Vlogging on Instagram Reels?

This is how a video with music, voiceover, and captions looks in the mobile editor.

As the title states, I decided to use Instagram Reels to vlog my learning progress this week. I doom-scroll on there all the time, why not try to figure out another aspect of the app? I used this Riverside webpage to guide me through the video creating and editing process. I first used the webpage to see how easy it would be to figure out Instagram, and I chose to do it on the app since the process was outlined very well on the webpage. The webpage has up-to-date pictures as of writing this and clear instructions that made recording and editing right in the app easy.

This timer was the bane of my existence for a bit.

However, I did encounter a number of roadblocks and issues. First off, I had issues with the video cutting off before I wanted it to. I realized that this timer in the left-hand-side menu on the recording screen was automatically cutting off the video at a certain time, which was creating a great deal of frustration for me. I set it to 90 seconds (I assume) and I had no further issues. I could now cut off the video at the exact time I wanted to. What was convenient was that I could choose the speed at which certain sections of the video would play at any point during the creation of the video. I could change it in the editing phase or set it to 2x speed before I even began recording.

See the very top of the photo for the obscured captions.

Then came the issues with the captions. Instagram can auto-generate captions, which is an amazing feature. However, the auto-generation has its faults. It can generate the wrong words (wait instead of weight for example), but that can be fixed manually word by word. The biggest issue I ran into was that the captions refused to generate during the first 15 seconds of my video, and I could not find a way to fix it. I could not add them manually, and I could not find a video to guide me through that process. As far as I understand, it’s just the auto-generation not working as intended. This issue made me wonder whether or not it would properly pick up on the words of a person speaking English with a non-English accent. The other issue I encountered was the placement of the captions. The editing tools ensured that I did not place the captions behind the information that usually covers the bottom of Instagram Reels, but did not tell me that it would be covered by text on the top. The video I linked below shows the most readable version of those captions, because the app will not let you go back and edit the video after you passed the editing stage or after you have posted it.

I also was not able to download the video to my Camera Roll after it had been posted. This can only be done during the editing stage apparently, and I forgot to download it before I posted it. I tried to find a way to go back so that I did not have to screen record a worse version, but I was unsuccessful. So, the video I posted to YouTube for easy access is a screen recorded version.

The bottom shows the volume slider that adjusts the music’s volume.

The volume button is on the bottom-left, and the delete button is cut off on the bottom-right.

What I think is a great feature of the editing deck is the ability to adjust the volume of the music that is added to the background of the video. All you have to do is select the music so that it has the yellow outline, select the volume button at the bottom left of the screen, and adjust the volume on the slide. I needed to use this feature as the music I selected was way too loud and nearly drowned out my talking. I turned it down to 5 (probably a little low but I wanted my voice to be heard easily) and it worked beautifully. The only issue is that I had to select a new song for the last 15ish seconds of the video as Instagram won’t let you play a certain piece of music for more than 90 seconds even if it is copyright free. When you select the music, a voiceover section, or video section, there is always the ability to delete it in the bottom right and choose/record something else.

Despite all of the faults I have outlined, Instagram Reels can still be a useful, and fun to use, tool once you have a bit of practice with it. Generally speaking, it is simple, straight forward, and easy to use. I am certain that I could have fiddled around with the editing deck and figured out everything on my own even if I did not have that helpful website. Also, Instagram Reels are easily accessible to a lot of people regardless of whether you are creating or just scrolling. If you have a phone and an Instagram account, that is all you need to get started.

In the Classroom, I think that something like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or TikToks could be used for short videos that succinctly show a student’s understanding of a concept, topic, etc. Depending on the assignment, this form of content could be used regularly at both the Modification and Redefinition stages of the SAMR model. It could be used to create short news videos for a journalism class, movie trailers for novel studies, a method of advertising for an entrepreneurship class, used for a science-related PSA, used in place of a short reflection on a part of history the student has learned about (this would be at the Augmentation stage), and more. Social media is a powerful tool that our students will likely be engaging with for long periods of time every day. Why not integrate lessons on how to use it into our teaching? We already should be teaching them tips and tricks to use for them to be safe on those platforms, why not help them to practice those skills during an assignment? Plus, I think that these assignment options could be more fun for students to do and can bring some much-needed variety into the assignment pool that you, the teacher, are pulling from.

Note: The resource I used for my learning project was Bella Coco’s wonderfully informative videos once again.

Up Next: Magic Ring, Slip Stitch, and maybe Stitch Increases and Decreases