Creating & Sharing Movies with the Use of Animoto for Education

I was working with a teacher yesterday to work out a plan for her to better receive the videos that she was having her students create in class. Some came through Google Drive, others came through ways she couldn't seem to open, and still others came through her passing them a USB drive and having them put the file on to it. Talk about chaos!


I told her that I'd find a better solution to reduce that insanity. In the end, there are many ways that you can do it. The most common is to upload the video to somewhere like YouTube, but then you have to make sure that the student makes the video private and shares it with you or else the entire world can and will see it. You can accept them all through Google Drive, but getting them to play on your computer likely means you'll have to download the file (hello, overloaded network) before viewing it. And I'm sure there are other options as well.

But I'm going to suggest that you give Animoto for Education a shot. As a professional photographer, I know tons of photographers who use Animoto. It's awesome looking, super easy, and an instant crowd pleaser. The nice thing about it is you can use both videos and stills in the final product. Upon exploring their website, I came across their Animoto Classroom page that upgrades a teacher's account to the plus level for 6 months. Once you have created your teacher account, you can follow Animoto's directions at this link for how to set up your students. If you want to experience the student side, just let me know and I'll create an account for you as one of my 50 "students".

What's the catch you ask. Here is the fine print from their email to me:

"You can use this code to create up to 50 accounts for your students and colleagues. However, please make sure that your students don’t provide any personally identifiable information to Animoto at any time, and that they’re at least 13 years of age or older. You’re solely responsible for supervising your students’ accounts in the classroom, and ensuring that they comply with the Animoto for Education Terms of Use."

How is Animoto better? Because it is easy to use and our kiddos can create a product they are proud of and excited to share. Here is an example:


If you are interested in using Animoto and getting your education account set up, just let me know and we can take care of it together during my office hours.

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