Jan 23, 2026 Reflection

This week we learned how to make videos by recording our screen on Zoom, how to use H5P to make those videos interactive, and about the flipped classroom model.

For my practice video, I opted to do a brief tutorial for DeepL, an online translator. This is an AI based translator that learns from the translations it does. Interestingly, it is still pending approval by the Victoria school district, and is blocked on school wifi.

Let’s get into a quick comparison of translations of the sentence “I can make a screencast using Zoom and edit a video to post on WordPress.” Here are the translations offered by three major online translation tools, and my own fully human translation based on my knowledge of French and English.

DeepL: Je peux réaliser un screencast à l’aide de Zoom et monter une vidéo pour la publier sur WordPress.
Google Translate: Je peux réaliser un enregistrement d’écran avec Zoom et monter une vidéo pour la publier sur WordPress.
ChatGPT-5.2: Je peux réaliser un screencast avec Zoom et monter une vidéo à publier sur WordPress.
My translation: Je peux créer un screencast avec Zoom et faire le montage d’une vidéo afin de la poster sur WordPress.

There are only minor differences between the 4 options, none of which detract from the meaning. All three translation tools accurately chose the verb ‘monter‘ for editing a movie, which took me a bit of looking to find that this is also a valid way of translating edit. Interestingly, ChatGPT can be manipulated to change its translation of screencast, and DeepL can be manipulated to produce my translation word for word. In a final edit using all tools available to me, I would produce the following translation: Je peux réaliser un screencast avec Zoom et monter une vidéo afin de la diffuser sur WordPress. This combines elements of each translation, and an attentive reader may notice the word ‘diffuser‘ which does not appear in previous renditions, which I remembered with the help of a dictionary.

Personally I’ve found that using tools like WordPress and H5P is not intuitive for me, and is a somewhat time consuming series of blindly following instructions one step at a time. I think it’s a good skill to have in my back pocket, but I don’t anticipate using it much as a teacher.

Flipped classrooms essentially take the lecturing time, and send it home with the students for them to read, watch, or listen to on their own time, so class time can be used for asking questions and engaging with the material. I feel that a flipped classroom wouldn’t work for my classes. Although this model might be beneficial for some students, far more students would be left behind if they are required to do engage with the materials at home. In particular, students who have limited computer access at home, have difficulties motivating themselves to work independently, whose home life isn’t a positive learning environment, and who are particularly busy with extracurriculars would be significantly impacted.