6 Best Free Video Makers For K-12 Teachers

Edited by Ezvid Wiki Editorial on 11 September 2018

Entertaining videos are a great way to get through to kids and break up the monotony of the school day. If you're thinking of making your own video lessons, you want software that is easy to use and gives you the ability to upload your finished projects to the web where parents and students can view them. We'll count down the 6 best free video makers for K-12 teachers and the types of videos you can create with each. If you teach specialized courses, read up on 5 free online ESL teaching tools and our list of the best books for toddlers. This video was made with Ezvid Wikimaker.

What Are The 6 Best Free Video Makers For K-12 Teachers?

  1. Ezvid Wikimaker - free online video editor with narration, music, and fair use images & videos, along with image capture and screen recording
  2. Filmora Video Editor - add music, credits, and transitions to a variety of video formats
  3. Smilebox - create slideshows, invitations, scrapbooks, and photo albums
  4. Wondershare DVD Slideshow Builder Deluxe - drag and drop photos and videos to create video slideshows
  5. Express Animate Software - make images move and add speech bubbles with text
  6. Ezvid For Windows - record your screen to walk students through homework

Can My Students Use These?

Most of the selections on our list are software that students can download and use if they like. However, this requires them to use the same computer to access the files, which means they can't start a project in class and finish it at home. The advantage of Ezvid Wikimaker is that since all editing is done online, students can start a project in class and finish it as part of their homework. Another consideration is how much time you want to spend teaching students to use these programs. Wikimaker is the easiest to learn, so they'll pick it up quickly, and you can even make a video showing them how to use it.

Conclusion

Purchasing software for an entire staff of teachers, or an entire school full of students, is often prohibitively expensive. Taking advantage of free options is a smart choice for teachers who want the ability to use video and involve creativity in their assignments. What's best for you depends on the age of your students and what kinds of projects you have planned. If you have younger students, Express Animate Software can help teach them to read, while Smilebox and Filmora will let you create commemorative videos for their parents. Older students will respond well to Ezvid For Windows as you demonstrate their tasks. Ezvid Wikimaker can be used for all ages, and gives you flexibility in how complex you want your videos to be. Best of all, Wikimaker videos are hosted for free online, so students can watch them whenever they wish, which is a big reason why it's our top choice for teachers.

In Depth

As a teacher, you'll do anything to get through to your students, but often you're restrained by tight budgets and a lack of time. Entertaining videos let you take advantage of the fact that kids love their screens to covertly get across important lessons in a format they enjoy.

But most video editors cost money and take a long time to learn, or worse, they advertise themselves as free, then start charging after 30 days once you and your students are halfway through a project. Luckily, there are many free options with a lot of great features. We've got the 6 best free video makers that teachers can use in the classroom to make entertaining movies that are educational and fun at the same time.

Starting us off at #6 is Ezvid for Windows, a software that lets you make recordings of your computer screen and narrate your actions. This free download is great for teachers assigning projects for older students to be completed on the computer. They can follow along as you demonstrate the task, and see it done before they have to do it themselves.

They can follow along as you demonstrate the task, and see it done before they have to do it themselves.

Our #5 pick is Express Animate Software, part of a suite of video tools from NCH Software. This one is perfect for Kindergartners who quickly grow bored with long stories. You can add images and make them move, along with adding text bubbles and audio so students can watch characters talk and interact with one another. Youngsters still learning to read will benefit from hearing the words as they see them.

At #4 is the Wondershare DVD Slideshow Builder Deluxe. It comes with hundreds of free templates to choose from, and you can add your own music. Import your photos and videos using the drag and drop interface, then arrange them into a slideshow and add free effects. This is great for making end of the year videos that display photos of all the students and the projects they've made over the course of the school year.

Our #3 choice is Smilebox, which is a great way to make vibrant slideshows, as well as scrapbooks and photo albums that you can print at home. They have over 1,000 free templates and 2,000 songs to choose from. Since it's completely free, young kids can even help you to make invitations to special days when parents can visit, and you can post a video slideshow to Facebook when it's all done.

Since it's completely free, young kids can even help you to make invitations to special days when parents can visit, and you can post a video slideshow to Facebook when it's all done.

Coming in at #2 is the Filmora Video Editor. This is a good choice for those with some editing experience who want something more advanced. It supports more than 150 video formats, so you can upload home movies and add editing. Film a school play and add credits, scene transitions, and even music. You can then upload the video to YouTube or burn it on a DVD to give to students to show their parents what they've been working on.

#1 on our list is Ezvid Wikimaker, an online video editor that provides free images and video clips to liven up your material and make it exciting. Editing is done entirely in your browser, so you can work on your videos from anywhere. Your finished work will be hosted for free online, so all you'll need to do is share the URL with students and parents, and they can watch it whenever they want.

Wikimaker works through voice synthesis. Whatever you type will be read aloud as narration for your video, along with free music to act as a soundtrack. Your text will be paired with free fair use images and videos, which means as soon as you type your first paragraph, your project can be watched right away. You can delete images you don't want to include and search among a vast library to illustrate any concepts you're covering in class.

Wikimaker works through voice synthesis.

And with Wikimaker Capture, which is available as a Chrome browser extension or as a free download for Windows and Mac, you can add your own images and videos. Both versions allow you to capture any image you find online, and the desktop version lets you capture from other programs, crop and resize, or even draw on images for added emphasis. And you can make video recordings of your screen, so students can watch you perform any task on your computer.

You can also upload files, which means it's possible to include pictures and videos taken in your class. When it's finished, your video will be hosted on Ezvid Wiki, along with the text you've written. You can post lectures online for students to watch as they study, assign video projects for students to complete in Wikimaker, or create personalized videos for parents to commemorate their child's graduation to the next grade.

Wikimaker is easy to learn, it's free, it's web-based, and file hosting is provided, so it's an easy top choice for teachers looking to connect with students and parents more easily.