The Wireless TabCam Streams, Records, Presents, and Shares

TabCam, a wireless streaming camera, works with iPads, Android tablets, and computers and can present live video with annotations, highlighting, and more without “being tethered to the camera.” The device captures lessons, which can be used for future reference and for use with substitute teachers and students who were not present for the lesson. The advantage of having a wireless device that has a battery life of eight hours can’t be underestimated in a mobile classroom. Take a look at the videos, which describe using TabCam for flipped and blended instruction. The price on the Touchboard site is listed at $527.99. Kathy Hagar, a Director of Technology on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, tells us that she purchased several at a price of about $515 each and that her teachers love them. If interested, do a query on the AVer site.

Free High Quality Flipped Video Tool

Bridget McCrea’s article in t|h|e Journal tells how teacher Natasha Rausch struggled with finding the right app for her lessons. When introduced to Knowmia Teach, she not only embraced the tool, but also made suggestions for improvement to its developers. She wanted to “incorporate a camera and video recording option so that teachers could record themselves over the slides...” FaceTime was added and other changes were made to make the product even better. Rausch says that the app helps her not only with homework videos, but also with materials to help students review content, lessons for use when she must be absent, and much more.

No to Flipped Learning

With the integration of technologies into K-12 and college classrooms, Stanford researchers at the Graduate School of Education warn us that while the idea of Flipped Classrooms is gaining momentum, it’s important to continue with hands-on learning. Exploration should, according to the research, come before reading a text or watching a video rather than, as in flipped classrooms, after.  In the Stanford study, students were much better able to understand what they were learning if they had the opportunity to explore on their own. Paulo Blikstein, the assistant professor of Education who directed the research, commented, “In this study, we are showing that research in education is useful because sometimes our intuitions about ‘what works’ are simply dead wrong.”

Flipped Learning Research

The Flipped Learning Network, Pearson, and George Mason University have been working together to review Flipped Learning.  According to the Flipped Learning Model whitepaper, to achieve student engagement through Flipped Learning, schools must have flexible environments that allow for varying learning modes and student levels; a student-centered learning culture; intentional content that teachers have evaluated; and professional educators who understand how to observe students, get help from others, and “tolerate controlled classroom chaos.”

A review of the research finds that while Flipped Learning seems promising for K-12 education, there is actually not much empirical evidence about the technique. Surveys of teachers using Flipped Learning found that nearly 70% said student achievement improved, most felt that student attitudes improved, and about 90% said that their job satisfaction improved.  Students surveyed reported favorable comments about the learning.

Concerns reported include the worry that teachers may rely on online videos, some of which may not be the best to use; the fact that some students may not have access to high speed Internet at home; the worry that face-to-face Socratic instruction will be missing because of time needed for activities; and according to journalist Gary Stager, “The model emphasizes traditional homework and lectures” simply flipped and is actually “a means of standardizing learning.”

Tech & Learning’s Top Sites and Apps of 2012

David Kapuler of Tech & Learning announces his top sites for education each year. This year he is including his favorite apps, as well. You’ll want to take a look at his 2011 list, since the top sites on that list are not repeated in this year’s list. The 2012 top ten sites/apps of the top 100 are: Mentor Mob, Pinterest, Nearpod, Edshelf, ClassBadges, FluencyFinder, PowToom, 3D Toad, SendHub, and BeeClip EDU. I think you’ll find it fun to browse through the sites and apps on Kapuler’s list to find those you want to use in your classroom. There are links to all the sites and apps on the list.

Education Week: Ed Tech Strategies

Education Week provides links to articles that target Ed-Tech Strategies for K-12 Leaders. This excellent Ed Week Spotlight can be downloaded free, or you can link to the resources online. Information is included on reimaging learning, flipped classrooms, common core online assessments, social media efforts, and balancing innovation with academic accountability. In the pdf, all the articles in the Spotlight are included.

What Really Is A Flipped Classroom?

Flipped classrooms? The catch phrase is confusing. The correct definition seems to be a classroom in which students go over the content to be covered before they come to class. They have the material available to them to learn at their own pace and they can go back and review it whenever they want to throughout their course. This content is online, often in the form of videos prepared by the teacher or an education publisher. The idea is to encourage students to take charge of their learning. Shelley Wright, in “The Flip: End of a Love Affair” tells how she became enamored and “unenamored” with her flipped classroom. That’s because, although she says that “flipping” helped her students, she saw that they were able to take an even larger part in their learning.  If the teacher or a publisher is preparing the content to be learned, it is, according to Wright, almost the same as giving a lecture. So—with the Flipped Classroom, can teachers be a guide on the side or are they simply a sage on the video stage? Are students capable of critically evaluating their own sources, or do they need teachers to provide them?  Shouldn’t teachers as guides help students to use the best sources? Even Wright provides what she calls a “rudimentary outline” of concepts to be learned.  Personally, I envision, perhaps incorrectly, the flipped classroom was what Wright is talking about—a combination of ways to help students take charge of their learning combined with group work and teacher attention to the needs of individuals.  No matter what the catch phrase, flexibility is the key as we search for what will work best for our students.

Using Internet Video

In the HP Blog Hub Tech Trends article, “Video for the NOT Flipped Classroom”,  Jim Vanides, member of the HP Office of Global Social Innovation, says that he is pleased with the use of  video available on the Internet to supplement lessons. Much can be gained from videos such as learning how to do something or learning about something, although it’s known. Vanides explains that there is more to teaching than showing a video.  Video can be perfect for supplementing or enriching almost any topic, but it isn’t, according to Vanides, a substitute for “human interaction (mentors, facilitators, expert guides) that provides a safe place to ask important questions, and then the opportunity to put what [students] THINK they know into practice.”

Technology Is Disrupting Education

The Education Week Teaching Now Blog  (06/01/12) includes comments about the Flipped Classroom and whether it liberates or devaluates the role of teachers.  What happens when students are learning from online sources? Does this free teachers to give more attention to student needs or reduce their role in the education of their students? According to Victor Hu of Goldman Saks, “Technology is doing to education what it’s done to countless other industries: disrupting it.” In an USA Today article focusing upon the Khan Academy, Hu said that the Academy method “is part of a looming tech-education iceberg.”  Will this iceberg bring about needed change in education and help teachers, online or offline, promote growth in student learning? Is student focus on digital devices and online sources part of the iceberg? If, and when, the iceberg hits, will homes and schools have the digital resources to keep up? The blog and the article claim money is flowing into ed tech, yet schools are struggling with their deflated tech budgets.