Students interacting with video: EDpuzzle

EDPuzzle is one of our favorite tools to ensure students are learning from video content and not simply skipping through the material without doing any thinking. To get students to interact with the content, you can add voice or text comments; create multiple choice questions to make them predict possible outcomes, or short answer questions for students to summarize their learning on the topic.

Questions are inserted along the video timeline and, with a check box, you can ensure students answer the questions before they proceed.

Searching for educational content within EDPuzzle is simple and intuitive; or you can upload your own videos. Students join your online class using an access code, and then you can track their progress through your video lessons.

The EDpuzzle iPad app is easy to use. Sharing EDpuzzle videos in Google Classroom is a click of a button in My Classes (as long as the due date hasn't passed).  There is also a handy Edpuzzle Chrome extension which enables you to save YouTube videos directly to your EDpuzzle account.

Richard Byrne at freetech4teachers.com demonstrates creating a lesson:

By creating a Students Project, you can have students annotating video to point out salient points of their learning using voice or text comments and adding questions.

Another benefit of Ed Puzzle: it allows you to bypass the district filter, so that students can watch videos on their own device, on their own time, at their own pace!

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Screencasting for Communication and Supporting a Flipped Classroom

In our modern world, there are many resources available to teachers for instructional videos; YouTube, Khan Academy, and Vimeo all provide teachers with seemingly endless options. However, sometimes it can be very difficult to find a video that specifically meets all of your needs. Screencasting is a simple creation and communication tool that teachers can use to provide individualized instruction. Many teachers find screencasts beneficial because they capture your voice and activity on a computer screen rather than just a lecture on a video. This allows teachers to easily explain procedures and processes or show a slide deck that accompanies a class lecture. The opportunities for screencasting are endless for classroom use.

Screencasting can be a valuable tool to help teachers flip their classrooms. This paradigm shift is based on a learning model where direct instruction happens outside of the classroom during individual learning time and space. Students consume content at home and then come to class prepared to engage. The classroom then becomes an interactive learning environment where the educator provides individualized guidance through deeper learning of concepts. Screencasts allow teachers to provide students with direct instruction on demand, freeing up class time for deeper learning.

The following short screencasts will show you how easy it is to create a screencast using a free tool, Screencast-o-matic and upload to YouTube. The free version of Screencast-o-matic allows you to create a screencast up to 15 minutes in length with basic editing capabilities. The paid version ($14.99) of this tool allows you to record videos up to 2 hours in length, gives you more editing capabilities, and eliminates the Screencast-o-matic logo on the bottom of your screen. Camtasia is another great option for screencasting software with greater editing capabilities. This software costs $299, however, the company offers a 30 day free trial.

Creating a screencast:

Uploading your video to YouTube:

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Schoology: Your New Features Roundup

Have you ever created a Schoology test only to find that you have a couple of students who need a paper/pencil accommodation? Or maybe the test session is closed and you have a student who was absent needs to take it? One of the new features in Schoology is the ability to print assessments. Watch the video below to see how to do this:

Do you have multiple sections of the same course? Course linking is a great way to manage them more efficiently. When sections are linked, they all share the same set of materials and grade setup. This means you only need to create materials and set up your gradebook once, even when you teach multiple sections of the same course. Find out how to link your course sections here.

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Welcome to our Ed Tech Blog: We Make Ideas Click!

Welcome to our Ed Tech Blog: We Make Ideas Click! Each Tuesday the Ed Tech team will post an integration idea that could be used to support your instruction. Each post will show you how technology can connect to the ISTE Standards, the JEFFCO teacher rubric, and will provide you a variety of resources or CAP materials. On the last Tuesday of each month, we will spotlight a JEFFCO teacher who demonstrates exemplary technology integration in his or her classroom.

Our team is eager to come out and support you in your work with technology integration in your classroom. Here are some great ways we can help!

"We build capacity in technology integration to increase communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking."

Techie Tuesday Tip:

Schoology allows teachers to embed videos for students and gives them the ability to watch from anywhere they have access to their Schoology course. They can then complete a task in response to the video, which is a great feature to add to your toolbox. If you are beginning to blend your classroom, providing students with some online and some face-to-face work, then using Schoology is an easy way to start this transformative practice. Watch this video to see how easy it is to create a page in Schoology and embed a video:

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