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!