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Using Video-What happens after they hit  play?

2/26/2017

2 Comments

 
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When I polled students in five classes earlier this year and asked students what media they prefered when seeking help in understanding a concept or task, 100% of the students said video. Though videos can never replace the personal dynamic between educators and students, they can be used to pique interests, ignite conversations, focus learning and differentiate content.

We have such an advantage when using video in the classroom today. Technology allows us to establish a baseline of each student's knowledge and what they want to learn. The use of technology also allows for students voice, understanding and interest to be assessed. Two tools that teachers can use with videos are EdPuzzle and PlayPosIt.  Depending on the purpose of the use of video, one of these tools might be more effective than the other.
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  • Insert free response or multiple choice questions during the video allowing for quick checks for understanding. 
  • Teachers can prohibit students from fast-forwarding through videos and assign each video a due date.
  • Insert an introductory comment, a conclusion, a remark, or a verbal prompt. 
  • Do a complete voice over of a a video.
  • Access student data from individual student responses.  Classes can be imported from Google Classroom. 
  • Students are required to create an account or log in.
  • EdPuzzle is free to all educators.
When embedding in our LMS, I found that students needed to refresh their screens sometimes to allow video to play through. 
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  • ​Teachers have the ability to insert multiple choice, free response, and reflective pauses throughout their videos, allowing students to interact as well as serving as a formative assessment. 
  • The teacher has the ability to enable students to be able to rewind and watch a segment of a video to gather more information before answering a question.
  • Audio can be added to their answer choices in multiple choice questions.  (Audio comments can not be added in the actual video as in Edpuzzle)
  • Students do not need to create an account to participate in a video that is shared by a teacher, they simply join by using a code. 
  • Provides analytics for teachers that include student performance data as well as interaction data. 
  • Playposit has a paid subscription that allows teachers to embed a number of other types of questions and elements as well.

One noticeable difference between the two tools is that while both tools allow a video to be shared through a link or embedded, Playposit allows teachers to use a video he/she has designed in Broadcast Mode. Broadcast Mode allows a teacher to project the video whole class and as questions and stopping points are inserted student screen go from a blank blue to an interactive environment. Depending on a teacher’s purpose and learning outcomes, this option gives them a completely different strategy in which to use video in their lesson. 
Some “A-Ha Moments” in working with video that I have found. 
  • Short and sweet beats drawn out any day
  • Use technology to allow for formative assessment 
  • Utilize transcripts and closed caption resources
  • Pushing play and having students watch and just take notes is not an instructionally sound practice.
If you are going to be working with teachers and want to take a look at the PD structure I used to introduce teachers to these two tools below is an example.
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"One More Thing..." Reflect on the Big Picture

2/14/2017

4 Comments

 
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When I heard the idea that my district was going to host a Student Tech Conference, I have to be honest, my first thought was “it’s one more thing.” I didn’t need one more thing, I really didn’t. Well, “one more thing” happened this past weekend and I am grateful for the experience.
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A student tech conference is a platform for students to present, reflect and share how access to technology has played a role in their learning. My District launched “PowerUp” in high schools 4 years ago. The initiative placed laptops in every high school student’s hands in phases. The campus that I am on was in the first phase, so we have had devices for 4 years. 
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Both the content and motivation for each presentation was left up to each campus to decide. I cannot speak for what other schools chose to share, but I want to reflect on what my school shared and why. At first we began thinking of what kind of project we could develop and how students could present it at the conference. Then we stepped back and pushed ourselves to think around the central question of what has access to the device enabled us to do differently this year? The reflection process in and of itself was a great one. 

  • What had changed?
  • How had we grown?
  • Where were we shifting our practices?

Through reflection we were reminded of an English I team meeting where we asked the question “How can we do this differently?”  We realized we didn’t need to create “an experience” for the Student Tech Conference, we had something we could share that was powerful.  The project that our English 1 team had designed with 1:1 technology made it possible to combine different modes of communication (e.g. words, art, audio) to share an idea, making words more powerful. Our students decided they wanted to show how a static essay could come to life and have a totally different impact on an individual when transformed into a multi-modal project. ​
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Four years into a 1:1 initiative and it’s hard to assess the initiative with hard data. Tests scores cannot capture the effect technology has had on learning, in my opinion. Seeing, hearing, watching examples that were shared at the Student Tech Conference made it apparent that learning was changing and changing in a variety of ways.  The students that presented from my school reflected as we drove home. First, they were proud of what they shared, second they had a lot of questions about what other schools had shared, and third they openly shared feedback about what they would do differently if they had the opportunity to present again.  The Student Tech Conference gave us all a chance to celebrate the progress and innovative paths that we have all ventured down.

The multi-modal essays that our students shared can be viewed here. I encourage you to watch at least one of them and see the power that multi-media brings to the written word. A huge shout out to Kelli Tomlinson, @MsTomilnson, for sharing her students products and working with our students to present at the conference. She’s a courageous educator, ready to innovate and take risks to change what learning looks like in her classroom. It was a privilege to work with her and her students. I suggest following her if you aren’t already!  

Check out the HISD  Together With Tech Student Conference Website  and see how the leaders in our district structured our event. Your district or school might be able to create a similar experience and celebrate the innovation that is happening where you are! 
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Change is hard and it’s good to have a reason to step back and reflect on progress and what’s working!

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