Classy Videos: An Online Workshop with Tony Vincent

Are you interested in making your videos more awesome? If so, join me for an online learning experience! I am gathering a community to explore and create educational videos. I can’t wait to share my movie-making techniques, editing tips, and tool suggestions. This workshop is sure to improve the quality of your videos—videos you might use for distance, remote, online, or blended learning, communicating with parents, providing professional development, and differentiating your instruction. 

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Classy Videos runs for six weeks. Every week for six weeks I record a new instructional video and post it in the Classy Videos class in Google Classroom. You watch the video when it's convenient for you. You also have the option to complete assignments and get feedback.

Six Weeks

Each week features a topic, related tools, and an optional assignment. The weekly videos will be between 40 and 60 minutes in length. The focus for Classy Videos is on teacher-created productions, but most of what you learn will also apply to student-created videos.

The six topics are:

1. 🎬 Making Sticky Media

2. 🎙 Narrating Effectively

3. 💁 Producing Terrific Tutorials

4. 🎞 Animating Your Ideas

5. 📹 Documenting with Style

6. ✂️ Filming and Editing for Clarity

Worthwhile Assignments

You get to put into practice different skills by completing practical assignments. Each week’s assignment is open-ended and completely optional. I encourage you to share your assignments with your classmates in Google Classroom. Not only will you receive feedback from your classmates but also from me. The optional assignments are:

1. 🔎 Finding, sharing, and analyzing a sticky video

2. 💬 Narrating a series of slides

3. 💻 Recording a screencast

4. 💨 Creating an animated video

5. 🎶 Setting video clips to music

6. 📺 Hosting an instruction video

Some of the things you are invited to do in Classy Videos include…

• Be inspired to make your videos more engaging

• Learn important details about YouTube

• Use Google Slides to package instructional videos

• Practice the art of brevity

• Edit a screencast

• See options for recording a whiteboard and manipulatives

• Create an animated title sequence

• Make videos that are easy to understand and to remember

• Use the illusion of multiple cameras

• Edit with jump cuts

• Design visuals with Google Slides

• Explore copyright-friendly sources of audio, images, and video

• Put thought into sound, lighting, and camera shots

• Discover simple ideas that can make a big difference in the quality of your videos

• Receive feedback on your assignments

• Interact with classmates in Google Classroom and on Flipgrid

Is Classy Videos for you?

If you are interested in producing quality videos for students, parents, or colleagues, I'd say this workshop is for you. You don't have to know much about video-making apps, but you should be somewhat comfortable exploring new digital tools. Expect to experience some productive struggle as you work on your assignments.

If you are unsure about registering for Classy Videos, feel free to watch testimonials from educators who participated in previous Classy Videos workshops. [Spoiler: It got rave reviews.]

Check out the screenshots below from previous Classy Videos workshops.

Google Classroom

If you’re not familiar with Google Classroom, participating in Classy Videos is a great way to learn. If you are currently using Google Classroom, you’ll feel right at home. 

Please note that you must use a personal Google account to join the Google Classroom for Classy Videos. Unfortunately, G Suite for Education accounts will display an error when joining the Classy Videos classroom.

Software and Apps

Classmates in Classy Videos end up using a variety of web-based and mobile apps to create different kinds of videos. Some of the free apps featured in Classy Videos include Adobe Spark Video, MySimpleShow, Screencastify, Adobe Premiere Rush, GoPro Quik, and PowToon. We are also sure to see many other apps in action in our classmates’ assignments.

The video on this page was made using WeVideo. As part of the workshop, I demonstrate how I craft my videos with the help of WeVideo. WeVideo is web-based and works on Macintosh, Windows, and Chromebook computers. WeVideo is a subscription service, but there are ways to use it for free. I’ll also talk about alternatives to WeVideo, including iMovie, OpenShot, Adobe Premiere Rush, and YouTube Video Editor.

Ultimately, the themes of engaging your audience and creative communication are much bigger takeaways from Classy Videos than the movie-making software and apps.

After Registering

After registering you will immediately receive an email with directions for joining the class in Google Classroom. If you have trouble joining the class please email tony@learninginhand.com.

Upon completion of Classy Videos, you’ll receive a certificate where you can input the number of hours you invested in the workshop (most likely between 12 and 36 hours). You'll also earn the Classy Videos digital badge.

After registering, you get lifetime access to the Google Classroom class and videos. As long as Google Classroom and YouTube are still around, Classy Videos will be available to you as a resource.

Frequently Asked Questions