DISCLAIMER: This is a “playing with AI” / “playing with media” example! (I explain a bit more in the post and in comments!)
Have you played with “Google Vids” yet? The official landing page for the tool, which is now (optionally) part of Google Drive, is:
AI video creation for work: Tell more engaging stories through easy-to-use, collaborative video creation with Gemini.
Depending on the set of tools authorized for your school Google Workspace domain, Google Vids may or may not be enabled. It also may be enabled for teachers and staff, but not for students. It’s available for me now as a teacher, at our specific school, in my Google Drive. It’s been available for awhile in my consumer Google account / Google Drive.
Today in my middle school web design class, we started a new logo design project using Canva.com. Student are brainstorming several possible subjects for a logo, then using Canva to create several differently sized logos that they’ll share on a Google Sites webpage.
I authorized students to use AI to help them brainstorm ideas, but explained that just as I wouldn’t expect them to ask a human academic tutor to “do this assignment,” I don’t want them to let AI do all the thinking and the work. If they use AI, I want them to use it as an assistant and helper.
This is the link to the sample webpage I created for this assignment. I chose to make a new logo for The Australian Platypus Conservancy, after one of my students suggested the platypus as an animal which we could find an organization to help support. I used a simple icon version of a platypus from The Noun Project in my Canva logo design.
To create the video embedded at the top of this post, I uploaded my custom logo to Google Vids and typed this prompt:
Make a realistic and engaging animation using this logo.
That was it.
I’m most impressed with the way Google Vids integrated my logo with the more realistic looking swimming platypus… and I absolutely LOVE how Gemini also made the platypus smile at the end!
This is an example of my “playing with media” pedagogy in action. I’m looking forward to discussing my Google Vids AI creation with my students, comparing it to the MUCH simpler Canva animation / animated GIF I created, and reflecting on how these kinds of AI capabilities can augment and enhance our digital powers as both web designers and storytellers / storychasers.
What do you think of Google Vid’s creation in this example? Or should I say, “What do you think of the animated video I co-created with Gemini?!”
