Using Edpuzzle to Create Engaging Video Lessons

Blended learning and flipped classrooms have been implemented in school districts across the country to much success.  Part of the blended learning/flipped classroom concept is that teachers create online lessons that are tailored to their learning goals, and these lessons can be completed by students at home or during a study period.  Additionally, these online lessons contain questions, quizzes, or some type of formative assessment so that teachers can gather data and feedback to create more targeted and relevant in-class activities.

The use of blended learning or a flipped classroom empowers students to learn at their own pace since they can slow down, speed up, pause, or even "rewind" a lesson.  Teachers can assign online lessons that cover fundamental or introductory content to free up time to teach material in class that is more responsive and in-depth.  Videos are a popular medium for these kinds of lessons, which leads me to Edpuzzle - a free tool for teachers to create interactive instructional videos.

First, go to Edpuzzle and create your free teacher account.  Once you create your account, Edpuzzle will walk you through an interactive tutorial on how to edit, customize, and assign a video.  Whenever you log in, you will see this page:

From here, you can browse the many great channels on the left, or you can search for a particular video in the search bar.  Also, you can copy and paste the link to a video you want to use into the search bar to begin customizing it.  Let's take a look at the steps to create an Edpuzzle video.

First, find and select the video you want to use.  I got mine from TED-Ed on YouTube, and you can see the video I created at the bottom of this post.  Then, you will be given the option to crop the video.  You can choose when to begin and end the video to make it the perfect length for your lesson.  Just drag the red crop bars along the time track to trim the video to any length you wish.

Next, you'll have the option to record an audio track or audio note.  Audio tracks can be used to layer your own lecture or explanation over the existing video.  Audio notes are short clips of information you want to include at certain points.




Finally, you can add questions at any point during the video.  Click on the green question mark below the time track to open the question menu on the right.  You can choose from a short answer, multiple choice, or comment.  You can also add a link or picture to the question.

Now, you are ready to assign it to your students.  If you use Google Classroom, this part is really cool.  You can assign the video to any of your classes in Google Classroom directly from Edpuzzle.  Also, you can set a due date.  The neatest feature may be the option to prevent students from skipping questions or skipping ahead in the video.  Click send, and it'll be sent to your classes.

In Edpuzzle, you can also see how your students are doing on your videos.  You can see how many students completed the video, how many times they watched it, their scores, your gradebook, and more helpful information to guide your instruction.  Additionally, you can post comments, feedback, and questions directly to individual students on their specific answers to give praise, guidance, or a follow-up question.

Here is an Edpuzzle video I created and assigned to a test class in my Google Classroom:



As we continue to innovate our educational practices with technology, tools like Edpuzzle will help tremendously to engage, empower, and enlighten students while making learning more individualized and interesting.  To learn more about Edpuzzle, check out these videos.

Safe Search Engines for Kids

Providing students with safety and accuracy whenever they search for something on the Internet is crucial.  In previous posts, I wrote about Internet safety and how to get better results from Google Search and Google Image Search.  Nevertheless, there are still malicious, inappropriate, and inaccurate search results from which students must be protected.  Below are three excellent search engines for younger students that offer safety, accuracy, and bonus educational information.

Kiddle combines Google Safe Search results as well as results that have been thoroughly reviewed and curated by Kiddle’s editors.  According to Kiddle, search results 1 through 3 are “[s]afe sites and pages written specifically for kids.  Handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors.”  Search results between 4 and 7 are “[s]afe, trusted sites that are not specifically written for kids, but have content written in a simple way, easy for kids to understand.  Handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors.”  Search results 8 and beyond are “[s]afe famous sites that are written for adults, providing expert content, but are harder for kids to understand.  Filtered by Google safe search.”  Kiddle uses picture thumbnails beside each search result and large Arial font to improve visual comprehension and readability.  Finally, Kiddle protects users’ privacy:  “[W]e don’t collect any personally identifiable information, and our logs are deleted every 24 hours.”

Safe Search Kids also utilizes Google Safe Search filters to provide students with appropriate search results for websites, images, and videos.  Additionally, Safe Search Kids’ homepage offers a plethora of information and articles on digital citizenship, cyberbullying, and many other related topics.  It is an effective one-stop-shop to educate students on Internet safety and responsibility.

Junior Safe Search uses a combination of Google Safe Search and its own unique filters to provide suitable content for students.  It also offers three interesting daily bits of information:  Word of the Day, Quote of the Day, and This Day in History.  Junior Safe Search could be a great start page for a browser that students use.

Along with teaching students effective search strategies, these search engines should help them find exactly what they’re looking for while avoiding anything inappropriate.