APPSolutely the Last Time

APPSolutely the Last Time!

For this last time of exploring an app/tech tool, I decided to revisit a couple of tools I have used before. I do love the feature of including videos (like with EdPuzzle and PlayPosit). And I really enjoyed creating a slide deck presentation lesson with Google Slides. And I really liked creating quizzes, like within Google Forms and Quizziz. I wanted to see how I could kind of combine the functions of including quizzes, videos, and a slide deck. I wanted to see if I could make a slide deck more interactive for students. 

I started with a Google Slide presentation that I had already created for a few assignments ago. It just had simple slides with lesson points, and I had some animations included to attempt to make it more visually appealing. I wanted to see how I could create a quiz within Google Slides to add on to it. I watched a couple of YouTube tutorials on how to create quizzes within Google Slides. There really is not a quiz function. You have to get creative. 

Basically, to create quiz questions within Google Slides, you have to link slides together, which I had not done before. For example, for a multiple-choice question, next to each answer option I inserted a circle shape for the students to click on. To make it interactive when they click on an answer option shape, I had to insert a link that when they clicked on that option, it brought them to either a "correct" or "incorrect" slide. 

It did take a little while to create the questions and link each individual answer to another slide, and make sure all of the links went to the appropriate next question. It definitely was not as quick as Quizziz or Google Forms.

For this style of a quiz, the students can take it, but there is not a way for it to be graded, so it is just more for practice for the students as opposed to the teacher being able to evaluate results. I then decided to take a Google Forms quiz that I had already created on the same topic, and embed that into one of the slides. That way there COULD be a quiz in there where the teacher could analyze the results on the back end. However, I found that I could not actually embed the quiz directly into one of the slides. I could still include the link, but would prefer to have it embedded, as it is just more visually appealing and has a better flow.

Overall, I really do enjoy creating within Google Slides. While there may be limitations within Google Slides itself, there of course is always the options of including "outside" tools within the slides. 

Here is the final product:

Tech, Apps, and Tools: Oh My!

Tech, Apps, and Tools: Oh My!

And so we trek on with the ed tech tools and app journey!

This week, I chose to explore Canva to help me deliver content for future lessons. I have used it once before in another grad class I took a couple of semesters ago, but barely touched upon it. At the time, we were prompted to use it as an ice-breaker-type activity to create a quick visual, but barely got into any of its features or capabilities. For this semester, it has been brought up a couple of times in class, so I decided to try it out again and dig just a little deeper. 

Long story short: I tried it to create a little lesson on the water cycle. I wan't "wowed" by it, but wasn't really disappointed with it. I might keep it in mind for future lessons, but it was not my favorite. 

It seems Canva is geared more towards graphics and detailed visual aids. It would be really good for making promotions for businesses or events. I can see using this to create posters, flyers, or promotional/event/business pages. I had to dig through the endless tutorials to find one that was geared towards the presentation aspect of it, comparable to Power Point or Google Slides. Compared to the last two tools I chose to create within, EdPuzzle and Play Posit (where they were both SO easy to create within, and I could create a lesson within one sitting), I found that it took a handful of sittings to create an equally meaningful lesson within Canva. 

Creating within it, I found that there seem to be a gazillion template options, but again, most seemed to be geared toward business or marketing promotion. There are a lot of template options and customization, almost too many to the point that it was almost overwhelming. It is extremely visual-centered. Almost too much. Adding slides was pretty standard. Since I have enjoyed creating within Google Slides, and I enjoyed the animation feature within Google Slides, I searched within Canva for an animation feature. I could not find an animation feature. I did, however, find a "stickers" option where I could add fun little graphics that had a little animation to them. Upon digging a little deeper I did see that there is an animation feature with the paid version. In fact, there seems to be a TON more options in the paid version. Even some very simple images and even many fonts are only available in the paid version. 

Compared to Google Slides, I have found that there are way more free options for Google Slides compared to Canva. I was surprised at how many basic-ish fonts were even only available with the paid version of Canva. Also, within Canva, I found that there were many aspects of it that I had to Google on how to use them where as in Google Slides, it was much more self-explainable. Another odd thing: I could not find an underline option for the text! I even tried different fonts to see if they brought up the underline tool, but it did not. 

As far as videos, these past couple of weeks I had been used to creating within EdPuzzle and Play Posit, where they had plenty of already created videos to choose from. However, Canva does not. They do have background videos of scenery and whatnot, but not already created videos from other users. Of course, you can still add a YouTube video and alike, but I even found the "add video" feature hard to find. It seemed as if the tab to add a video was almost hidden. You had to scroll all the way down on the left menu side, and even so it was not nearly as straight forward as Google Slides. The embed and video option is hidden at the bottom, under a "more" button. Not sure why this option is so hidden... (take note that he "videos" option seen in the below screenshot is only for those background videos I mentioned).

Speaking of background videos, I did find that in the end I did enjoy adding a background video of rain (ya know, for the water cycle) and being able to overlay some text over the video...

Also, comparing to the most recent tech tools I've used (EdPuzzle and Play Posit), I searched for an audio notes tool within Canva, but did not find one. 

As far as adding images, I do recall another classmate mentioning how she had some issues trying to add images within Canva. In my limited experience with Canva recently, I found that I was able to add images I found from the web just fine (just a simple "copy and paste" worked fine for me). 

All in all, for my personal experience and needs, I would rate Canva a 7/10. It was not a very quick initial experience for me. I certainly prefer Google Slides over Canva. However, for any poster or flyer needs, I would consider using Canva.

Click HERE for my Canva presentaion. (Sorry, would normally embed, but could not find an "embed" option in Canva, and while trying to embed I accidentally erased my whole blog post. Thank goodness for Ctrl-Z!!!).

Apps Day

Apps Day

Onward our journey goes of digging deeper and deeper into the world of educational technology tools and apps! Let's jump right into it!

As an educator in the early elementary grades, my focus as far as ed tech tools has and continues to be on simplicity. For me, sophisticated and intricate tools are not necessary at this point. I strive to seek out the most user-friendly and quick tools. Last week I created within EdPuzzle. I loved it, it was easy, and effective. During our weekly classes for EDU 585, there have been mentions, discussions, demos, you name it, on all sorts of ed tech tools and apps. To be honest, while hearing and learning about some of them, my initial thought in the back of my mind are that while they may be awesome for older grades, they may not quite be as awesome for say K-3, which is my target. PlayPosit has come up in class a couple of times, and I recall someone mentioning how it is a good tool for younger grades. I also recall it being mentioned that it is quite similar to EdPuzzle. "Perfect!", I thought, and so I started looking into it. I jumped right into some of my fellow classmates' blogs, and immediately read how another student claimed this is a good tool to use as formative assessment, and is good for younger grades. I then read a few Common Sense reviews and appreciated how most people said this is a super user-friendly tool, and perfect as an interactive video tool. Next, after viewing two PlayPosit tutorials, I started building within it.

Now, this has been an overly busy week for me between work, traveling, endless errands, you name it. I did not leave myself much time to create a video. But ya know what? That's okay because I chose a tool that I can make an effective video in a snap! Creating within PlayPosit was very simple. It certainly resembles EdPuzzle. You can use your own videos, upload them, or even search within PlayPosit for already created videos. I chose to find a video on YouTube. One of the things with finding videos on YouTube, though, is that many times at the end of the video there are credits of sorts, links to other videos, etc. I do not need those things in my videos for the students, so one of my look-fors in these types of tools is a cropping option so I can trim the edges of the videos down to just the good stuff that I need. Thankfully, PlayPosit does have a cropping feature!

I chose to use a fun GoNoodle video of a song on the water cycle. Most of my previous videos/tools have consisted mainly of diagrams and labels of sorts. This video is basically just a rap about the water cycle with no diagrams, etc. I thought this catchy song would be a great add-on to reinforce the students' understanding of the water cycle. 

Just like in EdPuzzle, in PlayPosit you can add in interactions consisting of comments, quiz questions, audio notes, etc. While it is limited in the free version (I think it's $99 a year), it still has quite enough featured within it for exactly what I need, so free version it is! Also, you can tailor the video playback options, like if the students will be allowed to rewind the video after getting to an interaction, and can also set it so they can not skip the interactions.

All in all, for my main needs (user-friendly, quick, and effective), I rate PlayPosit a 10/10!

Lights, Camera, Action: Take Two!

Lights, Camera, Action: Take Two!

Last week I created a video within Adobe Spark. I felt I grasped the hang of it right away, so wanted to explore a new tool this week. I was initially thinking about looking into iMovie next, since it is a tool that is already on my iPad. However, after hearing in last week's class about how timely it can be to edit within iMovie, I opted out of pursuing it at this time. Taking about an hour to create about one minute's worth of video is not for me! Educators are busy people, and the easier and quicker the tool is, the better!

After reading through some of my classmate's blogs and which tools worked well for them, I decided to look into EdPuzzle. Another classmate rated this a 10/10, and described it as a very user-friendly tool. I have used this tool as a student before, so I am familiar with that end of it. After viewing a couple of tutorials, I decided to jump in and create a video within EdPuzzle.

Within EdPuzzle, you can upload your own videos, or can choose from the many that are already created within the tool. I decided to browse videos for a water cycle lesson, and immediately found one I liked. 

Features that I liked within this tool, and were super easy to use:

*Cropping video

*Adding voice-over

*Including audio notes

*Creating quizzes and comments

Out of the above four features, I utilized all but the voice-over feature. 

Cropping: You can easily crop from the beginning and end of videos. However, I do wish that there was an option to crop parts from the middle of videos. That is my only complaint.

Audio notes: These are a great touch to add your own input, especially to a video that may not be of you. The video automatically stops when it comes to an audio note so that it can be heard clearly.

Creating quizzes and comments: You can opt to have questions "peppered" within the video, or even create a quiz to complete at the end. I chose to have a little quiz at the very end of the video. You can also insert typed comments. These help to add to the audio and visual of the video. Within the comments and questions, you can also add images and links!

Another useful feature within EdPuzzle is that you can make it so the students do not have the ability to skip ahead in the video. They will be forced to watch all of it, and will not be able to just skip ahead to the quiz. 

For my particular needs at this time, I would rate EdPuzzle a 10/10. It is just plain simple, and that is what I am looking for. To be quite honest, I have been shying away from the more robust and sophisticated tools such as iMovie, WeVideo, and the alike. It is not that I am being lazy or taking the easy way out. As someone who is new to ed tech, I want to first get a good grasp on the basics before I move to more sophisticated tools. Even so, at this point I do not feel the immediate need for using something quite yet that is so robust. As long as the tools I am using are not only quick and easy, just as long as they are able to deliver my content in a meaningful way, and successfully assess student's learning, then that is what's for me at this point!

Just in case, can click HERE for the direct link to my video!