Edpuzzle Around the World: Jakarta Intercultural School

Like all schools across the globe, when the global pandemic hit, Jakarta Intercultural School had to act fast to make sure their students didn’t get left behind.

Fast-forward almost two years later, and now this prestigious international school, known for its high standards and home to students from age three through high school, has honed the hybrid learning experience into a model where teachers and students aren’t just surviving, they’re thriving!

We chatted with Jason Graham, Technology Coach at JIS, and Melissa Bays, a 4th grade teacher, about how Edpuzzle has accompanied them as they’ve navigated the challenges of remote learning.

What can you tell us about your experience with using Edpuzzle so far?

Jason: I've been using Edpuzzle for a few months now, training some teachers from the Early Years (ages 3-6) all the way up to grade 5.

When we’re using Edpuzzle with the younger children, it's more teacher-directed, where the teacher would create the Edpuzzle and do it as a class.

Whereas, for example, in grade 5, the teacher would use Edpuzzle for a bit of differentiation and then post that Edpuzzle for particular students that needed a little bit of extra help on different content or concepts.

Melissa: I was introduced to Edpuzzle during one of our recent professional development days, and it was one of the options that piqued my interest because it looked like it would be another useful tool that we could use during our online teaching.

Did you face any challenges when you started using Edpuzzle?

Jason: I don't think there were any major problems... it was just finding a way to use that tool to enhance learning.

A lot of teachers these days have lots of tools at their disposal. Why should I use that tool? So as a tech coach, I had to go in with some ideas about how is this going to impact student learning.

One of the ways that I showed and gave some evidence to teachers that this can impact student learning is the fact that it was so personalisable... that individualized learning could happen through Edpuzzle.

For example, if some students needed some extra help or needed some extra sort of visual cues, for different types of learners, using Edpuzzle really, really helped out with that.

I think a lot of teachers since we’ve gone online do use things from YouTube, and they do use videos more and more. And Edpuzzle can be used online and can be used in the classroom, so that's what makes it so powerful.

Melissa: We have been teaching online for more than a year, almost in fact two years, and one of the challenges that teachers face really has been how to engage students by creating interesting and effective lessons.

Edpuzzle meets that need, and it also works well in a hybrid environment. Since now we have some students online and some students on campus, it also provides another simple way to differentiate student learning.

Differentiation really is built right into it, so it’s easily accessible for the students.

How has Edpuzzle impacted teaching and learning practices at JIS?

Jason: One of the most powerful things that we learned is that even though you can see that a student has watched the video, it doesn't really necessarily mean that they've understood the content.

Edpuzzle really allows you to create tasks within that video and different types of content, like multiple-choice and open-ended questions, at different parts of the video, so that sort of was a game-changer for teaching and learning.

Another one was teachers really loved how the student is not able to progress through the video, so they can’t skip to the end unless they engage with all the tasks along the way. That was really important for teachers.

Another piece that really changed the teaching and learning was that teachers could use their own videos and add their own questions along the way, not just something from YouTube. That was really powerful as well, so essentially teachers could have the same recorded lesson but could tailor it to different groups of students.

Melissa: I found through using Edpuzzle that it's an effective tool to develop students’ active listening skills and listening comprehension. As students are accessing the videos, they can go back and relisten to them, which is actually one of the features that I really, really like – that students can go at their own pace, but also they can relisten to sections of the video, watch sections of the video and then respond to the questions that are there and do that as many times as they need to to get the information.

I think Edpuzzle is useful in that we know that visual learning is a high impact learning tool, and so it accesses that, but it also is high impact with low effort on the teachers’ part.

Students are also encouraged to take ownership of their learning through using Edpuzzle, meaning that they can watch the video, listen to the information, read the questions, look at what the teachers are asking them to respond to, and do that at their own pace.

So that not only allows them to take some ownership with it, but it also is empowering to them.

What would you like to accomplish with Edpuzzle in the future?

Jason: One thing that I would like to do in the future with Edpuzzle is to have students creating content … maybe they're making the content then using Edpuzzle as a way to engage others with it. I'd really like to see that. I think that would show a higher level of understanding and higher level of thinking and also engaging for other people in the community and not just something coming from the teacher for the student to do.

I really think Edpuzzle could be used in staff meetings and could be used for many different areas in the school. I think it’s a fun way to engage with different types of content.

Melissa: So I have found that Edpuzzle is just helpful in having another tool in the toolbox. It's a great resource and I look forward to using it more.

Stay tuned for more stories about how teachers are using Edpuzzle at schools across the globe!