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Less Physics Mo Problems

Why am I writing this personal entry? Well, it is not an attempt to gain any sympathy. It attempts to show what is possible if a clear intention and goal serve the learner's needs.  In May of 2022 just near the end of another fantastic school year, I do not remember what happened. But, I was unable to finish the school year and was unable to teach the following year.  Why? On May 21st, 2022, I fell down a flight of 16 stairs (luckily carpeted) from the 2nd to 1st story of our home.  I was found at the bottom of the stairs. I was found foaming at the mouth. This would lead to a 2-month hospital stay which included an induced coma because my seizures would not stop, several rounds of lumbar punctures, and relearning basic physical movements like something as simple as being able to roll in the hospital bed. Simply put, when I was admitted to the hospital, I was diagnosed as being “critically ill.” Please take a moment and read those words: critically ill. They are not terms that are

YouTube Video Editor




Having a class set of iPads in my room has allowed me rely heavily on the iMovie app as a platform for video editing in my classroom. It's worked well and students have been able to use it with great easy.  At times, the features of the iOS version are not as robust as the macOS version and that leads to some frustrations. But, it has worked well until students want to be able to work on projects outside of class and need to check out an iPad.

This fall, we are going 1:1 with chromebooks.  So, I've been looking for alternatives that will maximize this new access to technology.  I thought I had found one in WeVideo, but it would cost $750 per year for my 150 students to be able to use it.  So, that is off the table.

When I was pursuing my Google Certifications this summer, I discovered the power that YouTube has within as a web based video editing tool.  In conjunction with the graduate course I am taking right now, I created some video tutorials and collected them on a website.




YouTube Video Editor

There are many different video editors out there, but most of them are not free. YouTube Video Editor is free and very powerful. It is completely web based, so it works on devices such as Chromebooks.



With YouTube editor you can

  • Combine multiple clips from your YouTube
  • Trim and split video
  • Adjust speed of video
  • Adjust color and add filters to video
  • Add "stock footage" from Creative Commons
  • Add music tracks
  • Add photos
  • Add speech bubbles and titles
  • Embed hyperlinks within a video
  • And a lot more

If you are looking for a place to edit videos in a web based environment, I recommend checking out YouTube Video Editor. It may not be as good as the macOS version of iMovie, but you don't need a mac to use it.  The fact that it's free and can run on a Chromebook makes it an essential option in my classroom.

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