These are a few of my favorite things

Google Forms and Google Forms Quizzes

• It's right in Google Drive and so easy to integrate and use in Google Classroom.

• You can insert videos or images from YouTube right into a Form and then follow them with questions. Another trick I've used for videos or other resources that aren't as easy to add is to insert a Title--in the description, I drop in the URL for the video (or reading, website, simulation, etc). The live version of the Form displays it as a clickable link and students can easily open it.

• Did you know you can import questions from one Google Form into another now? Very helpful if you want to make some formative practice quizzes and then recycle some questions for a more summative assessment at the end of a unit.

• Click here for Google's Forms Help page

Edpuzzle

Edpuzzle website

Make your own videos, upload videos, or search for videos in Edpuzzle

• If you check it out, you will find that while you can make and upload your own lectures, you can also search for other videos in Edpuzzle and adapt them in your own way

  • This is an example of a video made by Howard Hughes Medical Institute that I already use in a lesson - I uploaded the video and then used Edpuzzle's tools to add questions and instructions for my students

  • This is an example of a video I made myself - If you think you may want to use this tool, before you start recording yourself, think about where to pause--it's easier to insert questions if you pause for a second or two every once in a while.

Edit and control videos

• There are some basic editing tools in Edpuzzle that you may find helpful

  • Trim longer videos - if there is a 2 minute clip you want students to see in the middle of a 20 minute video, you can trim the long video from either end. It looks like they have also added the ability to trim out sections in the middle; this is a pretty new feature and one I haven't tried.

    • As far as I know, you can't cut and paste together lots of little clips from different sources all together into one video. I have had success in naming several short clips Part I, Part II, Part III, etc and assigning them all at once and just instructing students to watch them in order.

  • Add voiceover - you can remove the audio and record your own audio instead

  • Add questions - you can insert questions throughout the video to help students check their understanding.

    • Multiple choice and open-ended questions are possible, as are "notes," which are just instructions you can insert, too.

      • You can add feedback to your questions so students know immediately if they got it right or not.

      • Edpuzzle has hands-down the best interface for grading open-ended questions I have seen on any website, so don't be afraid to ask some open-ended questions.

• When I assign video lessons, my favorite tool in all of Edpuzzle is the little checkbox that says "prevent skipping." This keeps kids from writing things down and then skipping ahead without listening.

  • Edpuzzle is very cool because students can rewatch sections as much as they want and once they have watched, they are able to skip ahead to where they left off. Early finishers often start an Edpuzzle in class and can then skip ahead to where they left off and quickly finish once they get home. I can see this working well if students have to share a computer with a sibling and have to stop in the middle.

  • I also ask some questions students can only answer if they are listening in order to keep kids honestly listening to me.

Connect Edpuzzle to Google Classroom

• This is very easy to do and will allow you to import your rosters from Classroom and assign specific lessons to specific sets of students.

• If you assign an Edpuzzle video through Classroom, even if you do not add any questions, you can tell which students watch your videos

  • If you add questions, you can also see how well they understand concepts based on their answers to your questions.

  • The photo below shows what information I can see about my students' completion and understanding on Edpuzzle

• If you connect to Classroom and start assigning things, Edpuzzle can add the assignment to Classroom for you. If you don't want it to go live right away for students, make sure to pick a start date/time that is in the future. It will add the Edpuzzle assignment to Classroom as a draft and then you can edit it in Classroom before it gets assigned. I do this a lot because I like to add instructions and often links to other resources to the Edpuzzle post