Use EDpuzzle to Make YouTube a Powerful Educational Tool

Introduction

YouTube, the second largest search engine, is a transcendent resource for educators.  TEDEd is a great tool for engaging and assessing students after they watch YouTube videos. There is another great resource for ensuring students are getting it as they watch. This tool gives teachers the ability to add explanations during videos while individual students watch at their own pace. This free tool, EDpuzzle, is a great way to enrich video instruction.

Set-Up

To get started, go to EDpuzzle. Create a free teacher account:

Use your school account to sign up. Edpuzzle has a “sign in with Google” feature that is great for GAFE schools. Students also have to set up accounts to log-in. This means teachers can easily keep track of assessment data.

Create classes and enroll students by sharing a unique class code, just like Google Classroom:

Creating Lessons

This brings the teacher to “My Content” where lessons are stored:

To make a lesson with a YouTube video:

An editor opens that looks like this:

Teachers can add short-answer and multiple choice questions. To add a multiple choice question:

Another good option for teachers is audio notes:

EdPuzzle gives teachers the option to delete and re-record audio notes to get them just right. Teachers can also add a separate audio track:

One Extra Benefit of EdPuzzle

EdPuzzle just added a “Share to Google Classroom” button:

In Conclusion

YouTube is a great resource for teachers. However, it has nothing to ensure students are learning and engaged while watching. EdPuzzle changes that. Use it to make YouTube a powerful tool for your students. This is the EdPuzzle lesson I made in this post. If you have any questions about it, please comment below or tweet me at @TomEMullaney. The video is The Forgotten War Hero – Milunka Savic by The Great War. It is well worth watching: