Historically, teacher observations happened infrequently, and were usually done by another school staff member who would sit in on a class. The observer would be tasked with watching the whole class and analyzing their behavior to review the teacher’s performance and provide professional development. A key element of the observation was measuring student engagement in the form of questions that were asked, dialogue that took place, and more. But this one-to-many setup didn’t allow authentic observation and left gaps in knowledge as to the level of engagement the students were experiencing. The main problem with traditional observations is that they were too infrequent, having an observer in the class changed its dynamic, and made it less effective. Secondarily, an observer didn’t have the ability to witness everything that was taking place in the classroom due to the physical limitations of not being able to be everywhere at once.
With the push to modernize observations, teachers and schools have been given video tools to accelerate the rate at which observations and feedback are given. This has helped accelerate skill development meaningfully, as demonstrated by Harvard’s Best Foot Forward study. However, observing a class remotely using technology limits the ability to measure student engagement.
From the beginning of the move to bring technology into the classroom, Swivl has been a leader by giving teachers a sense of empowerment to use tech in their teaching practice. Swivl provides video reflection and skill development hardware and software solutions for teachers and students. The product lines focus on providing teachers with new ways to give and receive professional feedback. Swivl solves the problem of recording and sharing video content that is good enough quality to use for professional development, coaching, and self-reflection. The cloud platform’s interactivity allows teachers to share their videos and receive feedback in a private space.
The latest addition to Swivl’s line of hardware and software features in the C Series Robot line is the Multi-Marker Capability. This feature creates new opportunities by allowing you to capture any student’s voice by connecting up to four additional markers to your C Series robot. Using the audio mixpanels you can isolate the audio picked up by any marker to tune in to individual student group discussions. Using Swivl’s Multi-Marker Capability, audio cues can be used to measure student engagement levels in a new way.
Swivl’s technology provides a breakthrough in how modern video observations are done. You can now measure how often questions are asked and by whom. You can evaluate the quality of questions asked against the material being taught. During group activities, you can isolate one group and listen to their dialogue to understand engagement and comprehension. Or simply observe a group to discern whether they are following tasks when the teacher isn’t working with that group. Now, with Swivl’s Multi-Marker Capability, you can measure student engagement remotely during group activities without the tradeoffs of having to be physically present everywhere at once.The potential is limitless!
Do you think it might help you to learn more about student-teacher interactions? Want to see it in action? Check out what a multi-marker video sounds like now (Just click on the audio controls to select who you want to listen to!):
Multi-Marker Demo Video
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Swivl’s technology is being put to use in over 20,000 schools across the globe. Let our Educator Success representative tell you how Swivl can help you reach your goals and transform your classroom using video. Sign up now to qualify for a free 30-day demo robot