Ann Marie Carrier is an Instructional Technology Specialist helping teachers to implement and integrate technology tools and applications to transform learning in the classroom to meet the needs of 21st century learners. Having taught in the classroom since 2001, she believes that the wealth of digital resources available to educators should be utilized to their capacity and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of learning for all. Ann Marie is currently working with the iTeach team at Kennesaw State University.
If Only My Head Could SWIVL… (Original post)
If I only had eyes in the back of my head, or ears, or four hands, or unlimited time, then maybe I would actually have some of the tools I would need to properly assess, meet and personalize the individual needs of each of my students. But unfortunately we don’t. There will never be a time when good teachers like yourself have enough of everything you can to make learning ideal for every situation and no matter how hard you try, it is impossible to be in four places at once…until now! Swivl brings you their multi-camera and robotic recording program and camera tool that can finally help to be the eyes and ears in the back of your head and help you see and hear everything going on around you while you deliver direct or digital lessons to students! Busy trying to assist a single group while feeling you are missing what’s going on i the next? Don’t worry, Swivl can help!
Whether you invest in a single recording camera or use their app on individual devices, this tool can help you deliver slides and recorded content to individual groups around your classroom while individually recording both audio and video of the groups collaboration and individual responses to embedded questions, content and discussion topics than can be watched and listened to later for assessment of learning. Although this program records what is happening in all groups synchronously, by specifying and choosing an individual group device to target during playback of the recorded video, you may focus in on their audio and video response while muting all others at any given moment. This unique feature will allow you to identify gaps or misconceptions in students understanding of content that they might have been afraid to ask or mention aloud, and assess if those silent students are participating and responding to questions when you are not around. Swivl has many benefits and lends itself easily as an assessment tool that assists with personalized learning as it records evidence of student learning, identifies issues caused by off task behaviors and conversation and confirms mastery of others while you are busy working addressing issues or questions from another group around the room. All of this information is available to you at any time as the video is uploaded to the cloud for further assessment by you at another time so that you can then adapt future lessons to meet the individual needs of all your students.
I encourage you to check out how this new tool can be used to assist you in the classroom, to benefit your students and to be used around your school to record lessons that quickly can be otherwise assumed to be entirely effective. Let Swivl be the eyes and ears of your next content lesson. You’ll be glad you did!