Vibby!

     Tell me, teacher.  Have you ever found the “almost” perfect video to show your class, but there is a minute or two of irrelevance that turns you away?  Vibby is your answer!  Vibby is a “lightweight video editing tool” used by thousands of teachers to make the most of their time and their students’ time.  With Vibby, anyone can edit a video as long as they have the web link from YouTube, Facebook, Google Drive, Dropbox, Vimeo, and the list goes on!  Once the link is pasted, the next part is a breeze.  The user can edit/shorten videos to clip out the most important parts they want to show a class.  For example, I recently found a clip to show my class on bats, but there is a distracting part near the beginning.  With Vibby, I can create a new vib of the same video and clip the part I don’t care to show my students.  Vibby allows the user to pause the video to add comments or guiding questions.  Once edited and saved, the user can then share the link to the new video.

Steps for Getting Started:

·        Visit Vibby to learn more about this tool and how it could work for you!

·        Sign in with your Google (or other email account) and use the tool for free!

·        Find a video that is “publicly hosted” such as a YouTube video.

·        Copy/Paste the web link of your video into Vibby and click Start.

·        Edit your video to remove distractions and add comments.

·        Save and share your new video!

·        Follow others on Vibby to find more edited videos that work for you/your class.

Quick Education on Vibby (as seen on the website):

Applications for Education:

     As I opened this tool during my module review, I knew I had to try the tool.  I used a quick video on bats that I showed to one of my classes recently.  This video is publicly hosted on YouTube.  The video is fun, it shares some basic facts about bats, and it shows great video of bats eating.  However, there is about five seconds at the beginning that could cause some students to go crazy because there is a horse with large teeth laughing.  While it may not seem like a big deal, if one or two students think it’s hilarious, it could set the tone for the complete video and the time would be wasted trying to settle the class.  So, I pasted the link, deleted the distracting part, and voila, was ready to go.  I didn’t have to “play” with the video in front of the kids and have them ask why I was fast forwarding, etc.  Also, goodbye YouTube ads and other distractions!

     So, a basic application of this tool is to remove unwanted or unnecessary content from a video to deliver a cleaner version to students.

     Another perk of this tool is that you can add comments or guiding questions at various points in your video.  As a teacher or librarian, this would help add purpose to using a video during instructional time.  You could use it as a review to ask a question, or you could use it as a chance to make students stop and discuss something in the video with their neighbor, etc.

     Students can use Vibby themselves!  As most schools are one-to-one with technology, if a student has a device, they can use this tool.  The tricky part would be if students don't have access to YouTube or other sites.  If they do, I had this thought.  If a teacher is teaching the students about the phases of the moon, he/she can direct students to a specific video about the content.  The teacher can then tell students they must create a vib to show their understanding of the phases.  A student can copy/paste the moon phase video into Vibby and then edit it however they creatively see fit.  During editing, students can add comments.  I can see a student adding comments like “I see the moon in the such-and-such phase because this is happening” and so on. 

Final Thoughts:

     Vibby allows you to save your vibs (edited videos)—how nice to have things streamlined in one place versus having to search year after year.  Also, Vibby works like Twitter, etc. where you can follow others who create vibs.  You can then use/watch their vibs and get more ideas from awesome people!

     Why waste five minutes of instructional time when you can change a video and show your students what matters most in three minutes?  This tool could be a game changer for your classroom or library!