10 Ways to Use Student-Created Videos in the Classroom

Students love creating videos, and a “bring your device” policy makes it easy to provide video equipment to everyone in your classroom. Here are ten ways to use student-created videos in the classroom:
- Let the students teach the lessons. One way to create a student-centered learning environment is to allow students to present new content to their classmates. Divide up the material to be covered and assign students to present it on video so that their classmates will understand the concept. Then, students can learn as they watch each other’s videos.
- Student-created videos can be used in a flipped classroom. Students learn new material at home via a video provided by the teacher, but then create their video at home to show their learning. In class, teachers and students can watch the videos to assess and respond to them.
- Introduce students to Edpuzzle, which allows the user to add assessment questions to any video. Students can add questions to their videos by, for example, surveying their classmates’ opinions on the topic of their video.
- Use videos to practice public speaking. Students, especially those who are learning a new language, are often hesitant to speak in front of the class. Allowing them to record a video gives them more control over their presentation since they know that they can re-record and edit as needed. This confidence boost can improve fluency.
- Adapt the practice of “think-pair-share” to video by having students create a video to show their learning, then show it to a partner for feedback, then edit as necessary, and finally, share it with the entire class.
- Use student-created videos to provide a venue beyond the walls of your classroom for students to share their learning. For example, they might record a review of a book that they have read and share it with a friend or relative for feedback.
- Find a class in another location to partner with and then use student-created videos to expand the horizons of both classes. For example, your students can test water quality, describe their lunch in a foreign language, or share their opinions on a current event on video, and then swap videos with a class in another country.
- A screencasting tool will let students create videos that also incorporate their computer screens, which means that they can, for example, have Google Slides in a video. This allows them to share various kinds of media in a video that would otherwise be difficult if not impossible to incorporate.
- Student-created videos can be a stellar method for authentic assessment since they can take the form of, for example, a presentation to a hypothetical board of directors, city council, potential client, or professional conference.
- A student-created video is an ideal way to refine knowledge and provide feedback. It would, for example, be awkward to stop a student in the middle of a live presentation to comment, but stopping a video is much more appropriate. Thus, student-created videos can be used either one-on-one or with the entire class to analyze the presentation and give detailed feedback to the student.