LaunchPad Solo for Literature includes five great videos of influential authors discussing their work and their writing process, but students can do more than just watch them. Using the LaunchPad video annotating tools, you can annotate these videos, or ask your students to share their thoughts directly on the content.

These same great tools work on any video that you upload as an instructor, or any video that you embed with a link from YouTube. If you have video resources you already incorporate into your classroom, you can add them to your LaunchPad Solo table of contents and easily assign them to students. If you would like your class to record themselves reciting poetry or re-enacting scenes from a play, you can annotate these videos to add comments and grades. See below for a full list of assignment suggestions and the technical details for uploading your own video files.

Assignment Suggestions

Critique a Video

Embed a video from YouTube or from another source. In your instructions, provide discussion questions. Require students to add 2-3 comments on the video that respond to the prompt. You may grade this assignment with a rubric.

Explain an Assignment

Some projects are complicated because they involve a lot of choice and many stages. Record yourself explaining the project, and upload the video to the Video Assignment tool. Require students to comment by asking a question or by proposing a topic.

Acting out a Scene from a Play

Although students often study plays as written texts, it can be fun and informative to have them act out scenes for their classmates. Assign small groups of students to record themselves acting out their favorite scene from a play and upload the video for the class to see. You can add your feedback and comments directly on the video.

Reading a Poem

Sound is important in poetry, and how a poem is read can be as important to understanding as the words themselves. Invite students to record themselves–either using video, or audio only–and share the results with the class. Consider giving each student a ‘mood’ for their reading, so that the class can hear how different tones and interpretations can change the impact of the poem.

Video Composition Assignment

If you require students to compose videos, they may upload their projects for grading using this tool. Rubrics are available.

How to Upload Videos

The LaunchPad user guide https://cmg.screenstepslive.com/s/MacmillanMedia/m/LaunchPadIM/c/51222 provides instructions for how to create and manage advanced assignment types such as discussion boards, dropboxes, links, and link collections. This page offers ideas for using advanced tools in class.

Video Assignment Tool

With video tools, you and students can upload or embed videos so that others may comment and reply along the video’s timeline. Student submitted videos may also be graded using a rubric.

File Size Considerations

To effectively use this tool, the following specifications are required:

Compression Guidelines

Before uploading, instructors and students should compress video files for these settings:

Here’s a list of FREE software for compressing video: