WeVideo
2025
ClassFeed: Video-Based Discussions
Designing an integrated video discussion experience that helped educators replace Flip and foster more engaging, collaborative learning within WeVideo.
Overview
Replacing Flip inside the classroom
When Microsoft discontinued Flip (formerly Flipgrid), educators lost one of the most widely used platforms for asynchronous classroom discussions. While teachers could still assign videos, they no longer had an easy way for students to watch each other's work, respond through video, or participate in meaningful peer-to-peer learning.
I partnered with Product and Engineering to research how educators used Flip, identify the workflows they depended on, and design ClassFeed—an integrated video discussion experience built directly into WeVideo. Rather than creating another standalone discussion tool, we extended the existing assignment workflow to help teachers facilitate authentic classroom conversations, encourage student voice, and reduce the friction of switching between multiple platforms.
Problem
Video assignments lacked meaningful interaction
WeVideo already enabled teachers to create and collect video assignments, but collaboration largely stopped once students submitted their work. Without a dedicated discussion experience, educators relied on disconnected LMS discussion boards or cumbersome workarounds to facilitate peer learning.
The discontinuation of Flip created an opportunity to solve a broader problem: helping educators create more authentic classroom discussions where students could explain their thinking, learn from classmates, and participate asynchronously—all within the same platform they already used for creating videos.
For WeVideo, this also represented a strategic opportunity to differentiate the product by combining video creation and classroom discussion into a single, integrated workflow that competing solutions couldn't offer.
Research
Learning why teachers loved Flip—not just what it did
Before designing a solution, I conducted a research study with educators who previously relied on Flip. Our goal was to understand not only which features they missed, but why Flip had become such an important part of classroom instruction and what an ideal replacement would need to provide.
Across interviews with teachers, instructional technology leaders, and school districts, several consistent themes emerged:
Collaboration was the core value. Teachers wanted students to easily view classmates' work, engage in peer discussions, and provide structured feedback.
Everything needed to happen in one place. Existing workarounds required multiple tools for recording, submitting, reviewing, and commenting on assignments.
Teacher control was essential. Educators needed moderation tools, visibility controls, and flexibility over when students could access peers' work.
Accessibility mattered. Video responses and recorded instructions helped support multilingual learners, absent students, and those who participated more confidently asynchronously.
Simplicity drove adoption. Flip's success came from its low-friction workflow, making it easy for teachers and students to start using immediately.
These findings shifted our focus beyond simply replacing Flip's features. Instead, we designed around the classroom workflows that educators valued most while leveraging WeVideo's existing video creation platform.
Ideation
Validating concepts with educators
Rather than moving directly into high-fidelity designs, I facilitated a workshop with WeVideo's Education Ambassador community to validate our early concepts and ensure we were solving the right problems before development began.
Using interactive prototypes, we gathered feedback on proposed workflows, discussed classroom use cases, and identified opportunities to simplify the experience. The workshop helped us prioritize features while uncovering edge cases that hadn't surfaced during our initial interviews.
Key takeaways included:
Teachers strongly preferred requiring students to submit their own work before viewing classmates' responses, encouraging accountability while preventing copying.
The ability to toggle peer visibility and commenting on a per-assignment basis was consistently viewed as essential.
Educators requested stronger moderation tools, including comment approval, easier review workflows, and notifications for inappropriate content.
Teachers wanted quick recording experiences that felt lightweight and approachable while still allowing more advanced editing when appropriate.
Overall, educators felt the experience was a natural replacement for Flip and appreciated that it lived inside a platform they were already using.
The workshop also generated ideas that informed our future roadmap, including rubric-based peer reviews, simplified recording tools, customizable review settings, and richer feedback workflows beyond the MVP.
Part 1 - WeVideo Education Ambassadors watched the prototype videos before adding feedback
Part 2 - WeVideo Education Ambassadors watched the prototype videos before adding feedback
Design
Making collaboration part of every assignment
Instead of introducing another tool teachers needed to learn, we embedded discussions directly into the assignment experience.
The final experience enabled educators to:
Create assignments that encouraged students to respond through text and video comments.
Let students explore classmates' submissions in a dedicated gallery.
Control when submissions became visible to peers.
Enable peer feedback while maintaining teacher moderation.
Support both quick recordings and fully edited video projects depending on the lesson.
The experience transformed traditional video assignments into collaborative learning opportunities where students could reflect, discuss ideas, and learn from one another—all without leaving WeVideo.
The resulting product delivered value beyond replacing Flip by creating a more accessible and inclusive environment where students could contribute anytime, participate at their own pace, and engage in authentic peer-to-peer learning.
Teacher View - Create a ClassFeed Assignment
Student view - Submit ClassFeed assignment & provide peer feedback
Teacher view - ClassFeed comment moderation
Outcome
The best replacement isn't a copy, it's a better workflow
This project reinforced that successful product design isn't about matching a competitor feature-for-feature. It's about understanding the underlying user need and finding opportunities to solve it more naturally within your own product.
It also demonstrated the importance of designing around existing user workflows. By integrating discussions directly into WeVideo instead of creating a separate experience, we reduced friction for educators while making collaborative learning feel like a natural extension of video assignments.