Apps for Education - Edpuzzle

Apps for Education - Edpuzzle

In the wake of virtual learning, many teachers have been put in a difficult situation. Remote learning through applications and websites like Zoom, Google Meets, and Google Classroom, don't compensate for quality visual learning than allow many students to thrive like they do in an in-person classroom environment.

What is Edpuzzle?

Edpuzzle tries to solve this predicament by allowing teachers to add a layer of interactivity to a standard lesson, via YouTube videos. Edpuzzle gives teachers the tools they need to keep students engaged, while also allowing them to track student understanding and progress. This is key, as it is very hard to track student comprehension remotely without the use of an assessment from time to time. This allows for a slightly better quality of education.

How Edpuzzle Works

Edpuzzle gives teachers access to simple, user friendly video editing tools, such as video cropping, voice overs, audio notes, and question pop-ups (multiple choice and/or short answers). Teachers can import videos from YouTube (any, even their own video!), edit them, and assign a due date to them easily. Teachers can track whether a student has watched an assignment yet, completed the assignment on time, answered all the questions on an assignment, including how many of those questions the student got correct, and so on.

My Experience With Edpuzzle

I should know  firsthand how useful Edpuzzle is, as one of my teachers uses it for their remote lessons. Because Edpuzzle allows teachers to insert questions into their lessons, it allows me to stay focused for longer periods of time. I feel like the use of Edpuzzle has given me a better understanding of the material I've been given. And I'll admit, Edpuzzle isn't the perfect solution. It doesn't add any entertainment value, and it doesn't bring the feel of the traditional classroom to remote learning. And, it won't work for every subject. I doubt Edpuzzle would be useful for the class I'm writing this blog for, S.T.A.T, since this class requires a large amount of independent research. However, it's good at what it tries to do, which is add an additional layer of engagement to this boring online education that we've all become familiar with over the past year. While I think synchronous meetings over Zoom or Google Meets are a better option, if a teacher needs to assign work asynchronously, they should use Edpuzzle to get the job done.

Find out more about Edpuzzle at: https://edpuzzle.com/about

Learn how to use Edpuzzle with this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWRseaT7-9U