How often do you use video with your students? How often do you think your students access video? Perhaps you are using the Flipped Classroom model ( typical homework and in class work are flipped–students may read or watch a video outside of class and then time in class is used for discussion, exercises, and projects).
Whatever you have been doing with video, Zaption adds a new dimension to using videos in instruction by allowing you to embed questions inside the video–even if you are using videos made by somebody else. Here’s an example of a video that has been “zaptioned.”
To use Zaption you will need to create an account on the Zaption website. The basic account is free, with option of paying for a pro account. Now that you have a Zaption account the next step is to identify the video you want to use, develop the questions you would like to ask and have a sense where in the video you would like the questions to appear.
Zaption has produced a number of tutorial videos–here is the one that reviews how to create a “tour.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=167&v=LghSQjBE1cs
Identify the video you want to use
You can search for videos from within Zaption including videos on YouTube, or you can copy the URL to the video you want to use and paste that into Zaption. Once you pull a video into Zaption, Zaption will call it a “Tour.” You can use multiple video clips in a single tour, you can trim a longer video down to a specific part of the video.
Develop your questions
Then it’s time to develop your questions. The free version of Zaption includes three types of question: open ended, multiple choice, and check boxes. When developing your questions consider your goal–is it to quiz for information and/or highlight the important concepts in the video? Also consider where the questions should appear within the tour, how long the question should appear for, and whether the video will not continue until the question is responded to.
Once you have completed your tour you can publish it and share a link to it on Zaption or embed it on your own website. The pro version of Zaption gives you some more sharing capabilities.
When people watch a Zaption tour they have to enter a name–this allows the tour creator to track viewers and how they did on the questions in the tour. Zaption includes a nice set of analytic tools to track responses and viewers.
I am new to Zaption, but I love the possibilities for the ESOL classroom. It is a tool that requires practice (and the initial practice is timeconsuming), but it could be a great way for students to use computer lab time. Once students get the practice of how to use Zaption (figuring out what all the functions are and how they work), and then they actually work on the skills connected with using Zaption (i.e. how to insert a video, how to cut the video, how to insert questions), they can then think about how to use it for projects related to class content, a “product” that they would share with others.This would be a semester-long endeavor.
Of course, teachers can also just use it to introduce students to video content about a topic, and at the same time giving them “quizzes” about the video. (See Nell’s description above.)
Nell’s point about having a goal for the use of Zaption is a critical one if students are going to create projects. “when developing your questions consider your goal–is it to quiz for information and/or highlight the important concepts in the video? Also consider where the questions should appear within the tour, how long the question should appear for, and whether the video will not continue until the question is responded to.
Here’s another Zaption example, but I’d suggest just going to the site and trying it out for yourself! http://www.zaption.com/tours/53a9d05053d67a2c143f3445
Hi all,
It was announced at the end of June that Zaption will be closing its site, since it was purchased by the company Workday. You have until September 30, 2016 to download Zaptions you have created.
https://goo.gl/MaokGH
Eric
It looks like EdPuzzle has similar functions to Zaption and will import videos from Zaption. Take a look here: https://edpuzzle.com/zaption.