantly adding new material.
• Xtranormal: http://www.xtranormal.com This is a Text-To-Movie site that takes a typed script and animates the voices for you.  Then you add expressions and movement to the characters and create unique videos.  My students love to use this website to create videos. However,      there can be questionable material on this site at times.
• Dvolver http://www.dvolver.com This site allows the user to pick a scene and characters then type in the dialogue to create your videos.  Simple site with limited scenes and characters,      but with some creativity students can create some great videos.
• Zimmertwins http://www.zimmertwins.com/ Like devolver this site allows students to create animated cartoons with written dialogue.  Again, it has limited scenes and characters just like devolver.  The quality of the final movies is quite good.
• Digital Films http://www.digitalfilms.com/ Like the two sites above, this site also creates animated cartoon movies with written text. I have not had any students use this one yet, but it seemed fairly simple to use when I took a quick look at it.
• Aniboom http://www.aniboom.com Aniboom allows users to create animated characters and create aniumated stories.  This site is a little more complex than others listed here, but it can be used by Jr. High and High School students.
• Fluxtime http://www.fluxtime.com/animate.php Like Aniboom, this site creates animated cartoons and scenes; however, it does have a bit of a learning curve and may take students some time to learn how to use it.
• Animasher http://www.animasher.com/ This is a fun site that allows you to create a variety of different types of animated movies with real video and 2 dimensional pictures.  This is lots of fun, and students can really get creative with this website. Students can even load their own video and images.

Video editing resources online:

• EditorOne: http://editorone.ideum.com/ EditorOne is an easy online editor that allows students to create videos online and share them with a variety of sites.  This is very easy to use and has some great video clips for students to use.
• Photo Peach: http://photopeach.com This is an online slideshow creator that students can use to quickly and easily create slideshows to present information or a story.  It’s a simple design and easy to use.  Students can make these slideshows in a matter of minutes.
• Animoto: http://animoto.com This is a video editing website that allows users to use their own images and video to create their videos.  This website does produce high quality videos that look professional and are well put together.
• Stupeflix: http://www.stupeflix.com/ It’s another video editing site that integrates well with Flickr and Twitter.  This site, like the others, allows you to create your own videos with your material.
• Masher: http://www.masher.com Masher provides you with a lot of different footage to use along with your own material.  Also you can add a variety of special effects, and you can share this with many different online services.

Other visual resources:

• Tiger Film Dub http://www.tigerfilmdub.com/ This site is a lot of fun!  You add the subtitles to Chinese movies.  Kids loved playing with this site, but often got off task. This was so much fun that I often got off task with them as well.  This could be used for projects, but be careful there is some content that is not appropriate.
• Classic TV http://www.grapheine.com/classiktv/index.php?lang=uk I found this site on Larry Ferlazzo blog, and it goes right with Tiger Films Dub above.  This site provides you video that you can dub over with your own message.  Again, lots of fun, but students can get off task really easily.
• Overstream http://www.overstream.net This is another site that allows you to add subtitles to foreign movies and to present your own satire or message.  Kids love to play with this site and can get very creative.
• ToonDoo http://www.toondoo.com This site allows students to create cartoon strips to present an idea or concept.  It’s a neat way to see if your students truly understand the topic discussed in class.
• Big Huge Labs http://bighugelabs.com/poster.php Here students can create movie posters to show that they understand concepts presented in class.  This is a lot of fun, and, while limited in scope, students can use this to create some neat projects.

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