How to Create a Video-based Poll

ClipChoose is a free polling tool that I featured in a blog post last month. On ClipChoose you can create a poll that is based on a comparison of two or more videos. In the video embedded below I demonstrate how to create a video-based poll on ClipChoose.


Applications for Education
ClipChoose could be a good tool to use to create video quizzes for a lesson about bias and propaganda. When teaching students about types of propaganda I could put two or three videos in Clip Choose and ask students to select the one that demonstrates the use of a particular propaganda technique. For example, if I wanted my students to practice recognizing the use of "glittering generalities" I would put in a video that demonstrates that method and two videos that don't.

11 Backchannel & Informal Assessment Tools Compared in One Chart

Last winter I made a series of charts in which I compared popular ed tech tools. I'm now going through those charts and removing some tools and adding some new ones. The chart embedded below is the updated version of my chart comparing 11 backchannel and informal assessment tools. At the bottom of the chart you will find links to video tutorials on each of the tools featured in the chart. You can download the chart here or find the Google Docs version here.

The First Presidential Election - A Hip Hughes History Lesson

A few weeks ago in my post about the Electoral College I included a list of lessons about Presidential Elections from 1900 through 2012. Those lessons were created by Keith Hughes. This week he released another lesson. Keith's latest lesson is about the first Presidential election. In three minutes Keith runs-down what made the first election different from all that have come after it.


Applications for Education
After watching the video above ask your students to think about how campaigns today would be different without social media, television, or radio. Or flip that concept and have them use tools like this fake Facebook template to develop a social media advertising campaign for George Washington.

How to Make Your Writing Funnier - And 21 Other Writing Lessons

The Writer's Workshop is a TED-Ed playlist featuring short lessons on writing. Some of the lessons are on basic things like When to Use Me, Myself, or I while other lessons are of a more conceptual nature like How to Build a Fictional World. The latest lesson added to The Writer's Workshop is How to Make Your Writing Funnier.

In How to Make Your Writing Funnier students are introduced to the history of writing comedy and the rules for writing comedy. The "think" section of the lesson students are given a couple of tasks that introduce them to the process of writing comedy. One of those tasks is thinking of frustrating or annoying scenarios to which many people can relate. The second task includes mind-mapping around a word that triggers a memory. The complete lesson can be found here.

The Writer's Workshop playlist is embedded below.