The challenge
Today, if you were to ask many 10-year-old students what they want to be when they grow up, many would say, “a YouTuber.”
Combined with the post-COVID engagement dips, there’s a real opportunity for educators, even if it might not seem like it at first glance. Beth Rihtar, the Instructional Coordinator at CCSD 15 Palatine, believes that if you can get them interested in the content, you can unlock interest in learning how to make it themselves and pull them out of a passive consumption mindset. And that process is the key to student agency and personalized learning.
The solution
Use interactive video to help students find topic areas or aspects of curriculum they are passionate about and guide their own learning paths by:
- Using simple recordings (voice or webcam) to build into more advanced projects using templates, editing, and sound design.
- Encouraging students to share videos in safe but authentic contexts (within schools, across schools, or broader challenges like KQED, NPR, or the Newbury Festival).
Additionally, video formats make it hard to cheat by using artificial intelligence tools because of the amount of details that students need to consider.
The results
- Students report increased confidence, belonging, and motivation when their voices and identities are represented in learning.
- Cross-school sharing of student-created videos builds authentic audiences and stronger community ties – because what student wouldn’t get excited about seeing a friend from their club soccer team’s PSA?
Key takeaways
- According to Rihtar, WeVideo has some of the most robust stock libraries available, and it makes students’ lives easier because they don’t have to worry about extra attribution steps.
- With Chromebook and Google Workspace integrations, you can import directly into WeVideo to make it easy to help students just get started on recording themselves.
Hear the full story
Take advantage of a session jam-packed with practical tips and strategies for starting your video creation program. Watch Beth Rihtar’s session from WeVideo's 2025 ENGAGE annual conference below.
Practical strategies for educators
- Start small: Encourage short recordings or voiceovers before progressing to full productions.
- Model copyright practice: Demonstrate sourcing Creative Commons content and using built-in stock libraries (like WeVideo’s robust music, video, and photo library).
- Help students feel comfortable no matter how they create: Invest in simple microphones to elevate student production value, even if the student just wants to record voiceovers without showing their face.