Hamilton Electronics has a superb lightweight video camera built for students:

"Introduce your students to the fun and art of taking pictures and making their own videos with the Hamilton Electronics High Definition Digital Camcorder! Newly updated for 2011, this camcorder features an all-new high speed image processor for super-smooth High Definition 1280x720P video recording, 2.5" LCD display, 8x Digital Zoom and built-in Flash. Still pictures look great thanks to a 5MP image sensor (Up to 11MP Interpolated). Output your pictures and video via USB, HDMI or Composite

Our camera is designed for the classroom with rugged construction. Recordings are saved directly to internal memory or SD card (not included). In addition to recording video, this camera can also take still photos, play MP3s and make audio recordings.

Video files from this camera are recorded in the latest H.264 video codec in AVI format."

Available in singles or in multi camera kits with software and carry case.