Edpuzzle co-founder and CEO Quim Sabrià chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about the education sector’s biggest challenges when it comes to student assessment tools and why incorporating new technology is the key to maintaining student’s attention and success.
The main takeaway I learned from my conversation with Sabrià is that the ability to make a lesson fast is a major hindrance to maintaining both teacher and student attention. “It’s well known that teachers spend too much time lesson planning,” he explained.
“When it comes to assessment tools, teachers don’t want to spend that kind of time figuring out how to use the platform or finding good content. If they spend too much time, there’s no benefit in using the platform at all.”
Edpuzzle, for example, aims for teachers to have an operating and functional lesson plan in less than five minutes. “We enable teachers to import videos they find on YouTube, copy a lesson another teacher has previously created, or choose from our library of Edpuzzle Originals. In one click, you can have a video lesson ready for your next class.”
Sabrià says that if the “perfect video” doesn’t exist, the platform empowers teachers with a free screen recording tool where they can record their slides and embed questions in one go, making it extremely easy to use video as a learning tool.
Recognizing that there are still some academic institutions or even teachers who aren’t entirely comfortable with bringing “tech” into the classroom, there is a certain balance between the amount of immersiveness a tool like Edpuzzle brings versus the lesson itself which needs to be properly absorbed by students.
“Traditional instruction is no longer an option,” Sabrià says, because students are learning everything on YouTube. “It’s visual, self-paced, and time-efficient. Instead of fighting technology, teachers adapt and take advantage of the benefits of using video in the classroom.”
However, he cautions that teachers do need to consider how students will use the time in the classroom in efforts to prevent and/or minimize tech-fatigue.
“There may be a scenario where teachers can assign the videos to watch at home and use the time in the classroom for more meaningful non-tech activities,” he explained. “Another option would be to use the video in a station rotation model enabling students to learn the same concept in a variety of ways. Each class has its own balance and technology is at the service of the teacher in the room.”
Beyond the Four Walls
Perhaps the newest change to the industry is the fact that instruction is no longer limited to the four walls of the classroom, where students are able to take control over their learning preferences. Think back to the traditional classroom where a teacher stands at the front of the class, delivering instructions for 30 minutes hoping that students are following along. Inevitably, some students will fall behind and the teacher will need extra energy and time to make sure they are caught up.
“And what does this do? Lowers the results for the entire class, where some students start to lose interest.” Edpuzzle and video technology change this landscape completely, according to the CEO.
“Teachers rely on video to deliver the basic concepts all students should understand, while students learn at their own pace at home or in the classroom. At the end of the day, the teacher is able to hold students accountable via Edpuzzle by allowing students to rewatch entire videos, responding to embedded questions, and accessing the video anytime they want to review previous concepts. The analytics the platform provides helps give visibility to the
misunderstandings each student has, making the teacher more effective in the classroom.”
From a student’s perspective, the most attractive part about using an assessment tool like this of course is the social media incorporation. YouTube was a game changer for the millennial generation, inspiring the entire demographic to “think outside the box” and want to learn how to do things themselves.
Edpuzzle’s ability to incorporate YouTube videos into lessons allow for students to own their learning, rather than passively sitting in a classroom listening to the teacher. Learning by doing is an extremely effective method, so the ability for students to interact with the instruction and learn on their own terms is a shift in the educational curriculum we have started to see even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Another misunderstanding that may arise is flooding students with too many tech resources,” Sabrià says. “Platforms like Blackboard that try to integrate too many resources confuse both teachers and students. Technology like this needs to be simple and at the service of the user.”
The Creator Economy
The appeal to the creator economy is another challenge when it comes to educational creators trying to monetize their content – especially to minors. Finding that balance between education and entertainment is made difficult through YouTube’s algorithm, which will inevitably and invariably prioritize entertainment over educational content because they need to keep users hooked.
“For educational creators looking for a very profitable alternative, Edpuzzle is a unique place to do that, where millions of teachers choose their lessons and deliver them to students.”
He also shared that right now, it’s very hard to navigate the bureaucracy of schools, but because Edpuzzle is already an approved vendor in almost every school district in the U.S., it opens the door to making money while focusing on high quality educational content and letting Edpuzzle do the rest.
“Coming into 2022, we want to position ourselves as THE video platform for education, delivering better content, connecting teachers to share resources, and translating content into multiple languages. The past two years have been a rollercoaster for the educational landscape. Now we have the opportunity to find that balance.”
