4 Ways Edpuzzle Increases Student Engagement
4 Ways Edpuzzle Increases Student Engagement
Teens have this special ability to look right at you, appear to be listening, but in actuality, be totally lost in their thoughts about what’s for lunch! However, ask a teen about the latest YouTube craze, and they’ll summarize every detail. Sometimes teachers feel they have to do backflips or juggle in front of the classroom to engage students like YouTube videos do, but there is a solution. The solution is Edpuzzle! It is built for teachers, easy to use, and absolutely increases engagement for students. Who doesn’t love that?
What is Edpuzzle?
Before we jump into the reasons why this tech tool sends student engagement shooting to the stars, let’s dive into the website itself. Edpuzzle.com is a platform that allows you to use YouTube videos, Ted Talks, Khan Academy, National Geographic, Veritasium, Numberphile, Crash Course or even your own uploaded videos. There are literally videos for every subject! Edpuzzle also allows you to embed your own questions. You choose when the questions appear, if they are multiple choice or short answers, and you may require students to answer them before they can continue. You can even copy videos from other Edpuzzle educators with questions already created. Even better, you can make a copy and personalize these as well! Moreover, with simple editing tools, you can cut, or add a voice over. You can even create classes in Edpuzzle. Edpuzzle connects with Google Classroom and imports your rosters. A gradebook is also provided for easy data tracking. Another reason to be an Edpuzzle believer – it is free. Yes, there is a paid version that gives you some more opportunities to collaborate as a school, but the free version has plenty to offer.
Customizable Content
Next, let’s talk about engagement. Students love videos, so teach your content with a clip from a famous movie. Trailers for The Patriot or Gladiator are great time period movies to give an unbeatable visual with high engagement for students. Why not give students a visual of meiosis rather than trying to explain it? Use School House Rock to teach grammar. Use Pixar shorts to teach characterization or plot development. Remember, there are a variety of sites that you can pull videos from, not just YouTube. Just find the right video and then customize it to meet your needs with the embedded questions and editing tools making your lesson unstoppable. Your scholars enjoy the lesson making the content exactly what you want!
Embedded Questions
The questions in Edpuzzle are everything. This is really where the golden ticket is. You can choose where students have to stop in a video, and it gives you the opportunity to make them stop and think exactly when they need to. They can rewind the section before the question, but they can’t go past it until they answer it. Multiple choice can give them the answer immediately while short answers would be graded by the teacher later. Partial credit and feedback can even be given! I know as an educator, one of the most challenging parts of the job is helping students understand metacognition and how to think about thinking. Edpuzzle builds this right in and remember the videos are engaging!
Reread and Rewind
As teachers, we know rereading is a critical reading skill, so naturally, kids avoid it. Typically our students are in it for the finish line. Take a minute and imagine students who want to rewatch a lesson. In an Edpuzzle video, students are given their grade upon completion after the first viewing. As the teacher, you can reset it and allow them to try a second time. Imagine the potential of a student simply rewatching and analyzing the video to answer a specific question. This also increases engagement because the questions are guiding them to the knowledge and they are actively rewatching to ensure they know the correct answer. Mind blown!
Use Your Own Videos
Lastly, one of the best parts of Edpuzzle is the fact that you can upload your own videos that you recorded on say, Screencastify, and still embed the questions! Of course, you know your content and curriculum best. Using your own videos will ensure students are getting exactly what you want them to hear and see, while maintaining engagement levels. The visual learner is getting exactly what they need, and critical viewing is still happening through the use of questions. Even better, students use headphones when on Edpuzzle and eliminating distractions only helps the focus and engagement even more!
Engagement is critical in education. Oftentimes the cards are stacked against teachers with all of the daily life occurrences our students encounter. When I think back over the past few months and what is to come, one definite is students will need to be able to focus and engage to learn the content. Check out Edpuzzle.com. It is definitely one of those platforms that increases student engagement in a tremendous way!
