This week, I decided to get creative and find some new ways to use Canva to make a simple lesson plan come to life!

I used an awesome new screen recording tool called Loom to record my explanation and video! Loom can be used for creating and sharing video in the workplace or personally. I decided to watch the first few videos on the website under the “Getting Started” section that gave me a quick guide on how to use the program – including how to record introductions & presentations!

Rather than just recording the audio as I have in the past with ScreenCastify, I actually recorded the video of myself on camera explaining it as well.

With Loom pinned on your toolbar, this is how you turn on both your camera and microphone:

I wanted to work my way up to this point & I feel it worked very well! I know that when I listen to podcasts, I often like to watch the YouTube or Spotify video that accompanies it. For whatever reason, being able to see the person makes the video that much more engaging and entertaining for the listener!

After I finished recording my video, Loom had a number of suggestions with the help of their AI assistant on how to improve the quality.

It instantly adjusted the video to 1.2x speed which brought it from 27 to 22 minutes. I then selected the “Edit & Trim Video” option:

In this video, I explain the ways that Loom helps improve your audio to make your video sound much smoother and more by removing filler words & silences:

It’s amazing how big of a difference these simple changes can make – it sure makes your videos much sharper and sound much more professional.

In this video, I explain how to bring your lesson plan to life with all sorts of different pictures, elements, graphics, and ways to make a boring task much more enjoyable and dynamic 🙂

After recording this video, I also began thinking about how I could also use this tool to record my lessons ahead of time and allow the students to access them online.

I remember during COVID when I was completing a psychology degree, most of my classes were asynchronous online. For me personally, this style of learning was extremely helpful and effective!

I decided to search why that might be, and found an interesting article called “6 Advantages of Asynchronous Learning”.

According to the article, asynchronous learning “offers the flexibility to learn at your own pace and without the need for real-time interactions with an instructor”.

My most important takeaway from this article was the point they made about being “accessible to all learners”. They discussed how it provides a significant advantage to those who may have a learning disability.

Sometimes as educators, we have a tendency to overload our students with information and it can be hard for them to try and remember all the steps and instructions correctly.

An solution to this shortcoming is having all of your information accessible online:

• Video Lessons/ Recordings
• PowerPoints
• Worksheets
• Additional Resources
• Websites for Extra Practice and Information

The sooner we can train our students to use this to these online tools advantage, the better.

Just as we have access to materials in University (UR Courses/Canvas for example), there is no reason we can’t have this for our elementary to high school students as well. Giving the students and their parents unlimited access to our daily lessons, materials, and handouts, worksheets, etc is invaluable.

The school I am currently pre-interning at uses a program called Edsby, students are able to hand in and take pictures of their work here for their parents to view and teachers to mark.

This could be particularly helpful for students that may have certain learning difficulties (hearing, writing, listening, etc.) that would benefit from a different style of delivery.

If you notice that certain students are benefitting from this method of delivery, you may use your discretion to decide how/when to use these methods potentially over others.

Additionally, this is beneficial in the event students are absent, would like to hear the explanation or parts of it again, review the materials during class, or while they are working on a task at home.

Giving unlimited access will assist in collaboration, communication and understanding for your students 🙂