Entry 3: Screencasting and Flipped Classroom Video Tools

The tools I used to test out creating a Flipped Classroom experience were EDpuzzle and Zaption. Both involve adding questions directly into the video as you're watching so that it pauses as chosen times to ask an open-ended or multiple choice question. Both also have the option of inserting teacher notes (Zaption as an image or slide and EDpuzzle as a comment), but I did not use these features. They differ in terminology - in EDpuzzle you create 'lessons' while in Zaption you create 'tours' - and user interface. EDpuzzle was much easier for me to use. Zaption was more confusing and less user-friendly in my opinion as it seemed more 'techy' and therefore intimidating. There were things to drag and drop and another place to add 'clips,' which wasn't clear to me what that was. Granted, I could have gone through the tutorial but, as a millennial, I'v never gone through any tutorial on any website and have never run into a problem so the fact that I didn't understand how to use the site clearly on my own is an indicator that it's too complicated, especially for teachers who aren't familiar or comfortable with technology in the classroom. Despite these small differences though, the final product is more or less the same and both have analytic tools to see how many students and which students have viewed the video and answered the questions. EDpuzzle has an advantage in this fact in that it shows you each students' grade (correct responses) while Zaption's analytics are more about the big picture.

In general, I wasn't a fan of either of these tools. I think they are very disruptive and break continuity in the video, making them harder to follow - which, for ESL learners is already difficult enough. I think maybe for longer videos, these tools would be okay but when the videos are only 5 or so minutes, they are too disruptive. As an alternative, questions can go at the end (like TedEd). This might be hard for long videos when there's too much information to retain but would be better, in my opinion, for short videos.

In addition, while I think these are great tools for implementing a flipped classroom for older students, but they are not relevant or appropriate for younger audiences (especially mine who are only 2 years old). The same goes for the screencast. When I created the quiz questions for my Screencast, I knew that the only way to deliver them to my students would be orally. Instead of watching a screencast at home and answering questions, with my students, I would present the presentation to them and prompt them for answers at the end. In other words, it would take the "flipped" out of "flipped classroom." Regardless of the fact that they won't be relevant to me in my teaching and final project, I think they're great tools and want to share them with my sister who is a 4th grade teacher because I think her students would really enjoy it.

Entry 2: Reflecting on online vocabulary tools: Wordle, Quizlet, and Puzzlemaker

Since I recently was offered a job as a Ganenet for 2- and 3-year olds at an English-speaking Gan for next year, the focus of my work in this course has shifted considerably. I no longer am thinking about the business English option, but rather am tailoring the blended learning tools we learn about for toddlers. Additionally, since the tools we learned about in our last lesson were online vocabulary tools and since the age group I am working with are pre-reading age, I decided to focus these tools on phonics - something more age appropriate but still involving the reading process.

Wordle

I based all of the tools I created (Wordle, Quizlet, and Puzzlemaker) based on the story: Zac is a rat! via Starfall.com, a phonics website for kids. This is an audible interactive story where young learners get practice with the flat -a sound (rat, pan, nap, etc...). In the lesson, we would first play the game on the Starfall website so students are familiar with the story, characters, and words. Then we could look at the Wordle (see image)

and students could try to find all the 'a's that they could and would have a chance to see the words again in a new format, in bright colors, reinforcing the vocabulary and phonics. Then we would go to Quizlet to break down the words they heard in the story and saw on the Wordle and practice phonics - sound to letter correspondence. Finally, they can (try) to find the words from the story in a wordsearch created via Puzzlemaker.

I think all three of these tools are very valid and relevant and do exactly what blended learning sets out to do - makes learning more engaging and effective. In terms of my own students, the wordsearch is probably the least practical as they are only 2 and 3 years old and, while they may be able to identify letters, expecting them to sort through a jumble of letters to find a word is developmentally inappropriate. However, I think that Wordle and Quizlet have a high potential for effectively bringing technology into the classroom, even at this young age. Wordle is bright and engaging and the students will want to look and play with it. I could even cut out the words and letters and have them put the letters together by color. Quizlet can also be useful, but obviously we would use it in the classroom as a learning tool rather than being a study tool at home. I especially like that instead of vocabulary words, you can insert pictures. This is very age appropriate for my kids. Working together, these three tools are a great way to practice and reinforce a phonics lesson.