How to Set Up Edpuzzle in 10 Minutes

If you have ten minutes, you have the time to learn something that’s going to rock your teaching world.

Sorting through the flotsam and jetsam of edtech tools can be overwhelming. With so many available options, it can start to feel like playing Whac-A-Mole – as soon as you’ve mastered one, another pops up.

Edpuzzle, in our humble opinion, is something we hope you’ll be able to keep in your blended learning toolbox for a long time.

Why, you ask? It allows you to easily flip your classroom with its library of thousands of gorgeous, editable video lessons, and you can even record your own.

It’s already shaking things up across schools in all 50 states, which beyond being cool to say goes to show that teachers and students are excited about Edpuzzle. The proof is in the pudding!

So, ready to make your teaching life easier and your students and parents happier? Let’s saddle up and learn how to set up Edpuzzle in just ten minutes.

What is Edpuzzle?

Edpuzzle is an easy-to-use flipped learning platform. One video at a time, you’ll be able to see your students’ engagement go through the roof.

In a nutshell, with Edpuzzle you can select a video (or record one yourself), add your own questions, comments and narration, and then assign it to your students.

Choose from videos on YouTube, Crash Course, Khan Academy, TED Talks and National Geographic, among others. You can also use the Edpuzzle Chrome extension to create your own screen recording!

Sound good so far? Wait till you see what happens next.

As your students start watching your videos and answering the questions, you’ll be able to see their results roll in in real time.

Get data on how many questions each student answered correctly, how many times they viewed each portion of the video and how much time they took to complete it. All of this information along with your grades will be stored in Edpuzzle’s online Gradebook, which you can export in just one click.

Still with us? One last thing – Edpuzzle is free for teachers and students, so you’ve got nothing to lose if you just want to play around with it a little before committing to using it in the classroom. Try it out… what have you got to lose other than ten minutes?

How to sign up for Edpuzzle

First things first – head over to the Edpuzzle home page. Then, click on the big blue “Sign up” button.

Choose the “I'm a teacher” option (you can always create another student account later if you’re interested in joining another Edpuzzle class as a student).

Now, you’ve got some choices. You can sign in with Google or Microsoft, or you can create an Edpuzzle account.

If you sign up with Edpuzzle, you’ll need to provide your first and last name and email address, and create a password.

If you have a referral code from another teacher (which is just optional but will increase your storage space on Edpuzzle by three more videos!), you can enter it here. Click “Create new account” to move on!

Finally, you’ll need to enter your school name by either choosing it from the dropdown menu or adding it if it doesn’t appear. Select your grade level and subject area and click “Start teaching.” It’s as easy as that.

Don't forget to verify your email address by going to your inbox and clicking on the link in the email Edpuzzle sent you. Make sure not to skip this step!

When all is said and done, it actually takes longer to explain the sign-up process than to sign up for yourself, which should only take you about a minute.

You’re all ready to find your first video now!

How to find your first video on Edpuzzle

Now, for the fun part – finding, editing and assigning your very first video lesson.

On the “Discover” page, you can enter your search terms in the search bar in the upper left-hand corner. Under the “Community” tab, you’ll find ready-to-go video lessons that other Edpuzzle teachers have created. You can filter videos by subject, grade level, country and source.

Under the “My School” tab, you’ll find all of the video lessons the other teachers at your school have created.

By clicking on the “YouTube” tab, you can browse popular channels like Khan Academy, National Geographic, TED Talks, and Crash Course, among others.

You can even paste a YouTube link into the search bar to edit a video directly!

Once you’ve found your perfect video, click on it, and then click “Copy” to save it to your content so you can edit it later. You’ll find all the videos you save under “My Content.”

How to edit your video with Edpuzzle

Now that you’ve found a video your students will love, click on “Edit."

You can cut sections from the beginning, middle, or end of your video with the “Cut” tab so your students will only see the parts you think are relevant.

With the “Questions” tab, you can embed questions at any point in your video, taking the viewing experience from passive to active! Options include multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, and notes (either written or audio).

Turn on audio responses for open-ended questions to hear your students respond in their own words – how cool is that?

When you’re happy with your video, just click “Finish.”

Again, it takes longer to explain the process than to actually do it, but you can find and edit a video for your students in less than five minutes!

How to create your first Edpuzzle class

Now it’s time to set up some classes. You can either create an Edpuzzle class, or connect your LMS classes to Edpuzzle.

When you click on “Create new class,” you’ll need to enter your class name, grade level, and subject. Select “Classic” for the class type. Click “Create class” and you’re done!

To connect a class from your LMS, check out all of Edpuzzle’s integrations.

How to assign your first Edpuzzle video lesson

When you’re done editing your video, it's time to assign it to your class. Click on the “Assign” tab to get started!

Select the class or classes you want to assign your video lesson to. You can “Assign all” or “Assign manually” to send the video to select students only.

Choose the start date and due date, as well as the time for each. Select the “Prevent Skipping” option to make sure your students watch the whole video. Click on “Assign” and your video will be all ready for your students!

You can also get an assignment link to share with them when you click on the “Share assignment” button.

They’ll find their video lesson waiting for them as soon as they log in to Edpuzzle, and you’ll get to watch their results arrive in real time. What’s not to love about that?

The bottom line

If you’re looking for a quick, painless, fun and engaging way to flip your classroom, Edpuzzle is a fantastic place to start. You can get set up with Edpuzzle in less than ten minutes, thanks to its easy-to-use, intuitive design, and start seeing results with your students right away.

While it may be easy for us to sing Edpuzzle’s praises, you should know that the team behind the scenes is made up of former teachers who know exactly how intimidating it can be to start using a new edtech platform or flipping a class for the first time.

So, the reason why it’s so easy for us to talk about how much we love Edpuzzle is because it’s what we would have loved to have when we were teaching, and we made it with you in mind. We truly believe it has the power to make your life easier and help your students learn like never before.

After all, nothing is more precious to teachers than time, and this is a way to get more of it for yourself and your students.