Tech+Teaching: My foray into video tutorials

This was a summer of firsts for me at school after returning to academia after several years away: my first education course at the University of Minnesota, my first technology course since learning how to code in Pascal, my first podcast (for school)... The most challenging “first” for me? Filming the technology tutorial project for my technology class. The focus for the tutorial was straightforward: select a platform that no one else has chosen, and if down the line you find something particularly exciting, email your instructor for permission to change to the new option. In my case, midway through the course I stumbled across a site called Pixton.com (when Googling “comics apps for school” for a different assignment). I asked. Pixton was greenlighted.

The content was easy in that Pixton has promise for use in both English and language arts settings. The design is intuitive, for one. Moreover, Pixton as a digital storytelling app offers ways for students to creatively demonstrate--and teachers to evaluate--literacy and comprehension. The ability to create and manage classrooms and assignments is, from the teacher’s standpoint, hugely valuable. And, students engage with content and each other, and act with agency when doing so. Students have control over how they relay mastery of content through digital storytelling, and will enjoy themselves while they go. The Pixton teacher community on Facebook and Pinterest, as well as various educator-focused ideas on the website itself, also hold promise. As with anything fun, Pixton does present opportunity for distraction. Then again, what technology doesn’t? The limitations on free content versus paid are annoying but not insurmountably so.

While Pixton itself was a promising sell, the challenge for me was learning how to screen-record using Kaltura. Kaltura offers the option to keep or remove the inset speaker screen. After one take viewing myself onscreen, I went with the voice-over-only option for the video. Upside: I was no longer distracted by seeing myself talking on screen. Downside: including my face would have made the content more engaging to the viewer. Nevertheless, the anonymous feedback I received from my classmates who viewed the video was overwhelmingly positive. Colleagues were intrigued by the applications and envisioned connections to their own ELA curricula. So, given that this was my first foray into both Kaltura (recording, editing, and embedding) and screencasting, I am satisfied but do promise to record it again, this time with my presenter screen inset for added engagement.

You will find my Pixton tutorial by going to my “technology tools” page via the top menu. Thanks in advance for checking it out!