Hiding Easter Eggs in Screencast Videos

I know it’s November and we’re busy thinking about turkey and dressing and pecan pie, but I’ve got something else on my mind today…

Easter eggs. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. What does the Easter bunny have to do with technology or me being a better teacher for my students or anything, really?

The kind of easter egg I’m referring to is basically hidden information. But, hidden in that it’s easy to find, as long as your student is doing the work. This is the kind of easter egg that should actually keep your students more accountable.

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but alas, my incredible friend, Stacy, a teacher at South Habersham Middle School, is the one behind this little nugget…or egg. Stacy’s hip with the times. It’s 2018, you know. And when she started using Screencasting videos in her classroom, she had an epiphany.

I think we all know how easy it is for our students (heck, even our own selves) to get distracted when we’re on our computers, supposed to be doing super important work. So, Stacy got creative and added a little something extra to verify that her students actually watched the video assignments she was creating.

Essentially, Stacy hides little easter eggs in the Screencasting videos she creates for her students. An easter egg is a little snippet of information that could only be found or known if you were actually watching the video…and paying attention. By giving her students a couple of hidden eggs (specific tasks) sprinkled in her video assignments, she’s able to ensure her students are actually listening and following along. By the time their papers end up on her desk, she knows with one quick glance who did the full assignment.

So, the next time you’re making a Screencasting Video for one of your classes, try out this whole Easter-egging thing and share you clever ideas with me (#edtechforeveryone) and all of the other amazing, hard-working teachers in your life!

Fun ways to add Easter Eggs into your own video assignments:
-Prompt the student to circle certain words.
-Have the student draw a squiggly line instead of underlining a specific word or phrase.
-Randomly instruct the student to spell their name (or another word) backwards on their assignment.