In our last Technologies for School Resilience blog featuring Khan Academy [Read: How Teachers can make the most of Khan Academy for Remote Learning], we had emphasized the importance of educational content in video format for engaging students better. We had cited a survey conducted by video service provider Kaltura in 2018, which highlighted the growing preference for video-based pedagogy for flipped (blended online and offline delivery of class content) classrooms in K-12.
We had also directed you to content resources such as tickLinks.com in a previous blog [Read: Online Curriculum-based Resources that Teachers can use for Virtual Classes] giving you free access to curated videos besides digitized curriculum centred classroom materials which can be used while delivering lessons in virtual classes, by adding them onto presentation slides or shared as a link on WhatsApp/ Email/ Video conferencing chat or uploaded on the LMS of your school’s choice.
Searching and sharing subject and age appropriate educational videos with students in the on-going COVID-19 lockdown is being done by many teachers around the world for education continuity, using third party generated videos may be perceived as a more passive form of teaching.
Videos are a powerful and engaging resource that teachers can use, but it can be difficult to hold students accountable for something you can’t track.
Today’s blog aims to enlighten you on how to customize such videos by lending a teacher’s personal touch to them. Imagine a Khan Academy or YouTube educational video interspersed with your own school teacher’s voice-over explaining the concepts in a manner more suited for your school students. Or say, if the video is in English, and your students can relate to vernacular better through your teacher’s voice-over in that language!
Seems interesting doesn’t it? To top that, what if teachers can also integrate assessment questions as part of the video? Perfect, isn’t it?
Edpuzzle: Your video customization destination
In this blog, we introduce you to a free and easy-to-use video platform – Edpuzzle that helps teachers to not just customize videos with simple editing tools, but also engage their students better and hold them accountable on their learning journey.
Besides empowering teachers with video editing tools for customization, Edpuzzle is also a shared library of the highest quality interactive video lessons to benefit classrooms around the world.
Getting Started
- Visit edpuzzle.com. Click the blue “Sign up” button and then click on the “I’m a teacher” button.
- You’ll have two options: you can use your Google account or provide your first and last names, email address and create a password.
- Type in your school name, and if it doesn’t appear in the drop-down menu, at the bottom of the list you’ll find the “Add new school” option. Then you just need to select your subject area.
Read: How Teachers can get started using Edpuzzle
Search Videos You Want your Students to View
Within the Edpuzzle platform, teachers can choose from a whole host of video platforms such as YouTube, Khan Academy, TED Talks, National Geographic, Numberphile, Veritasium among others.
- Teachers can select a platform of their choice and search for videos using the ‘Search’ feature by keying in keywords related to their subject
- If a specific video that the teacher has seen on YouTube isn’t showing up in the Search Results, then the teacher can simple copy and paste the URL (YouTube link) of that video on the search bar.
Customizing Videos: Edit | Add Voice-Over | Add Questions
Once a video is selected on Edpuzzle, teachers can choose to edit out certain sections of the video (by using the CUT option), add Voice-Over (by recording their instructions on their laptop/ mobile) and insert assessment questions (as Multiple Choice Questions – MCQs and Open-Ended Questions) and Notes (To draw attention of students to a particular section of the video while it is being streamed).
Watch: How to Teach Remotely with EdPuzzle
Read: How to create video lessons – Cut a video | Add voice-over | Add assessment questions?
Edpuzzle also offers a ‘Prevent Skipping’ feature which is helpful as students cannot fast forward the video and have to see it in whole.
LMS Integration for Video Sharing
Edpuzzle can also be integrated into Google Classroom, if your school uses it as an LMS [Read: Upping the Engagement Quotient of Virtual Classes | Part 1 – Google Slides & Pear Deck]
Teachers can:
- Post assignments directly to Google Classroom from Edpuzzle
- Import your students from Google Classroom into your Edpuzzle classes
- Link and embed Edpuzzle assignments in Google Classroom
Read: How to assign videos edited on Edpuzzle to students on Google Classroom
But what if Google Classroom or any of the other LMS platforms are not used by your school?
Worry not. The customized videos can still be shared by the teacher.
- Once the video is edited, teachers can click on the ‘Assign’ button.
- In order to generate a shareable link, click on the ‘Share Assignment’ button on the right-side bottom end of the screen.
- An assignment link gets generated which can be copied and shared with students or hyperlinked on any content of the presentation slides.
How Can Students Access these Customized Videos?
If your school is using Google Classroom, then the student accesses the video link from it and logs into Edpuzzle.com using Google Classroom credentials.
In not using Google Classroom as an LMS, the student will access the video via the link generated and be directed to Edpuzzle.com, where he/ she signs up with a username and password and accesses the video.
Assessment Grading
While the student streams the video, it will stop playing at the point of the video wherein assessment questions created by the teacher are inserted. The student gets to see the questions on the right end of the screen and can fill in the responses, for which immediate grading (for MCQs only) is done.
On the teacher end, the performance of the students can be accessed by clicking on the My Classes tab and under the Due Assignments section. The teacher can see an overview of the performance on individual questions. By clicking on the Students tab, the teacher gets to see how an individual student has performed.
Our Take
We believe that Edpuzzle would be a great tool for your school to use as it enables teachers to:
Customize and personalize video lessons: Rather than simply sharing third party generated videos, Edpuzzle will lend a personalized touch to such videos with teacher voice-overs.
Track the effectiveness of videos: Teachers can get to see at a student-level, how much of the video a student has streamed, the time spent on the video and the grades obtained.
Focus better on learning outcomes from the video: On the Edpuzzle student site, students will only be able to view recommended YouTube videos which have been assigned by a teacher. This can be done if the school’s IT department blocks www.youtube.com and whitelists www.youtube-nocookie.com. They will NOT be able to search for videos directly on YouTube which will help them focus on what is taught and not let them be distracted especially during virtual/ remote classes.
Reduce consumption of internet data: When compared to attending a virtual class using video conferencing tools like Zoom or Microsoft Teams, sharing customized education video links is a cheaper alternative.
Justify School Fees: When videos are customized with the voice over of the teacher along with assessment questions integrated, parents would perceive your school as being proactive in creating tangible value for their kids. This would play a major role in overcoming the challenge of fees collection during the on-going lockdown.
Let us know what you think of today’s recommended tool in the comments section below. We will be keen on knowing your experience of using Edpuzzle for your remote learning classes. Do share this blog post if you found the content helpful and practically implementable for your students.
About Aishwarya Saxena
