Thursday, April 25, 2013

RollyPolly - Interactive Video


RollyPolly is a new option in making watching videos interactive.  One problem with videos is being able to comment and discuss the video WHILE the video is playing.  RollyPolly lets users comment and interact with videos in real time which helps to improve engagement.  Users can sign in to comment using Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or by creating a free account.  RollyPolly supports Vimeo, YouTube, and Brightcove.  As users comment on the video, the comment is organized by the time stamp that the video was playing at that time which makes it easier for users to see discussion points based on the video.  There is also a polling option for letting others know whether you like the video or not.

You can use RollyPolly without an account by just providing the URL of the video and then choosing the layout for the commenting section.  The service will provide you a URL or HTML code that can be pasted onto a blog or webpage.  If you create an account can track videos, get analytic's, and have some other options for the video as well.  You can see a sample image and video below without creating an account.

I could see RollyPolly being used in the classroom for students to discuss the video they are watching while also asking questions about a certain point in the video as well.  Students could use this for video projects to gauge student's thoughts about their video as well.