About School News Studio

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What is School News Studio?

School News Studio is a browser-based video production tool designed for classroom news broadcasts, morning announcements, student reports, and other school presentations. It gives students a simple way to present a news program using a webcam, microphone, graphics, music, and an opening and closing sequence.

The studio combines these elements into a single video preview. Students can record their broadcast and save the finished program as a WebM video file.

Features

How to produce a news broadcast

  1. Enter your Opening Title and check the date.
  2. Enter the Reporter Name and Headline.
  3. Choose a background. Use Preview Camera to test the webcam and adjust green screen settings if needed.
  4. Optional: Check Include Pledge of Allegiance below Play Opening if you want it included in the finished recording.
  5. Click Play Opening. Recording begins automatically and the opening video and music play.
  6. Click Stop Opening and continue... to move into the live news presentation. The webcam and microphone activate.
  7. When the report is finished, click Play Closing. The closing image and sounds play.
  8. Click End and Save to stop recording and prepare the download. A large message displays the filename while saving. If you selected the pledge, allow around 30 seconds for insertion; processing time may vary. Keep the tab open until the download begins.

Before recording: Allow the browser to use the webcam and microphone. Camera access generally requires HTTPS or localhost. Recordings download to your computer; the studio does not automatically publish them online.

Including the Pledge of Allegiance

Select the optional Include Pledge of Allegiance checkbox directly below Play Opening before starting the broadcast. Leave it unchecked if you do not want the pledge in the final video.

The pledge does not play during the live news recording. Students can move straight from the opening to their webcam report without seeing the pledge announcement or video or hearing its audio.

When you click End and Save, the finished downloaded video is assembled in this order:

  1. Opening video and music.
  2. “Please stand for the pledge of allegiance.” shown for five seconds.
  3. The complete Pledge of Allegiance video, including audio.
  4. The recorded webcam news report.
  5. Closing sequence.

Saving your video: A large message displays the output filename and says it will take around 30 seconds to insert the pledge. Actual processing time may vary. The message disappears when the completed .webm video download begins.

The pledge clip is read from resources/videos/pledge.mp4. Video assembly happens in your browser, and the completed recording downloads to your computer rather than being uploaded to the School News Studio server.

Privacy and local video storage

School News Studio records locally in your browser. It does not upload or transmit your recorded video to the server or any online service. When you click End and Save, your browser downloads a .webm video file to your computer, usually in the Downloads folder.

The studio website provides the page, backgrounds, opening video, and sounds. However, the recording is created in your browser and is never sent to or stored on the School News Studio web server. Videos are not automatically uploaded to Google Drive or shared online.

Important: On shared computers, save your file somewhere you can find it later. Follow your school's privacy and permission rules before sharing recordings of students.

Upload your saved video to Google Drive

  1. Click End and Save in School News Studio and wait for the video download to finish.
  2. Locate the downloaded .webm video in your Downloads folder (or your browser's chosen download location).
  3. Visit drive.google.com and sign in to your school-approved Google account.
  4. Open the Google Drive folder where you want to keep the video.
  5. Click + New and choose File upload.
  6. Select the downloaded video, click Open, and wait until the upload finishes.

You can also drag the video file directly into a Google Drive folder.

Share a link to your video

  1. In Google Drive, right-click the uploaded video and select Share, then Share.
  2. To share privately, enter the email addresses of approved viewers, choose Viewer, and click Send.
  3. To share by link, use General access. If school policy allows, choose Anyone with the link and set the permission to Viewer. Some school accounts do not allow public link sharing.
  4. Click Copy link, then Done.
  5. Paste the link into an approved email, class message, or school learning platform. Viewers must have the required access permission.

Student privacy: Prefer Restricted access for videos showing students. Only enable broader link access when permitted by your school and any required parent or guardian permissions. Links may be forwarded.

Uploading to Google Drive creates an online copy; the original downloaded video remains on your computer unless you delete it.

About the author

Michael Wright is an educator and technology enthusiast with a background in elementary education, computer science, and classroom technology. He earned a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from the University of Delaware in 1992, with a minor in Computer Science, and worked for many years as an elementary computer teacher.

His interests include educational software, hands-on STEM learning, programming, and creating interactive activities that help students learn by doing. School News Studio reflects that approach: it puts the tools for making a school news program directly into students' hands.

Michael also served in the United States Air Force and the Peace Corps.