The YouTube video editor was always a popular tool for teachers. Whether you were editing digital stories or trimming a screencast, the YouTube Editor let you create and edit videos quickly and easily. It also worked great with Chromebooks. However, it was retired by Google in September 2017, and there was really no sign of a resurrection...until now. A brand new video editor is returning to YouTube, and you can try it out today!

First, a word of caution. This is not a finished product. It's (currently) missing a lot of the features from the original editor, and it's buried deep inside of YouTube where they don't make it very easy to find. However, the signs of life are good. The first time you go there, you will be greeted with a splash screen that says,

"We're still adding features, so you can expect to see more appearing in the coming months."

So, where will you find it? Here are some instructions on how to find the new YouTube editor so that you too can jump in and try it out.

1. Log in to YouTube
2. Click your profile icon in the top right-hand corner
3. Click Creator Studio
   
4. Click the blue YouTube Studio Beta link in the top left-hand corner
   
5. Click Videos from the left-hand sidebar to see your videos
   
6. Click on one of your videos
7. Click Editor in the left-hand sidebar to launch the editor
   

 
Like I said, it's not the easiest thing to find right now, but that will probably change over time. Personally I always liked the youtube.com/editor URL that you could use with the old editor, but at the moment that just redirects you to a YouTube support page. Maybe that will also return soon.

Perhaps the best way to see what the new editor is capable of is to see it in action. So, take a look at the video from Flipped Classroom Tutorials below. It will show you how to find the editor and take you through some of the basic functionality of what you can do with it in its current state. At the moment, all you can really do is split and trim clips, or add an end screen, but the promise of more features has me optimistic about what the future holds .

So, are you excited about the new YouTube editor? What features are you hoping to see next, and how will this impact the work you do in your classrooms? Leave a comment below with your hopes and dreams! :)

Thanks to Arcadia Parson for tipping us off about the new editor!

Jonathan Wylie | @jonathanwylie
Digital Learning Consultant, Grant Wood AEA

YouTube is a fantastic resource for teachers. However, there are certain things that we sometimes wish were not visible for our students. Comments are a prefect example. They are frequently unmoderated and contain all kinds of language that we would rather avoid exposing students to. The suggested videos on the sidebar or at the end of a video are another case in point. Then there are the ads. Waiting 30 seconds to view a video is an eternity for some teachers and exposes your students to commercial products you may not want to endorse. So, is there any hope? Indeed there is! Take a look at this list of tools that are guaranteed to give you a distraction free YouTube viewing experience for your classroom.

If you visit viewpure.com and paste in the link to the video you want to watch or share with students, you will instantly be greeted with a clean view that strips out the comments, sidebar and more. You also get a link that you can use to share that specific view with students on Google Classroom, an LMS or by email. If you click the gear for advanced options you can choose the start and end time for your video as well as the option to create a custom URL. They even have a nice bookmarklet you can add to your browser toolbar so that you can clean up videos in one click - no copy and pasting required. Oh, and you get all this for free!

This Chrome extension was built by a teacher, for teachers. It modifies a YouTube URL so that when clicked, you automatically get taken to a full screen version of your video. No sidebar or comments are visible and you get a nice big video player to view your content. As a bonus, you will notice that when you use this extension, the tic tac toe board of videos that you normally see at the end of your video, is also gone. Once the extension is installed, all you do is click it when viewing the video you want to use inside of YouTube. A drop-down menu reveals the modified link for you to copy or preview. Easy, right? The video below has more information. Download the YT Full Fill Chrome extension here.

Watchkin is similar to ViewPure. In fact it does many of the same things so this could come down to a matter of preference. However, it does include a dark theme and full-width option that you don't get in ViewPure. They also have an auto-redirect browser add-on that will automatically redirect any YouTube link you click on to a cleaned up Watchkin version. It takes a little bit of setting up, but could be a worthwhile option. Otherwise, they do have a bookmarklet you can drag to your toolbar, and copying and pasting YouTube URLs also works. 

Installing an adblocker on your browser will often remove all pre-roll ads from YouTube videos. It is a quick and easy solution and is something you basically set and forget. There are adblockers for every modern browser, and several to choose from. Adblock Plus, Adblock and Ublock Origin are some of the better known ones. 

However, be aware that adblockers do more than just block ads on YouTube. They will block ads on every website you visit. Sounds awesome, right?! Well, yes...and no. The internet that we know and love is mostly free for a reason. Ads pay for a lot of the sites that we use on a daily basis. If everyone installed an adblocker, the way we get content from the internet would likely change very quickly. In short, we would have to pay for a lot more of it.

Is it illegal to install an adblocker? No. Does it hurt sites that rely on ad revenue to stay afloat? Yes. I like to think that as educators in the classroom we get a pass on this, however, what you do at home with your personal devices is up to you. Many adblockers let you "whitelist" sites you want to allow ads to be shown on. This could be a good compromise in the free vs paid debate, but regardless of where you stand on this issue, adblockers will block pre-roll ads on YouTube.

Ever wish you could trim a little off the beginning or end of a video? Well, you can. Tubechop.com was created for just that purpose. Simply paste in the URL of your video, drag the sliders to include the content you need, and then click CHOP IT to lose the parts that you don't need. The resulting video is shareable by a link, and can be embedded with an HTML embed code. You also get a pretty good distraction free viewing experience. Try it for yourself at tubechop.com.

~Jonathan Wylie, Technology Consultant, Grant Wood AEA (@jonathanwylie)

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Recently, I have been looking in to the potential of 360 degree cameras and how they might be used in classrooms to help enhance teaching and learning. Educators like Kathy Schrock, Sylvia Duckworth and Jim Sill have already laid a lot of that ground work, but with so many possibilities, it is hard to put limits on this kind of technology. So, are 360 cameras poised to make a big impact in education? You decide.

There are a growing number of 360 degree cameras on the market today. Cameras like the Ricoh Theta S, the Kodak Pixpro SP360, the Luna 360, or the Bublcam are all examples of this new kind of media capture device. They allow you to capture photos and/or videos in a spherical format that will allow you to pan the full 360 degrees of the scene you are trying to capture. The do this with one or more wide angle lenses. Take a look at the embedded image below of Times Square to see what that looks like. This image was captured on a Ricoh Theta camera. 

sTaking 360 degree images and videos is one thing, but without the ability to share them. A great place to host your images could be Round.me. A free multi-platform service that lets you upload and share images that have been captured on your 360 camera. Uploaded images can be shared with a link, via social media, or embedded on websites. Other services, like the ones offered by camera manufacturers, so there are options out there that let you explore different sharing platforms. 

However, one of the biggest boons for 360 fans was the recent announcement from both Facebook and YouTube that 360 degree videos are now supported on the world's largest video sharing platforms. You may have seen some of these already, but did you know there are two different viewing experiences? If you view a 360 video on a laptop or desktop computer you will be able to navigate the scene by clicking and dragging around the video, or by using the directional arrows that are overlaid in the top left-hand corner of the screen. 

However, it you view a 360 video on your mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android) you will be able to pan your device up, down and all around the video like you would with a virtual reality headset or Google Cardboard. Take a look at the example below from the BBC. Try viewing it on a laptop as well as on a mobile device to get a feel for how each one works. Once you are done, check out the 360 Video channel on YouTube for more examples.

Are you starting to get some ideas for educational uses of 360 media? Here are some possible applications to help get you thinking about some of the options educators could have with a 360 camera.

1. Virtual field trips: This is perhaps the most obvious example and in many ways it may be one of the most powerful. Take one of these cameras on the field trip with you and think of the conversations you could have when you get back in the classroom. It could also be useful as an accessibility tool for students who may not be able to attend field trips because they were absent or because they had some kind of physical disability that prevented them from attending. 
2. School Events: Concerts, sports, theater performances, pep rallies and more take on a decidedly different form when the whole event can be viewed in 360 degrees. Imagine putting one of these center stage while students were performing scenes from a play. They could watch back their performances in a way that was never previously possible and learn more about 
3. Parental involvement: I used to teach in an elementary classroom, and every so often we would have these projects that we did in class that I wished I could share with parents to let them see the hard work their children had put into their learning. I could absolutely take photos or a video, but as a parent you don't always see your child very well or for very long. With a 360 degree camera, parents can pan the camera around and watch their child for the entire time if they wanted to. Think of how that opens up the walls of your classroom and shares the learning.
4. Coaching conversations: I have attended a number of Jim Knight coaching workshops recently. The last one was around the power of video and how instructional coaches and teachers can use it as a reflective tool to help analyze their performances in the classroom. The Swivl is a great tool for this, but 360 cameras could also be useful in this scenario due to the flexibility of being able to choose what to look at during any given point of a lesson. 
5. School pride: Did you just build a brand new media center? Have you recently added a makerspace? Has your auditorium got a makeover? With a 360 camera you can share the good things that are happening around the district and show those tax dollars at work! :)

Like any new or emerging technology, there are often a few things that are good to know before you invest too much time or money in them. 360 cameras are no different. For me, none of these drawbacks are deal breakers, but for others they might so here are a few of the less awesome things to consider if you are looking at 360 cameras. 

1. File sizes - A 360 video is often two videos stitched together so that often makes file sizes a lot larger than a standard video. This makes uploading to YouTube (or other services) a little lengthier than you might expect. As a result, a few short videos may be better than one long video. 
2. Quality - The quality of 360 images is often better than the quality you get from 360 videos, at least in consumer grade cameras. The BBC video of the Hadron Collider above was actually made with six GoPro cameras placed back to back in a cubic formation and the footage from each camera was stitched together later. Truth be told, the quality will likely vary from camera to camera so if you can, try some out, watch some sample videos on YouTube, or talk to those that are using them to see some of their sample media. 
3. Cost - This one goes hand in hand with the previous comments in many ways, but 360 cameras are not cheap. At least, not yet. The prices will no doubt come down as the technology matures, but a decent 360 camera is going to cost you more than you might think. Many also require or recommend that you link them with a mobile device. If you have one, great. If you don't, that could be an additional cost.
4. Audio - The built-in microphones on these cameras are decent, but they are not going to give you broadcast quality sound and the range is a little limiting. Some may have audio out ports for external microphones, so look out for that. Audio may not always be important to what you capture, but if it is you might want to try placing the camera as close to the sound source as you can, or see if you can add a soundtrack or voiceover in post production. 

So, are we on the cusp of something exciting here? I think we are, but I would love to hear what you think too. Can you think of innovative uses for 360 cameras in education, or are they just another passing fad? Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts and ideas.

​~Jonathan Wylie, Technology Consultant, Grant Wood AEA (@jonathanwylie)

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A one take video is simply a video, where you plan your film process,  set up your camera, start your device, and go!  One of the strongest benefits of a one take video is that it should all be done in "one take" no video editing required.  Plan, Film and Go.  Depending on how you are using one take video, it could require multiple takes to get it just right, but there won't be time spent in the editing room later.

One take videos can be used in the classroom in many different ways.  Check out this one take music video from the Kennedy High School teachers.  It is a lot of fun and incredibly well planned out. 

This video helps to connect to the fun culture of the school and gets Uptown Funk stuck in your head again.  But let's think about how this was filmed.  Using mainly hallways, a route was planned where a small group started off, new teachers joined the video at different times to keep the video flowing.  So there is a location, characters, and action....Could this be a model for a different style of book report?  What if this was an option for students? Students could relate a book they've read, plan a route with the character of the books entering and leaving just as they do in the story.  It could involve their classmates or students could create this on a smaller scale using models or figures they create to show their own take of the story, just as the Kennedy Teachers interpreted Uptown Funk.    

While this idea involves a lot planning and coordination, what if we took the mentality of a Monday Night Football and applied it to our classroom?

Let's say we set up a camera on each group in a science classroom as they worked through a hands-on science lab.   Capture the moment on video and then rewatch it after the lesson is finished.  People who have participated in sports know that they can learn a lot by rewatching the moment to look for technique, confirm observations, or catch small details that they may have missed the first time around.  Will we start to celebrate and give high 5s for excellent lab safety or smart observations?  I hope so.  Video can be a powerful tool and a one take video is a great place to start exploring how it can impact your classroom.

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Jason Marshall - Technology Consultant 
@jmarsh77