All images courtesy of The University of Arizona
The challenge
For educators who oversee multiple classes every term — sometimes asynchronous and at large-scale — tracking student engagement is a challenge. Former instructor-turned Academic Support Coordinator at the University of Arizona, Cheryl Ekstrom, made 600 interactive videos in three months to unify asynchronous class standards and drive student engagement.
The solution
PlayPosit by WeVideo gave the University of Arizona an interactive video platform to help mass-produce iterative, Quality Matters-aligned content that delivers measurable results. Professors used PlayPosit to:
- Empower learners to create content: PlayPosit Bulbs (interactive videos) empower educators to target instruction and empower students to create their own learning experiences.
- Implement structured playlists: Instead of assigning 100 videos at a time to learners, Cheryl modularizes them with playlists for easier learning flows. Plus, adding due dates to playlists limits lifetime access to content, fueling student motivation, engagement, and performance.
- Streamline integration: PlayPoit helped Cheryl strategize Bulb creation inside the platform. Segmented into Bulbs, folders, and class folders, Cheryl designates particular class content and LMS sites for instructors to access and iterate.
Key takeaways
Training, creating, and building activities for future classes — all while facilitating current ones — proves difficult for educators. Servicing 3,500 students in the math field at once, Cheryl successfully set up three courses in three months with 600 iterative videos to share across math departments.
Among the demands of busy academic terms, and regardless of class size or learning environment, PlayPosit by WeVideo creates a unified and scalable solution to improving and iterating student engagement with interactive video.
Hear the full story
Watch Cheryl Ekstrom share her approach to using PlayPosit in the University of Arizona's math department, recorded during the PlayPosit Exchange summer event. Access the full session below.
Benefits of interactive video
- Triple engagement: Interactive video helps educators prove effective curricula with customizable touch points and analytics tools. Track progress, identify learner gaps, and remediate as necessary.
- Create on-demand learning: Clickable elements like interactive video questions, multiple-choice, jumps, and quizzes fuel flexible and dynamic self-paced programs.
- Personalize instruction: PlayPosit’s sequenced learning makes it easy for educators to suit any learning style, environment, or objective.
Practical strategies for educators
- Design meaningful video questions: Tailor video questions to match learning objectives. Like Cheryl, educators can customize placement and follow-up questions, then track progress with data.
- Save time with scalable content: Iterate course material with learner-made assignments. Simply create, assign, analyze, and repeat.
- Establish learning objectives: Cheryl uses a master spreadsheet with her central support team to coordinate learning objectives with video titles, video questions, and learning activities.