We are almost one month into our two month trial of students having access to YouTube and this week we are featuring a great tool that makes the most out of the vast array of educational content available on YouTube. Imagine a YouTube video with almost no ads, with your questions, images, drawings, and notes embedded in the video for you, sounds pretty awesome, right?
Zaption.com allows you to do all of that and more for free. You can find videos from eight different streaming sources including YouTube, PBS, Discovery Education, and more (please note all vimeo videos are blocked). Once you find a video, you can add up to six embedded questions, images, or text slides per video with the free account.
To get started, go to: www.zaption.com
Click on join free and create your account.
From the home screen you have two options, you can click on the "new tour" or you can click on the tours button to find the Zaption gallery to see tours that others have created.
I'm going to click on the new tour button.
I must search for the video I want or I can browse my own videos (such as those on a flash drive or external hard drive).
I searched for "edgar allen poe" and I can see the search results on YouTube, PBS, National Geographic, TED, Discovery, and many others. Once you find the video you want, click on add this video to the tour.
Now, follow the instructions on the screen to add your interactive elements. I can add a text slide, image, or drawing for instructional elements. I can also add open response, multiple choice, and check box style assessment items to the video. It is very simple to click and drag elements into the desired part of the video. Remember you get up to six elements with your free account.
This is one of the open response assessment items. You can move the question to the sidebar or over the video. You can remove the item by clicking the trashcan.
This is what your video tour looks like when it is ready. You can click on the share button to email the tour to your students or you can give them the short link in the right corner of the page. The student clicks on start tour to start the video. It will pause automatically when it is time to answer a question.
Once students have completed viewing a quiz, you can view the analytics that give you great information such as the average rating of the quiz, the viewing date and time, and the number of times the speed was skipped forward or backwards in the video as well. Click on "responses" to see the individual student responses to the questions.
You can download your individual student performance as a CSV file in the lower left corner of the responses page as well as leave a student comment.
I hope you consider making some fast and friendly video lessons with Zaption.
Questions or Comments?
Please email me at pamelabatchelor@johnston.k12.nc.us
