Yesterday was truly amazing. Not only did I get to present 3 sessions at the Perfect Blend conference, but I also got to enjoy the Teach Better 12 hour live. So as you can imagine, it was a super busy day for me! I loved getting to connect with people who were already part of my PLN (Professional Learning Network) and meeting new people there. It was such a great example of phenomenal Saturday Professional Development and were my first presentations officially as an ISTE Certified Educator!! This coming week is also busy. I have several conferences in March and this week, I will be spending time prepping for them. So if you are attending NCTies23, KySTE23 or Spring CUE (that one is virtual), please make sure to stop by and say hi.
Reviewing what are the ABCs of Transforming Learning are-
Two weeks ago, I shared a blog post called L = Launch a Student-Led Design Process. My mission in sharing the Tannenbaum Tech message is to empower both educators and their students to use technology in transformative ways that amplify student learning and engagement. One way to empower our students is to facilitate a student-led design process. Doing so will not only engage our students more but give them opportunities to be content creators in authentic tasks.
This week, we will focus on M= Maximize Student Engagement Using Audio and Video Tools. So many times, we try to engage our students using something that what we have always used. That could include completing a worksheet, making a poster, or countless other tasks. But doing so doesn't take into account the world that our students live in. They live in a world where they constantly engage with both audio and video content. We can teach like we always have or we can pivot and use our students' natural curiosity where it comes to digital content to maximize their engagement.
M = Maximize Student Engagement Using Audio and Video Tools
Not only do audio and video tools maximize student engagement, but they also offer our students Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Throughout this blog series, I have mentionned UDL quite a number of times. That's because when we design lessons that ALL of our students can access, we design more engaging and empowering lessons. So how can we leverage these types of tools to take raise student engagement and by doing so, student achievement?
Provide Multiple Means of Engagement and Representation: Edpuzzle
Our students are visual learners. Even my preK students know how to find YouTube on their iPads and find their favorite videos. They are digital natives and we need to find ways to leverage their interests and help them to become digital learners as Greg Bagby would say. One great and easy way to do this is to use tools like Edpuzzle.
Edpuzzle takes any video and makes it interactive with a variety of interactive elements. When I think of using this resource, I think about it in three different levels.
Find something on Edpuzzle that meets your needs, preview it and then use it with your students to engage them and provide you with their current levels of understanding.,
Find something on Edpuzzle that meet your needs, preview it, and add your own interactive elements to make it personalized. Then, use it to engage them and provide you with their current levels of understanding.
Create your own video and amplify its impact using Edpuzzle's interactive elements and personalize it. You can even use their whiteboard and edit your video in there. Last, use it to engage them and provide you with their current levels of understanding.
What interactive elements does Edpuzzle have?
Edpuzzle has 3 different options for their questions- multiple choice and open ended questions or note.
Multiple choice questions are self grading if you add the correct response and you can even give your students targeted feedback based on the answer they choose.
Open Ended Questions need to be graded; but now you can also allow for audio responses for any of these questions. Think about the possibilities there!
Notes are truly a gold mine! You can use notes to add links for students to explore, highlight specific information and you can record audio notes too.
Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression: Flip and Canva
Just like Edpuzzle gives our students opportunities to interact with content interactively and provide choice and engagement, Flip and Canva do this as our students work to share their learning. Both of these tools offer our students a wealth of choices to share their learning in the way that best meets their needs. Even better, both are these tools are FREE for educators and their students.
Flip
Flip is an amazing and versatile tool. What started out as a way to just record video responses has become so much more. Now with the camera, students can create unlike ever before. They have so many options to choose from and as the group lead, you as the educator, can customize their experience to best meet their needs. Students can choose to add text, boards, filters, gifs, photos, or stickers. They can also choose to use audio, video, or create modes. They can edit their responses and so much more.
Canva
Canva is also an amazing and versatile tool. It gives our students so many options to create, including adding video and audio to any project, They can even use a template to help them get started. Students can use the storyboard to move throughout their video project, Students can add their voice and/or video easily using the upload menu in a video project. Students can add so many elements to customize their video such as graphics, text, and stock videos. In addition, they can add their own video and/or audio using the upload media tab and then record themselves, including screen recording. Think about all the possibilities this offers our students.
So how will you maximize student engagement using video and audio tools?
Try one of these ideas and see what impact it makes on your students? How does it raise your students' engagement and achievement. By doing so, we amplify not only our students' voices but show we value their world and their unique talents.
