Adding Interactive Videos in Nearpod

Welcome back to a new semester and academic year! Without a doubt, we have come back to a lot of changes this fall, ranging in everything from how and when we and our students are on campus, to how we deliver our lessons, both practical and theoretical. We’ve even seen some changes with the technology we use, including new features introduced in BB Learn. One of my favourites topping the list of changes is the new interactive video feature in Nearpod.

Much like the way you can create interactive videos by using a combination of Microsoft Forms and Stream or the web-based tool EdPuzzle, you can now create the same within Nearpod to include these engaging activities in both your live and student-paced lessons. This allows you to add videos that support your content and keep your students accountable for watching and participating in the activity.

Creating an interactive video in Nearpod couldn’t be easier. You can either create a standalone video that you can share with your students or add to a Nearpod lesson now or at a later time, or you can create one from within an existing Nearpod lesson.

Regardless of the option you choose, your first step will be to choose the video you want your students to watch and interact with. You can choose to upload an image from YouTube by copying and pasting a video URL or you can upload a video from your computer if you have one of your own you’d like to use. You can also choose one that’s ready to go from the Nearpod Video Library, complete with activities which you can add to, edit or delete as necessary. Finally, you can click on My Videos to choose from any videos you previously uploaded and added activities to, which you can also edit.

Once your choice of video is made, it’s time to add the interactions. Simply go to the point in the video where you’d like your first interaction to be placed, and click Add Activity to choose from an open-ended question or a multiple choice question.

Continue adding activities until you’re finished and click to save. From there, you can include your interactive video in a lesson where it will be one of many slides like any other, you can share it by itself in a live or self-paced lesson as any other Nearpod assignment or you can present it individually in ‘Front of Class’ mode and have everyone watch it at once, pausing at the activities for discussion and whole-class interaction.

Adding videos to a Nearpod lesson has always helped strengthen your content and delivery by providing smaller chunks of information. With so many options, however, Nearpod’s new feature further supports your learners by allowing you to provide new interactivity that will increase both engagement and retention.