The value of a tech tool is directly connected to the pedagogy behind it.
I've seen a lot of boring activities masquerading as innovative strategies because they incorporate all these cool tech tools. (The term "app-smashing" comes to mind here...) On the other hand, I've seen amazingly innovative ideas in education use some of the most primitive tools available to do awesome things with students.
So, and I'm sure lots of us know this, but it's important to remember that integrating tech and improving the educational experiences for students do not necessarily come as a package. I will be the first to admit that I've done activities that got too focused on the tech, and the learning experience was cheapened because of it.
The tool that is currently driving this home for me is EdPuzzle. I love EdPuzzle. It does what I was dreaming of for the majority of the first part of my career. Here's how it works: (1) you find or create a video, (2) you bring that video into EdPuzzle, (3) you embed questions and notes into the video, (4) you assign the video, and (5) you get data immediately about your students' understanding. The other nice piece is that they also have a library to pull from.
I use it all the time in my classroom. I have seen some great things happen in how my classroom operates because I'm able to leverage video in a new way.
However, I've also seen EdPuzzle used in harmful ways that creates passive "learners," diminishes the relationship between the teacher and students, and entertains more than it instructs.
This is where I think it's important to bring up this point: When we are utilizing video, just because a student's eyes are focused on the screen doesn't mean the student's brain is focused on the learning.
We might just be entertaining them. We might just be boring them. We might just be doing the equivalent of rolling in the TV cart so that we can kick our feet up and take the day off while the devices keep our students quiet and compliant. Too real? Have I been guilty of it? Sure. The part that worries me is that I'm seeing devices used that way more and more. Some of the least engaging classrooms I've see are ones that applaud themselves for being paperless. Paperless is great, unless it's just an excuse to do the same thing on devices and not interact with students.
So then, how do we use video, specifically EdPuzzle, in the classroom in ways that really increase the amount of learning going on? Here are a few options:
1) Station rotations
The beauty of video is that it takes us out of the role of having to deliver the content, which means it frees us up to interact more meaningfully with students. Without video, often those station rotations are mostly just practice. Now, we can actually use station rotations to deliver content while we work with other students in small groups.
Think about how awesome that is. Instead of having to talk at students, which is when their behavior usually goes south, now we can spend that time uncovering misconceptions, pushing students' thinking, or helping them make connections.
How does this work? Well, make one of your stations an EdPuzzle station. Assign all students a video, and then have them watch it and discuss it when they are at that station. Notice how I intentionally added "and discuss it" in that example. If students are just watching a video and then doing nothing with it, we are entertaining them, not teaching them.
2) Intervention
As an ELA teacher, I have a problem with reading novels (you can read my full blog post about it here). One of the issues is that you will inevitably end up with students who get behind or don't understand something and then never get caught back up. Traditionally, we give reading quizzes as punishments for students who didn't read. What if we actually used those as true formative assessments where we took that data and actually helped students with it instead of harmed them?
This is where EdPuzzle comes in. For example, when I teach Lord of the Flies to my freshmen, whenever they are assigned any reading to do on their own, they come back and take a quick assessment on it. This comes in a variety of forms, but the important part is that it lets me red/yellow/green my students. My red students then move into EdPuzzle to watch a summary and then do some assignment where they demonstrate their new understanding. The rest of the class, and this is important, does something with high engagement to deepen their learning. The high engagement piece is important because it encourages students to actually do the reading.
How does this work? Well, get your assessment ready and find a summary video of your topic (or whatever) that you assign to students in EdPuzzle. This makes it quick. Instead of waiting a day or two to get feedback and reteaching, students can get caught up and fill their learning gaps immediately so they don't get behind.
3) Guided Writing
This is a differentiation strategy that I use with my students when they are writing and want extra scaffolding. I used to try to walk all my students through different elements of their paragraphs at the same time, but the reality with writing is that nobody does it at the same pace. This was a headache for me for a while. However, EdPuzzle has become my best friend here, and it allows me to differentiate support really easily. For students who want it, they can log into EdPuzzle and see a video where I walk them through how to write a paragraph. In that video are pauses and notes that tell students to complete each step of the process as they go through the video.
It has been so nice for me. For students who are already confident in their writing, I don't have to hold them back while I explain things to other students. For students who want extra time, they don't feel rushed to complete their work just to keep up. With EdPuzzle, students can complete their writing at a pace that maximizes their own learning.
How does this work? Find a video that walks students through the process, and then add in comments that require students to stop and engage in the learning. This kind of in-and-out process with video is a fantastic way to use it. Short bursts of content via video followed by immediate application. It doesn't get better than that.
Final Thoughts
When using EdPuzzle, or any video platform, try to use the following guidelines:
- Keep videos short. No one's learning any more from a 25-minute video than they are from a 5-minute video.
- Embed discussion. Passive brains aren't learning brains. Students have to be talking to be processing their learning. Plus, a silent classroom isn't the goal.
- Use it sparingly. If students come in and sit on the computer every single day, they'll hate your class. Get students in and out of the devices. Have completely unplugged days.
- Make the information immediately applicable. Students need to know why they are learning the content, what they are learning it for, and how they are going to use it. Give them something to do with the content right away.
Video in the classroom can be transformative. It can also be really harmful to student learning. So, let's be like Spiderman and use this great power with great responsibility.
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