I have been recommending Zigazoo to many of my educator friends lately because of all of the wonderful opportunities available for having students engage in more authentic and meaningful learning opportunities by creating their own videos! I learned about Zigazoo about two months ago and have had fun checking out the videos being submitted by kids! 

When people ask me what Zigazoo is, I explain that it has been compared to popular social media tools such as Instagram and TikTok. Because of the similarity, this means that students feel more comfortable with the user experience and are more likely to enjoy the learning process on Zigazoo. It also is a good way to help students build their digital citizenship skills and become involved in more active learning and be creative!

What is Zigazoo?

Zigazoo is a free video sharing app that gives students the chance to create a short video in response to daily prompts and other activities. Teachers have been using it to provide students with a different way to share their learning and explore new ideas.  It is easy to get started with Zigazoo and find some prompts to assign to a class or to create your own.

Each video created can be up to a length of 30 seconds. There will be daily featured projects and the Zigazoo app gives kids a fun way to think about and try new things. It is a good way for parents to be more involved in learning with their kids. Creating their own videos also helps students to develop their understanding of privacy and social networks. Teachers can also record responses to student videos. 

Beyond the prompts that teachers can create, Zigazoo also gives families and teachers access to many prompts provided from a variety of educator channels that are now available. With these channels, we have the ability to share video-based responses to projects and interactive media from museums, zoos, educators, children’s musicians, and education organizations. In a recent article by TechCrunch, Zigazoo was referred to as the “future of remote learning.” There are so many possibilities for creating videos during remote and hybrid learning and exploring the new channels is a great way to start.

Through the addition of channels, there are many new possibilities for students to learn from global organizations! Check out the channels that have been added so far and stay tuned for new channels that will be added!

Zigazoo is an app that can be used to offer new and more engaging ways for students to share what they are learning in creative ways. Teachers and parents can find daily projects to explore or search through the hundreds of other projects available.  I also recommend checking out their Twitter feed and follow @GetZigazoo to see the videos and challenges being shared!

Explore the #dailyzigazoo to get started quickly. Here is one example, which was Kira Willey’s first project, “What is something kind you’ve done for someone?”

In Zigazoo, there are challenges that offer kids a chance to explore and then create a video to talk about what they learned. It can also be a great option for project-based learning types of activities. What an opportunity to spark curiosity for learning and increase student engagement.

What do students think?

Here are some comments from educators about their experience trying out Zigazoo. 

“I love the energy behind it and the energy it brings out in my students!”

“My 2nd graders said it looked like Tik Tok (how 7-8 year olds know this, I do NOT know, lol).”

“The other video creation app that I have been using with my students in Spanish is Flipgrid. As I discussed the app with students this week, they hands down prefer to use Zigazoo for my assignments. They couldn’t adequately articulate why, but it basically comes down to the fact that Zigazoo feels more like TikTok or social media, which then makes it more fun.” (high school teacher)

Zigazoo is free and educators can create their own classroom projects or choose from those available. Zigazoo is now offering a free premium account for educators, use the code ZPremium and sign up by October 31st. Parents can join in the global Zigazoo community. 

And join in Zigazoo’s Costume Contest! The contest is the first of several Halloween activities Zigazoo will host from now through October 31st. Other virtual activities will include haunted house tours, decorating jack-o-lanterns and telling Halloween jokes.

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Looking for a new book to read? Many stories from educators, two student chapters, and a student-designed cover for In Other Words.

Find these available at bit.ly/Pothbooks