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Generate Instant Pear Decks

  I’ll keep this short as the video explains most of you. Any new educational technology can be complicated to dig into from scratch as you attempt to align it to learning outcomes.  Well, a new feature that Pear Deck has introduced has taken a giant leap forward to help educators do just that.  Before we jump into the new features, if you are unfamiliar with Pear Deck and why my students and I consider it the #1 EdTech tool that helps their learning, check out the video in the previous blog post.   But if you are more concerned with why you should even dive into Pear Deck or learn about this new AI generation of Pear Deck sessions to a learning target, check out the video below. Like I said, I’m keeping it short so you have time to watch the video. If you have questions, please contact me at mohammam@elmbrookschools.org or the Pear Deck Learning team at support@deck.peardeck.com . Also, check out the amazing Stacey Roshan's video on this update. 

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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