Video editing tools, such as YouTube Studio, offer video add-ons to increase video interactivity and viewer engagement. I used two such tools in the revision of my Mission 3 video lecture: Cards and End Screen.
Agent Becky Price gave very valuable feedback on my original lecture video. My original video defined a clear objective and utilized a spotlight mouse to support student cognitive load. Thanks to YouTube, I already had closed captions automatically added. Agent Price suggested that I add clarification that my viewers should have some Schoology LMS familiarity as well as why rubrics are a useful tool in the Schoology LMS. She also suggested that I insert some interaction at the end of the video to engage viewers beyond the content.
In my revised lecture video, I included a few additional interactive elements to promote more engagement and active learning. I used YouTube Cards to prompt users to learn more about features within the Schoology LMS if they were unfamiliar with Schoology, rubrics in Schoology, or the Schoology Resources library (at 0:00, 0:10, and 0:54). I linked the cards to a YouTube playlist and two other videos. I added an End Screen link to the Schoology channel's "3 Minute Tech Tips" in case my viewer wants to learn more about Schoology features and liked the abbreviated format of my video. Finally, I added a question prompt in the video description, with which I invited my viewers to leave a comment. I also added the Card-linked videos in the video description.
My experience with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) has consisted of social media app AR filters (e.g. Snapchat and Instagram environment and face altering photo features). I investigated the VR/AR tour app Google Expeditions and wrote a testimonial and critique of my mixed results. Expeditions provided much content variety, an immersive sensory experience, and an easily-navigable user interface. I had concerns over accessibility to visual-atypical users and technology limitations.
In consideration of classroom application, Google Expeditions is a great tool which students can use to make connections to content. In an ELA classroom, students could build background knowledge about a fiction or nonfiction work they are reading by taking a tour or a field trip to real or fictitious sites or engaging in inquiry-based learning about AR artifacts, which may appear throughout the book. Through a situated cognitive apprenticeship, students could “Pretend you are (role)” and engage in an authentic problem-based scenario in which they must use the AR or VR tools to create a solution.
I concluded that Expeditions can be appropriately situated and supported, but there are multiple technical barriers to overcome for class-wide implementation. I tried to purchase Google Cardboard goggles to use with my iPhone and iPad and had VR technical issues that I could not resolve. I could not see myself using the VR tours with my class--AR, yes. I would need to expand my understand of how to successfully implement this tool before using it to support learning goals.
Potential users should also note that Google is shutting down support to the Expeditions app, which will be rolled into Google Arts & Culture.