App Smashing with Screencastify and Edpuzzle

 App Smashing with Screencastify and Edpuzzle

@JoeTaylorDHS / @LisaBerghoff / @MrKimDHS

Well, beginning this summer, Illinois is going to make it much harder for teachers to find new Free Tech Tools and try them out in their classes. I'm assuming that you are familiar enough with Illinois that you didn't even both to ask, "Why?" after reading that. You've all met Illinois, so we'll leave it at that.

But you know what? That's ok. The tools you've learned and started practicing with over the last year are really powerful, and they can be even better when you use them in conjunction with one another. Dan and Lisa wrote about our district's premium account for Screencastify (screen recording with personality) in August, and Edpuzzle has been a favorite video delivery tool for a long time. They are even better when used together. 

In the past, it took several steps to record your screen, save that to Google Drive or YouTube, log into Edpuzzle, create an assignment and embed your new video. However, the two companies have found a way to work together for the benefit of teachers and students (a novel idea). Now you can share videos directly from Screencastify to Edpuzzle.

When you make a finish a screen recording in Screencastify, you are taken to a simple-editor that looks like this:

The left side of the screen gives you "share" options:

For instance, you can publish your recording directly to YouTube or send it in email. If you click this link:

chrome-extension://mmeijimgabbpbgpdklnllpncmdofkcpn/ng/app/app.html#/integrations

Screencastify will let you add more share buttons. Just select the "Edpuzzle" slider and refresh the Screencastify edit page. The Edpuzzle share button will be there:

When you click the Edpuzzle button, you may have to grant permission for Edpuzzle to access files in Google Drive, but once you do, your new video will appear in your Edpuzzle library.

Next week, I'll write a little bit about the freedom we have as educators to use copyrighted digital items for teaching and learning thanks to the "Fair Use Exception" to the US Copyright Law - yes, these things go hand-in-hand.

Have a FANTASTIC start to Semester 2!