This take on document-based questions turns students into mentors and instructors

For as long as I have been a teacher, I have been showing videos in class. While not a revolutionary idea, back when I first started I would show a video related to the lesson and hand out an accompanying question sheet to make sure the students were focusing on the main ideas. I would call out helpful reminders like “Number 3 is coming up!” to ensure that students were paying attention.

They were not.

My high school students were sometimes doodling on the paper, staring out the window, or hoping to just get the answers at the end from myself or a friend. But the content was so good and so relevant! I thought. These were primary source accounts! How could students not be engaged? What could I change to make the topic and delivery more relevant? That’s when the lightbulb went off.

The VBQ

In a field where lecture-based learning is the norm, I began to reflect on my own education experience and what kept me engaged. I still believed in the power of video to engage students, but that perhaps there was a way to tweak my process.

I took inspiration from the standard document-based question activity, or DBQ. In a DBQ, students are given an essay prompt and must use the given documents and their own knowledge to support their response. There are often specific questions following each document to help ensure understanding of the material. My own take on that, which I call video-based question, or VBQ, is a series of videos with critical thinking and higher-level questions. The novelty of this idea is that students are in control of their learning.

We started this year in September by completing a VBQ on two current events from June on same-sex marriage and the shooting in Charleston. Each student was given a Chromebook and a link to a Google Form. The Google Form had three embedded videos and six questions prompting students to interpret them. Following a video of President Obama’s speech on same-sex marriage, students responded to the question, “What does this court ruling mean for the people of America?” which asked students to think not only about what they heard, but the implications of the decision.

Students were also asked to complete a feedback form about the activity itself. What did they think of this new practice? One student wrote, “It’s easier to answer questions because I can pause the video or go back to something I missed.” Another stated, “I really enjoyed this activity because this is one of the first experiences where we have control over our learning and it suits well because everyone has a different pace.”

Isn’t that what we want for our students: to put them in the driver’s seat and allow them to control their own learning experience? Of course, they still need road signs (what to examine), speed limits (we don’t want them flying through the videos), and occasional policing.

Getting it right

After the initial feedback from students regarding the activity, I decided to take it a step further and allow students to create their own VBQs on topics related to World War II. Students worked in small groups and everyone had his or her own specific responsibility (“tech supervisor,” “question creator,” “videographer,” and “additional sources curator”) for researching their assigned topic. Through their research, students learned about Japanese Internment, the Holocaust, and U.S. battles in Europe and the Pacific. I did not get up in front of the class except to present the goal of the project and the procedures. The learning was entirely in their hands. Students were required to meet the very same New Jersey Core Content Standards that teachers include in their lesson plans; they also had to design their VBQs incorporating relevant videos and additional sources such as maps, graphs, and political cartoons.

During the creation process, I invited my department chair, supervisor, and principal in to observe the activity. They were beyond impressed with the level of engagement. Students who have been known to lose focus in other classes were so engaged in this activity that I felt as if I were bothering them or being disruptive by checking in on their progress.

Students were given three days to work with their partners to create a VBQ that would take approximately thirty-five minutes to complete. Students took this very seriously. In our debrief, students commented that they felt pressure to make their VBQ “perfect” because they knew they were responsible for teaching their peers. One student told me, “If we get it wrong, then they get it wrong.” This part of the project was then followed by three days of viewing the VBQs individually. Each student watched a VBQ that he or she did not create and completed the student-created questions about the topic.

The feedback from the students about each other’s VBQs was quite revealing. They saw the value in learning this way and appreciated having the ability to control their own learning. Pausing to write, replaying to clarify a statement—everything is in the students’ hands. They also had the opportunity to ask me questions without feeling that they were interrupting the class. It was truly wonderful to see such a consistently high level of engagement throughout the project.

Update: In response to requests, I am sharing some VBQ examples. Here is the first VBQ ^[1] I gave to students with questions regarding the videos and feedback on the activity, and here is one of the VBQs ^[2] made by my academic-level juniors.

Kelly Grotrian teaches social studies at East Brunswick High School in New Jersey.

Two educators go head-to-head on which device is better for classrooms

Ed. note: In partnership with Lesson Planet ^[3], we asked their professional development resource arm, PD Learning Network ^[4], for the most popular videos on their site. We’ll be featuring a limited number of these, one a week, each Monday.

In the last few years iPads and Chromebooks have both seen astronomical growth in education becoming two of the most popular devices for classrooms and one-to-one programs. In light of that it’s only natural that power users and fans will compare and contrast their merits, given that so many schools have limited funds for devices.

That’s basically the setup for this spirited debate by Jennifer Gibson, CEO of PD Learning Network and an iPad connoisseur and Rich Dixon, vice president of professional learning and a devoted Chromebook user.

“Sometimes you’re forced to have one or the other,” Gibson said. Together the pair dissect everything from price — $400-$600 for an iPad mini; $250 for Rich’s basic Chromebook — to mobility, weight, screen resolution, apps, and camera quality.

While Dixon and Gibson award one device a point in each of these areas, they concede a lot of the choice comes down to factors such as budget, grade level, and desired use. Chromebooks may be simpler in cases where multiple students have to use the same device, but iPads can work reasonably well in those situations. Students in grades 4-12 may have to do more writing and thus may prefer the tactile keyboard of the Chromebook; younger students may enjoy passing around an iPad.

“I think a lot comes down to your purposes,” said Dixon.

Pros and cons for educators considering Twitter’s new live video streaming service

Ever since Twitter introduced its live streaming service, Periscope ^[5], earlier this year, educators have become enamored. It’s not hard to understand why. The video app is integrated right into your Twitter account and boasts an impressive number of education applications, from broadcasting a riveting unconference discussion for a global audience to impromptu blended learning for students. But while opportunities abound, so do privacy and other concerns.

Here are five things you should know about this new technology and its implications for schools.

It’s easy to use.

On the home screen, you can see video streams from the people you follow on Periscope—and if someone is streaming live, that video feed will appear at the top. You can watch Periscoped videos live or replay them, but the video replays are only available for 24 hours before they disappear.

Anyone following you on Twitter can click on the link that’s embedded automatically in this tweet to watch your live stream. Viewers also can comment on the video stream in real time, and these comments appear as text messages on the screen.

Schools are getting creative with it.

Since Periscope launched this spring, educators have discovered tons of useful applications for the app, such as for streaming virtual field trips or for staff development.

Jerry Blumengarten, a retired New York City teacher who collects and shares information about ed-tech resources online as Cybrary Man ^[6], has created a web page ^[7] devoted to Periscope’s use in education.

Blumengarten streamed a visit he made to the World Trade Center Museum through Periscope, and he said the app can be used to share similar virtual field trips with students, who can comment and ask questions of the video’s host in real time.

“I think it’s great to be able to do something like that, because many people can’t get to these locations,” he said. “Especially for kids—you’re opening new doors and taking them out of the classroom and into the world to explore. It’s extremely valuable.”

Blumengarten also noted some of the early applications for professional development, he’s seen. Recently, he said, there was a session on Periscope at a recent Edcamp he attended, and he decided to stream it with Periscope. “I had over 70 people watching it in my network all around the world and thanking me for letting them see this.”

The Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education has created the Twitter account @periscopeEDU ^[8] and the hashtag #periscopeEDU for discussing and exploring educational uses of Periscope.

Program leaders also have created a Google Doc ^[9] with several ideas from educators, such as having students stream “Shark Tank”-style pitches and get real-time feedback from a panel of experts online—or having them watch streams of live news events and come up with questions for the broadcaster.

Privacy is a big concern.

Andrew Campbell ^[10], a fifth grade teacher in Ontario, has been experimenting with Periscope as he tries to decide whether to use it in his classroom. One concern he has is privacy.

“Because it’s under the Twitter umbrella, all of the feeds fall under the Twitter terms of service, and so all of that video can be used by Twitter and shared with third parties for marketing purposes,” he said. “As a personal user, that’s one thing—but as an educator, you have to think carefully about how comfortable you are with sending video of your students out to be used like that.”

Periscope does include some privacy features that educators can use to protect their students. For instance, if you don’t want your location to be revealed when you begin streaming, you can turn the location sharing off. You can turn off the option to send out a tweet when you begin streaming, so your stream is limited to those who follow you on Periscope and not Twitter. You can make the live chat functionality available only to your Periscope followers, and you can make your stream available only to certain users, such as parents or administrators.

Some see Periscope videos as “disposable.”

Another issue to consider is the ephemeral nature of the video on Periscope, Campbell argued.

“It’s basically producing disposable video,” he noted. “I worry what message we’re sending when we introduce that into the classroom. Are we telling our students that their learning is disposable? If I send a student’s presentation out on Periscope, and it’s only there for 24 hours and then it’s gone, what sort of a statement does that make about what I think about that student’s presentation?”

Periscope’s supporters point out that once you finish a video stream, you can save the video to your phone and then upload it to a cloud storage service such as Dropbox or Google Drive for archiving.

It won’t be right for every situation.

As with any technology tool, it’s important to consider what you’re aiming to accomplish—and whether Periscope is the best tool for the task.

Campbell said the quality of the video can be choppy at times, compared with high-quality video streaming services such as uStream ^[11], which his school has used to stream live events in the past. For formal events such as graduation, Periscope probably isn’t the best streaming tool, he surmised.

“It seems to me that the main advantage Periscope has is that it’s very convenient,” he said. “It’s on a phone, and the bandwidth requirements for it are less, so it can be set up pretty quickly. It’s a quick and dirty way for capturing and streaming video right away.”

Similarly, Campbell isn’t sure it’s the best tool for recording classroom activities in most cases. “I’d probably just record these on my phone and then upload the video to YouTube,” he said, explaining that if something unpredictable happened, he could then edit the video or choose not to upload it.

But Periscope does hold promise as a platform for streaming or watching live events while also getting or giving real-time feedback—provided it develops a critical mass of users.

“By broadcasting something that’s happening in a classroom to a wider audience, you’re able to get some sort of interactive feedback happening in real time—which is not something that’s currently available [elsewhere],” Campbell concluded.

The former Editor in Chief of eSchool News, Dennis Pierce is now a freelance writer covering education and technology. He has been following the ed-tech space for nearly 20 years. Dennis can be reached at denniswpierce@gmail.com ^[12].

One teacher recounts the transformation in learning, collaboration, and creativity he’s seen after adding a GoPro

Rewind to May 2007. . .

I had not planned to purchase a GoPro while out shopping. However, it was on sale, I had a coupon, two gift cards, and two weeks in the Florida Keys was just a moon phase away. Needless to say the summer spent fishing, snorkeling, and kayaking in the Keys yielded very few incredible pictures. I had purchased the Digital Hero 3, the first GoPro with sound. After that experience my GoPro stayed packed up with all my kayak gear and did not see the light of day too often.

Fast forward to August 2013 . . .    

It was the start of a new school year and I found myself teaching six classes of eighth grade technology and one class of TV Production. I was intimidated to be teaching TV Production and having to produce a daily news show for the school. I was not a stranger to project-based video projects, but a daily TV show was a different monster.

The first thing I did was dust off my old GoPro, purchase a remote control car, and a bag of adhesive mounts. The TV production students started using the remote control car and my old GoPro to drive around school and film different events. I am not sure what was more exciting for the students, to see themselves on the morning announcements or to have them jump in front of a remote control car running down the hallway during class change.

This setup worked for a while, but as with any type of older technology, there were limits. I had to find a way to get a new GoPro that had Wi-Fi capabilities, so the entire production would be simplified. Significant time was spent looking for ways to upgrade our equipment and I had my eyes set on a GoPro Hero 3 Black+ camera. After meeting a sales rep for GoPro at FETC 2014 and entering an education contest, I won a GoPro Hero 3 Black+ with accessories for my classroom. In a matter of days the GoPro started to reshape my technology classroom in many positive ways.

(Next page: Photo and video projects inspire students)

I started with the basics; pictures. What middle school student doesn’t like to see their picture posted on the morning news show or on the school’s website?  Simply taking pictures of students in class working on group projects and posting them on our class Edmodo pages started to create interest and excitement. Students would use the camera during class to take pictures for projects and presentations, not only for my technology class, but also for their academic classes.

It was extremely simple to train my students how to use the GoPro and my expectations for using the camera during class. They became extremely protective it, since we only had one, and they went to great lengths to make sure anyone that used it followed our classroom rules. Students that passed a certification exam had their picture taken with the GoPro and posted on the bulletin boards in class. The GoPro lived in my classroom and spent most of its time mounted to either a tripod or a jaws: flex clamp. Since the GoPro was in such demand, I connected it with an iPod touch so the students could control the camera more efficiently and effectively using the mobile app. This sped up the use of the camera so multiple students/groups could use the camera during each period.

Of course, students quickly mastered the photo mode, and were eager to move on to shooting their own video. The diverse video modes allowed students to select from a variety of frame rates and angles specific to their project or presentation. After students recorded their projects, they transferred their footage to a flash drive, so they could edit the video on either their home computer or on one of the classroom computers, using GoPro Studio software. Such versatility from a single camera makes the price point of the GoPro the perfect choice for the classroom. Students preferred to use the chest and head mounts to create a true point-of-view experience for the viewer in many of their projects. They used such mounts for videos they created for their Health, Science, and P.E. classes.

As time passed, we found that more and more of the content of our news show was comprised of student-made videos using the GoPro. These students created videos created quite a bit of excitement for our news show and got even more students interested. Students started bringing in video projects and movies they had created at home with their own GoPros for academic classes.

This was a win-win situation for both students and teachers. Students were having their work featured on the morning news show and seen by 1,260 peers, this improved self-esteem along with the quality of student work. Teachers were having incredible projects turned in for their classes, as well as student created content they could use for both review and for flipping their classrooms.

Charles Moseley is a technology and TV production teacher at Switzerland Point Middle School ^[13] in Fruit Cove, FL.

TED, a nonprofit organization devoted to spreading big ideas through a series of conferences and a free video platform, has continued its expansion into education by launching a brand-new TED-Ed ^[14] website with tools to help teachers use video in the classroom.

The new platform allows educators to customize videos with follow-up questions and assignments, TED says—an initiative that could help power the “flipped learning” model.

This is the second phase of TED’s expansion into education, following the launch of a TED-Ed YouTube channel last month with several educational videos. (See “Free video lessons offered by leaders in innovation, thinking ^[15].”) Five weeks after its launch, the channel has attracted more than 2.4 million views, 42,000 subscribers, and more than 3,000 comments, TED says.

With the new TED-Ed platform, “you can use, tweak, or completely redo any lesson featured on TED-Ed, or create lessons from scratch based on any video from YouTube,” the organization says.

In other words, the site allows users to take any useful educational video, not just TED’s, and easily create a customized lesson around the video. Users can distribute the lessons, publicly or privately, and track their impact on a class or an individual student.

See also:

Why Khan Academy is so popular—and why teachers shouldn’t feel threatened ^[16]

Flipped learning: A response to five common criticisms ^[17]

Empowering Education with Video ^[18]

Teachers also can browse TED content based on the subject they teach. Each video on the TED-Ed site is tagged to a curriculum subject and is accompanied by supplementary materials to help teachers and students use or understand the video lesson. Supplementary materials include multiple-choice questions, open-answer questions, and links to more information on the topic.

But the most innovative feature of the site is that educators can customize these elements using a new functionality called “flipping.” When a video is flipped, the supplementary materials can be edited, and the resulting lesson is rendered on a new and private web page. The creator of the lesson then can distribute it and track an individual student’s progress as he or she completes the assignment.

What’s more, visitors to the site are not restricted to flipping the featured TED-Ed videos: They also can create a lesson from scratch using any video from YouTube that permits third-party embedding. Users can offer these lessons for wider distribution, and the best of them will be featured on the TED-Ed site for others to make use of.

“Our goal here is to offer teachers free tools in a way they will find empowering,” said TED Curator Chris Anderson. “This new platform allows them to take any useful educational video, not just TED’s, and easily create a customized lesson plan around it. Great teaching skills are never displaced by technology. On the contrary, they’re amplified by it. That’s our purpose here: to give teachers an exciting new way to extend learning beyond classroom hours.”

TED-Ed’s commitment to creating “lessons worth sharing” is an extension of TED’s mission of spreading great ideas, the organization says. The platform was made possible by a $1.25 million grant from Kohl’s Department Stores.

See also:

Why Khan Academy is so popular—and why teachers shouldn’t feel threatened ^[16]

Flipped learning: A response to five common criticisms ^[17]

Empowering Education with Video ^[18]

Sal Khan, whose online Khan Academy ^[19] serves up video tutorials to more than 6 million students worldwide each month, wants to reassure teachers that the free educational service isn’t out to take their jobs—nor is it a statement about a teacher’s ability to deliver a lesson effectively.

On the contrary, Khan said, teachers who are using the service with their students feel more empowered than ever.

“It liberates the classroom,” he told attendees of the National School Boards Association’s 72^nd annual conference in Boston, “and teachers’ creativity comes out.”

Warm and engaging, with a self-deprecating sense of humor, Khan discussed his nonprofit venture during an April 22 keynote speech to a few thousand school board members, who interrupted him with frequent rounds of applause.

Khan Academy now contains more than 3,100 free video tutorials, mostly on math and science—but the site has begun expanding its scope to other subjects, too.

What started as an idea to tutor his 12-year-old cousin Nadia from a distance in 2004 has now surpassed 140 million lessons streamed online and is helping 10 times more students learn each month than the entire number of students who’ve graduated from Harvard University since 1636, Khan said.

And the reason for the website’s success is simple: Students can access the content “when and how they want it.”

When he first posted his video tutorials on YouTube in 2006, his relatives said they liked the YouTube versions better than Khan’s live tutoring, because they were more comfortable watching the videos privately on their own time. No one was looking over their shoulder, or waiting for them to indicate they understood the material before moving on.

In fact, this ability to engage with the content in private—over and over again, if necessary—was cited as a key advantage in a video testimonial that Khan showed of a man who was able to earn a degree in electrical engineering with help from Khan Academy.

After admitting that he’d had to watch some of the website’s videos 20 or 30 times before understanding their high-level math concepts, the man noted: “There’s no [human] tutor who could sit with me and go over the same material 20 or 30 times.”

In 2009, encouraged by the reaction his video tutorials were getting on YouTube, Khan took a leap of faith, quit his day job as a hedge fund analyst, and established Khan Academy as a nonprofit organization. The site eventually caught the attention of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, whose Gates Foundation supported it with a $2 million grant. Google also has contributed $2 million, allowing Khan to hire staff and pursue his dream of “providing a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere.”

Now, the site’s video tutorials are sequenced, so students can move through increasing levels of competency on the path to mastery. This is how video games work, Khan said—but until now, it’s not how schools traditionally have operated.

Schools, he explained, are based on a fixed academic calendar, with student mastery as the variable. This should be the other way around, he said, with mastery as the constant and time as the variable … and with help from Khan Academy, it can be.

Many teachers are using the Khan Academy tutorials as part of a “flipped learning” method of instruction, in which they have students watch the lesson content as homework and then ask students to apply what they’ve learned through classroom-based projects or activities. That way, teachers can spend their time walking around the room and making sure every child understands the lesson, providing individual help to students who might need it.

In addition to video tutorials, there are also exercises that let students apply the concepts they’re learning on the computer. As with other instructional courseware systems—most of which would cost schools a hefty licensing fee—the software that underlies the free Khan Academy system lets teachers see which problems their students got wrong, as well as how much time their students spent on each problem.

Armed with this information, teachers can come to class knowing exactly what their students know, he said—and what concepts their students are still struggling with.

In a pilot project with schools in Mountain View, Calif., seventh-grade students made significant progress on their end-of-year state exams after using Khan Academy for a full school year, Khan said. From 2010 to 2011, the percentage of seventh graders who scored in the “advanced” or “proficient” groups jumped from 23 percent to 41 percent, he said.

The national media has picked up on the story as well. One of the major TV news networks recently broadcast a story about Khan Academy, reporting from a school using the free online service. The reporter found one fifth-grade student who was working on trigonometry after watching the Khan Academy videos.

The reporter asked her if she thought that was fifth-grade math she was working on, and Khan said she answered with a sly smile, as if she were getting away with something: “No, I think it’s actually sixth-grade math.”

Over the past few years, the Flipped Learning method ^[20] has created quite a stir. Some argue that this teaching method will completely transform education, while others say it is simply an opportunity for boring lectures to be viewed in new locations.

While the debate goes on, the concept of Flipped Learning is not entirely new. Dr. Eric Mazur of Harvard University has been researching this type of learning since the early ’90s, and other educators have been applying pieces of the Flipped Learning method for even longer.

It’s our opinion that one of the reasons this debate exists is because there is no true definition of what Flipped Learning is. The method is often simplified to videos being watched at home and homework being done at school. If this is the definition, then we should all be skeptical. Instead, we should look closer at Dr. Mazur’s work ^[21]. The components he includes in his implementation make for a thoughtful, rigorous experience.

Dr. Mazur has a video ^[22] describing his integrated Flipped Learning and Peer Instruction methods, but the major points are:

• Students prepare for class by watching video, listening to podcasts, reading articles, or contemplating questions that access their prior knowledge.
• After accessing this content, students are asked to reflect upon what they have learned and organize questions and areas of confusion.
• Students then log in to a Facebook-like social tool, where they post their questions.
• The instructor sorts through these questions prior to class, organizes them, and develops class material and scenarios that address the various areas of confusion. The instructor does not prepare to teach material that the class already understands.
• In class, the instructor uses a Socratic method of teaching, where questions and problems are posed and students work together to answer the questions or solve the problems. The role of the instructor is to listen to conversations and engage with individuals and groups as needed.

With the above framework in mind, we tapped Twitter to learn what educators say are the downsides to implementing the Flipped Learning method, and we have provided our opinions that address the five major criticisms.

Implementing the Flipped Learning method makes me, as the teacher, much less important.

This could not be further from the truth! In a Flipped Learning environment, the teachers are more important than ever.

If they have provided students with an array of rich resources and have set up opportunities for students to think deeply and question what they have learned at home before coming to class, these teachers are going to see that there are a wide array of new questions that arise that might never have come up during a standard class period. In these cases, teachers are really going to need to know their stuff, and they are going to need to be able to individualize on the fly—quite possibly five, 10, or even 20 times in a class period.

Also, teachers are also going to need to figure out the right questions to ask when students come to class. These questions should have students address their misconceptions about and apply their knowledge concerning what they have learned on their own. During a conversation with Dr. Mazur, he shared that this is the most difficult, but also the most crucial, part.

In addition to providing an avenue for students to access their learning material at home, technology will play a crucial role for the teacher in the coming years. Smart systems are currently being designed that are going to help teachers learn more about their classes than ever before. For example, Dr. Mazur’s Learning Catalytics software ^[23] allows students to engage with application problems during class. Students respond to these problems using their individual laptops, smart phones, and tablets. The system then keeps track of all responses and intelligently points students to other classmates with whom they can debate their responses. The system records all of the responses over the entire span of the course, allowing a teacher to visualize the learning and the struggles of all students.

Kids do not want to sit at home watching boring video lectures on the web. At least in the classroom, they get some kind of interaction with me and with their peers. This is just a lot of excitement over bad pedagogy.

We completely agree that simply watching a boring lecture video will not get kids excited about this process. However, is the fact that there are bad examples of lecture videos a problem with the model—or with the implementation of the model?

Certainly, there are opportunities to improve these resources in ways that ramp up interaction and pedagogy. To begin, do not replace an hour-long classroom lecture with an hour-long video. Audio and video should be used in short, five- to 10-minute segments, and there should be opportunities for students to interact with the information in these videos in a variety of ways. Some teachers are experimenting with unique ways of doing this. For example, by including links within YouTube videos, Jac De Haan demonstrates ^[24] how a teacher can basically quiz students and provide them with immediate feedback and explanation within the same video. Ramsey Musallam also has a method ^[25] he uses that combines video clips with Google Forms to gather feedback from his students. Both of these methods can be used as part of a cycle of inquiry.

Also, give students a voice in this process. Provide them with several videos made by different teachers who present with different styles. Ask students to evaluate what they like and what they do not like. Have students produce video that teaches some of the content being taught in class. Look at what they do that excites or turns off their classmates. Over time, you will learn what has the biggest impact, and your students will appreciate having the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Make sure you provide more than just video. You are going to have students who want to watch video, but you are also going to have students who would rather look at a concept map or read a bit of text. Mix it up and keep your students guessing. You do not have to have all of this material from the start; you can build your library over time.

We all know how students like to interact with one another as well. Challenge students to create Skype study groups that meet on occasion to discuss their thinking on topics about which they are learning. Have them reflect on how these discussions are changing their thinking.

Finally, keep your eye out for the amazing resources that we are going to gain access to over time. For example, there is initial work ^[26] being organized by Chris Anderson who runs the famous TED conference and website to create educational resources tapping some of the best minds in the world.

Most of my kids do not even have internet access at home. There’s no way they can watch all of this video.

While this statement is true in many places, there are a variety of options in how these resources can be shared with students.

First, schools should provide opportunities outside of the standard school day for when the school library is open, allowing students to use school computers. In addition, there should be a loaner program in place where devices can be checked out for an evening’s use. This loaner program might include smaller, less expensive devices such as iPod Touches and various types of tablets. And while on the topic of smaller devices, while many students do not have computers with internet connections at home, we do find that instead, many have other digital devices that connect to the internet using cell towers.

Taking these ideas a bit further, audio and video material can be burned to DVDs so they can be accessed on students’ home DVD players. The price of these players have come down so much that they are in almost any home. Furthermore, schools might work with local libraries and community centers to make access to this material very easy for students. We can agree that it will be quite important for teachers and school leaders to understand their communities and think creatively about ways to create equitable environments for learning.

Where is the accountability? How do I even know if kids are watching the videos?

There have always been concerns about students not completing the work they need to complete at home. Flipped Learning will not be the magic potion that fixes this issue. However, if we look again at Dr. Mazur’s method, he does have accountability built into the process. He requires every student to submit reflections, questions, and concerns before each class period. Teachers should be posting thought-provoking questions that guide students as they explore the at-home material. The work at home should not be without some sort of focus. Additionally, in class, there should be a tremendous amount of interactivity among students as the teacher circulates around the room. If the teacher sees there is a student not taking part in the conversation, this can be easily addressed.

To continue, we would guess that a large majority of students who do not do their work at home are not doing it because they are either bored and feel like the work is there simply to keep them busy, or they are struggling and do not understand the work. So to address accountability, teachers also must think through these issues.

If students are bored, they need to be presented with resources to explore at home that go deeper into the topics the class is learning. They need to be given more advanced issues that require them to make connections with others outside of the school building and around the world. The teacher, who we already said will be more important than ever, is going to need to individualize work for these students. The teacher also should provide more opportunities for these students to create additional resources for the rest of the class to use that might further assist those who are struggling. The key to motivating students who are bored is to honor the knowledge they have, challenge them to dig deeper, and not hold back their potential. If you take a look at Khan Academy ^[27], you will see that students can chart their own path through curriculum and receive instant feedback from problems they tackle on the site. This real-time, self-directed journey through curriculum certainly can help some students with boredom and frustration.

Students who are struggling require a different approach, and as Greg Green ^[28], principal of Clintondale High School, told us, “[The Flipped Learning method] eliminates the learning obstacles that all students face when they are practicing without an expert.” Struggling students need to be offered safe places where they can ask questions and share their confusion anonymously and without ridicule from peers. This type of environment can be set up within different social response tools, like Edmodo ^[29], Schoology ^[30], or Nimbus ^[31] (powered by Schoolwires). They also need more time and individual attention to learn material. With the resources created for the Flipped Learning method, students can watch or listen over and over again while pausing the content, working a bit, and then playing more. Then, as students do their “homework” at school, teachers can immediately address problems as they are walking around and listening to conversations. Teachers know the students who are struggling, and they can give these students the attention they need. Through this process, as students see success, their confidence and work ethic usually skyrockets.

As a teacher, I don’t have the time or the expertise to produce all of the videos required to teach like this.

Schools are going to need to be very smart about how they address this concern. In our opinion, not all teachers should be making these videos for their classes. School leaders need to find those who have the highest abilities in combining the subject knowledge they have with their ability to present this knowledge in the most creative, engaging ways—even if these teachers are not in their own schools.

Two chemistry teachers who are early pioneers in using the Flipped Learning method, Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann, have already figured this out. They quickly learned that they each have different strengths that motivate individual students in unique ways, so they teach using a team approach. Even though one teaches AP chemistry and the other teaches regular chemistry, they alternate who produces the content for each class. They understand that their students appreciate the different teaching styles. At Clintondale, Greg Green agrees as well. In a recent podcast, he told us that he does not care where the videos come from. Whether from his school, from another state, or even somewhere on the other side of the globe, his goal is to have the best teachers he can find teaching his students every single day.

The other key point to remember is that an entire school should not jump into teaching this way with two feet. Begin by finding a core group of teachers who might be interested in experimenting with this method. Charge them with trying a Flipped Learning lesson once or twice a week. As a leader, meet with these teachers regularly so that you can learn about the successes and issues that arise. Over time, these teachers will be starting a library of content that they will be able to use as a base for years to come. With success, more teachers might become interested. They should be encouraged and given the professional development they need at that time to get started. They also should be partnered with the pioneering teachers, who can serve as mentors.

Creating tutorial videos is certainly not for every teacher, but there are other components that can involve every teacher. Remember that the really important component of this process is to develop high-level, engaging questions that serve to deepen thinking and address misconceptions. These other teachers can help in the development of such questions. They can then use these questions in their classes, whether they are “flipping” or not. Also, they can be taught how to scour the web to find high-quality resources that have already been produced and can become resources for all teachers. Through this team approach, all teachers in the community can be involved in ways with which they are comfortable. (By the way, students also can be tapped to locate high-quality resources from around the world.)

Conclusion: Make thinking ‘visible’

One of the most important concepts in teaching is creating opportunities to make thinking visible. When teachers can really see the thinking of their students, they can provide these students with the support and encouragement they need to be successful. We believe that by using the thoughtful approach to the Flipped Learning method described at the beginning of this article, teachers have an amazing opportunity to gain insights into where students are struggling.

To hear more about how the Flipped Learning method has impacted students, teachers, and entire schools, we encourage you to listen to Dr. Mazur’s BLC11 keynote ^[32], as well as our podcasts with Greg Green ^[33], Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann ^[34], and Bob Goodman ^[35]. We are sure you will enjoy them.

Alan November is the Founder and Brian Mull is the Director of Innovation at November Learning. They invite your questions through their website at http://www.novemberlearning.com ^[36].

Knowing that good teaching leads to increased student achievement, the Great Prairie Area Education Agency (GPAEA) in Ottumwa, Iowa, already had legacy programs in place to coach and mentor new teachers and to highlight best practices of professional educators using video. To expand these practices and share them with others, GPAEA sought a cost-effective, easily accessible way to store and retrieve these educator-made videos to use for improved teaching and learning.

Research and common sense show that self- and shared reflection for beginning and established educators, often by viewing audio and visual recordings made in the classroom, is an important and common practice. GPAEA wanted to expand this reflective practice, and by having an online repository, the agency could integrate this program into a more cost-effective service offered to its school clients.

The GPAEA leadership team, led by then-Chief Administrator Joe Crozier and current Chief Administrator Jon Sheldahl, wanted a web-based place to store videos for ongoing professional development for and by local district educators. The catchment area of the GPAEA consists of 35 school districts, as well as a number of non-public schools, and it is one of nine in Iowa.

Because curriculum and technology staff already were in the habit of working together to ensure that the technology supports the teaching and learning and doesn’t become a hindrance or an obstacle, they were able to work together to seek a system to support their needs.

After exploring online storage and retrieval options, the GPAEA team decided not to use YouTube (the initial obvious choice) for the following reasons: They wanted a system built with educators in mind that offered a peer-reviewed system to select videos based on criteria they developed, content that was aligned to the Iowa Core Curriculum, and high-quality materials directed and focused on the resources available through the AEA. Also, many districts do not allow access to YouTube on school computers, so a safe, reliable, low-cost PD system was sought. The team decided to create a GPAEA-TV portal with the EduVision ^[37] platform from JDL Horizons.

Improved teaching though reflection

Classroom teachers were given pointers on what to shoot, how to shoot, simple editing steps, and the ability to upload and tag their videos. Channel managers were given training on how to approve video, determine if the video is to be password-protected (or conversely, open to syndication), and set the basic parameters for the video. The goal of the GPAEA-TV internet television portal is to build capacity among users to continue to build the repository. GPAEA Communications Specialist Jennifer Woodley continues to provide consultation, assistance, and training of the system.

Within a short period of time, AEA consultants, coaches, and classroom teachers were able to use a simple Flip camera to film themselves teaching a lesson and interacting with students for their coaches to review. Posting the videos in a secure location, accessible only by a shared password, the mentor and mentee can discuss improvements either face-to-face or via a telephone call or even Skype. Teachers can seek immediate advice on curriculum and classroom management from an experienced teacher or AEA consultant showing a real and current situation. This type of self-reflection and opportunity for immediate improvement has been a great way for teachers to evaluate their own work—leading to increased student performance.

Likewise, professional teachers can record exemplary practices on core standards and post those videos on the GPAEA-TV portal for other teachers to review. Educators can view these videos in the various GPAEA-TV channels and model their own classroom practice based on selected criteria. By enhancing their own classroom practice, more teachers can then comfortably post video clips to increase the overall offerings. This online portal, with its various channels dedicated to different topics, becomes the repository for effective modeling of good teaching, leading to increased student learning. Other teachers watch the peer-reviewed videos done by their colleagues on topics such as differentiated instruction; math programs such as Every Student Counts, Meaningful Distributed Practice, and Problem-based Instructional Tasks; and reading programs such as Second Chance Reading. These programs are all related to the Iowa core curriculum standards.

Other uses for the GPAEA-TV portal

While originally set up as a way for educators to improve their teaching and classroom skills, and for exemplary practices to be modeled and shared with all teachers, GPAEA quickly realized other ways to use its online TV channels to reach out to the community—and especially parents, students, and officials at the state education agency and even the governor’s office.

For example, on the TV portal is a Parent Network channel. A series of videos were made for parents who have children with specific physical disabilities. Parents can access short videos to learn more about using specialty equipment, instructing them on exercises, and sharing other helpful information from the child’s physical therapists. Having a video site to go to, with helpful hints from the professionals they already interact with, has helped these parents to continue to work with their children outside of the school day. GPAEA has customized media release forms provided by EduVision for parents/guardians to sign before any taping of their children occurred, thus ensuring they were in compliance with all state and federal laws.

Likewise, the Student Channel offers a safe, secure online repository of short videos where teachers can film, edit, and upload videos for their students to view before coming to class. This “flipped learning” approach allows teachers to jump right into their lessons and problem solving, because the required lecture was viewed prior to class. On the GPAEA-TV portal, lectures such as anatomy, physiology, and biology are aligned to the Iowa core curriculum standards. Additionally, these videos may be used within teacher-designed online courses, such as Moodle.

The site allows for other education partners to post videos as well. Many training videos have been made by and for Iowa educators for their peers, demonstrating specific products, services, and equipment. Viewers will find training videos on using Promethean interactive whiteboards in the classroom, or a “Stander” used by parents and physical therapists for students with physical disabilities. Teachers can review how to use Google mail, such as the calendar and setup of a signature block, or see how students made a Tesla Turbine. Dr. Sally Lindgren, the GPAEA Coordinator for Technology Services, works with the school district technology coordinators to make GPAEA-TV available for projects that support district initiatives. More than 300 videos have been posted thus far on the GPAEA-TV channel; see www.gpaea.org.

Expanding the reach

GPAEA worked to bring EduVision to the other eight AEAs, as well as the Iowa Department of Education, using the state’s educational technology funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) federal grant.

The advantage of having multiple channels within each AEA’s portal is that each region can design its own channel around the local services it offers to schools, while at the same time syndicating videos across the state to all the AEAs. This partnership will allow for the vast expansion of offerings made to all educators in the state, and possibility throughout the nation and conceivably the world. Because it’s not limited to public school educators, teachers at non-public schools also can participate in this venture. Because policies differ from school to school and district to district, the AEAs needed an online system that was flexible enough to adapt to each school’s needs, but also to ensure access depending on local acceptable-use policies.

The TV channel has been used at the state level, too. Business leaders, superintendents of districts and AEAs, teachers, students, the chief and staff from the state education agency, and the governor and his office were able to partner together to use this online TV channel to host four roundtable events in preparation for a state-wide summit. They filmed and archived the videos for further review.

Last summer, at Iowa Governor Branstad’s education summit, the Iowa Department of Education was able to stream the event live using its TV portal, educateiowa.eduvision.tv. At the summit, dignitaries such as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and others discussed what is needed to ensure that Iowa students will be ready for 21^st-century jobs.

With technology that is simple to use, teachers work with mentors and coaches to improve instruction and management, while any teacher may model an exemplary lesson by posting a short video online. The needs of the teachers, wants of the students, and calls by parents and other community members will drive the future partnerships of this online TV platform.

For more information about GPAEA-TV, contact Dr. Sally Lindgren, coordinator for technology services, at sally.lindgren@gpaea.k12.ia.us ^[38].

Kari M. Arfstrom, Ph.D., is a former classroom teacher, Capitol Hill staffer, and senior-level executive at K-12 education administration associations such as the American Association of School Administrators and the Consortium for School Networking. She founded Arfstrom Consulting and Forecasting in 2011. She can be reached at karfstrom@gmail.com ^[39].

This article is no longer available. 

There have been many school reform trends over the past few years: student response systems, video games for math, mobile phones for learning—but none have completely transformed the notion of learning like the flipped classroom.

Flipped learning ^[40], in essence, turns the idea of traditional classroom instruction on its head by asking students to watch videos of teacher lectures for homework, then apply the lesson with the teacher in the classroom.

Using this method, proponents say, teachers have the opportunity to help students learn as individuals, and students can learn concepts more quickly.

Yet, since its takeoff, skeptics have questioned whether students have the time management skills to watch the videos at home and whether in-class work really does affect student achievement. Some have even questioned whether students and parents like the new approach, and if flipped learning is just a fad.

To help peers and skeptics better understand the concept of flipped learning, Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams, high school science teachers and pioneers in the Flipped Class ideology, recently created a first-of-its kind flipped classroom “open house,” which invited other educators to see how flipped learning works and what students have to say about it. The event took place in two countries, 20 states, and more than 30 cities and towns.

Watch Lake Elmo Elementary’s experience:

[field name=embed]

 

One of the open houses took place at Lake Elmo Elementary School in Lake Elmo, Minn. Lake Elmo, part of Stillwater Area Schools—a rural district serving more than 8,900 students in 10 elementary schools (grades K-6), two junior high schools (grades 7-9), and one high school (grades 10-12)—started a flipped learning pilot in September that ended last month. Students in fifth grade math were given iPads and earphones and asked to watch 10- to 15-minute chunks of instruction a few times per week, then were asked to complete comprehension questions via the Moodle learning management system.

Information from this questionnaire, including students’ scores and the specific questions they got right or wrong, was saved in Moodle, and teachers were able to look at the results before class the next day.

This process allowed teachers to target their instruction to specific students, or the class as a whole, at the beginning of class.

In total, six classes in four different Stillwater Area elementary schools participated in the pilot. Teachers received special training during the summer, and 52 lessons (the first five units of math) were taught using the flipped learning approach. All lessons were aligned with state standards.

Though Stillwater is currently analyzing the data collected during the pilot phase (the formal results will be available later this year), elementary curriculum coordinator Amy Jones said her flipped learning students already are one to two units ahead of students who weren’t part of the pilot.

“Perhaps most compelling is that the teachers say even though the pilot is over, they won’t go back,” said Mike Dronen, the district’s technology coordinator.

And neither will students. Math students participating in the pilot said they love the idea of flipped learning, because it’s not a one-time lesson. Students can take notes while watching the video at home, and if they get any questions wrong, they can go back and re-watch the lesson.

Parents also were asked to take an “attitude survey,” and the majority said they saw their child improve and were happy with the results, district officials said.

“Parents said they enjoy experiencing what their child is learning first-hand at home,” explained Jones. “When [students] learn at home, they’re more comfortable and can learn at their own pace.”

Dronen said students “get faster access to content, more thorough understanding of content, and at least 30 to 45 minutes per day of one-on-one time with the teacher. There’s more personalization and customization, which is really what 21^st-century learning is.”

Altogether, about 20 people attended Lake Elmo’s open house, with 12 of those attendees from nearby school districts interested in learning more about the flipped classroom approach.

Attendees were asked to give their thoughts after the open house. Bergmann recorded some of the comments on his blog “Flipped Learning ^[41]“:

“There were at least four different activities going on in the room at one time,” explained one attendee. “There were multiple small groups, but also individuals. … I was amazed at the students. A couple of them asked him if he had any more worksheets to help them understand the concept. … He was very organized and very flexible. I want to try this because it seemed to work so beautifully in his class, but I also know it will take time to accomplish something like this.”

Another attendee said flipped learning might be a great option for students with special needs.

“I really like the flipped model. I started doing a similar thing on my own this year, but felt I was missing a component I did not know how to fix. Now I know. This is the type of classroom I need for my visually impaired students. When they go to the dorm or home after school, they often make a lot of mistakes on their work, and no one knows if they are not doing it right. With this model, work is done in class, and I have more opportunities to make sure the students are successful and learning.”

One attendee said he was skeptical at first, but appreciated the focus on “learning by doing.”

“I was really impressed with how well it was working. At first, I doubted the reality of the students actually going home and listening to the ‘vodcasts,’ since they rarely complete their regular homework, but I was wrong. They listened, then in class they completed the homework. Plus, by doing the homework with the teacher right there to answer questions, I feel you eliminate the need for coming in for extra help. The only downside: For me in particular, I ask a lot of questions during lectures, and without a teacher while I’m learning, I wouldn’t learn the material as well. And even if you write down the question to ask later on, the probability that you will remember what you were wondering is slim. However, you really learn by doing, and that’s when you need the most help, right? So, all in all, I think it’s a great way to teach, definitely the way of the future, and the improvement in scores at least for Ms. Duncan’s class speaks for itself.”

Stillwater is analyzing the data collected during its flipped learning pilot and hopes to make the results available sometime in February. Besides test score data, other factors were included, such overall student reactions.

For example, many students said they preferred to watch videos that used their own teacher’s voice and face instead of an actor, actress, or another teacher. Students also liked cultural references to their own school environment in the question sets, such as references to the school sports team.

Many schools are building high-quality video production studios to give their students valuable experience in recording, mixing, and producing video broadcasts—from live coverage of concerts and athletic events to student-run news programs.

Using professional-grade video equipment in these efforts can be costly, but at InfoComm 2011 in Orlando, several companies exhibited products designed to make live video production easier for schools.

For instance, Panasonic introduced a product called HDTV Producer ^[42], a full turnkey video production studio for under $20,000. Panasonic sells the HDTV Producer as an out-of-the-box system that any English or journalism teacher can set up, with no professional video production experience necessary.

The system includes two cameras with tripods, a mixer, a recorder, a 42-inch LCD monitor, a microphone and boom stand, and all necessary cabling and accessories. The idea is to enable students to learn video production whatever their school’s budget might be, Panasonic said.

“Purchasing and setting up professional video equipment to produce high-quality, [high-definition] content can be challenging and time-consuming,” said product manager John Rhodes in a press release. “With HDTV Producer, we are … making it painless for organizations to deploy a full-featured video production system with a solid-state workflow.”

For schools that already have cameras and are looking for an affordable yet professional-grade live production switcher, Blackmagic Design ^[43] of Milpitas, Calif., has a solution. Blackmagic’s ATEM line of switchers starts with a basic model that runs on a software interface and includes six video inputs for about $1,000. (An eight-input model sells for $2,500, and a 16-input model sells for about $5,000.)

If a software-based control panel doesn’t meet your needs, the company also sells full broadcast panels that start at $5,000.

Boston University’s College of Communication is using Blackmagic’s ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher and ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel in its Production and Journalism studios. “The ATEM products allow us greater dexterity in our production capability,” said Assistant Professor Christophor Cavalieri, faculty advisor for the school’s student-produced news channel, in a press release. “They are great tools to train the next generation of multi-camera production professionals.”

For $5,000, schools also can purchase the VR-5 ^[44] portable AV mixer and recorder from Roland Systems Group—an “all-in-one” system that simplifies the production, recording, and streaming of any live event, Roland says.

The VR-5 incorporates a video switcher, audio mixer, video playback, recorder, preview monitors, and output for web streaming—all in a single unit. It includes three audio or video inputs, an SD card slot for saving or playing back video or images, and a USB port for connecting to a computer.

Higher-end products

Also at InfoComm 2011, Broadcast Pix ^[45] of Billerica, Mass., demonstrated two mobile apps for controlling its Slate line of video production systems from an iPad or iPhone device.

One of the apps, iPixPanel, recreates a classic switcher layout and is able to control every aspect of a video production, including switching cameras, adding graphics and clips, controlling robotic cameras, and creating special effects (such as an interview with dual picture-in-picture).

The other app, iPixPad, replicates the company’s PixPad feature on an iPhone or iPod touch. PixPad is a clear display of all available on-screen options that lets users select any clip, camera angle, or graphic in an instant. This allows for quick transitions and avoids the necessity of scrolling through various options, Broadcast Pix says.

The Slate 100, the company’s entry-level video production system, is priced at nearly $11,000 for a complete system. While that’s much more expensive than Blackmagic’s or Roland’s video switchers and mixers, it also includes storage of up to 120 hours of video clips, as well as an array of graphics and special effects.

As schools move toward high-definition video production, the Hitachi Z-HD5000 ^[46] HDTV camera has become a mainstay in state-of-the-art school and college studios, with its 14-bit analog-to-digital conversion and advanced digital signal processing that has proven to be energy-efficient, the company says.

The HDTV camera can be used for both studio and field use, and it reproduces dark and unexposed areas with specialized luminance settings, the company says.

Apple’s iPhone 4, unveiled June 7 and set for release June 24, features a mobile video conferencing application that could increase collaboration among students at different locations and make cross-district and on-the-go meetings easier for school officials.

Video conferencing is possible with the addition of a second camera on the front of the new iPhone, in addition to a five-megapixel camera and a flash on the back. For now, the video conferencing function, FaceTime, works only if both parties to the call have an iPhone 4 and are connected over a Wi-Fi network rather than a cell phone network.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs indicated that FaceTime eventually will work over cellular networks, saying Apple needs to “work a little bit” with wireless providers to make it “ready for the future.”

The iPhone’s FaceTime feature might help school technology staff hold meetings from different locations and troubleshoot specific problems.

SysAid Technologies is one company that has launched an iPhone IT assistance application. The Helpdesk Application and SysAid IT Mobile help IT staff control service requests, including viewing, updating, filtering, and customizing requests.

IT specialists might find the FaceTime application helpful during conversations if they must identify specific messages on computer screens or relay instructions for a procedure occurring across a school district.

Various media outlets and technology enthusiasts had differing opinions of FaceTime and whether the feature would succeed.

The San Francisco Chronicle predicted that FaceTime will be a success, because mobile video conferencing “is available on a device that will achieve sufficient saturation among groups,” the Wi-Fi networks over which FaceTime is set to operate will make the application look and sound top-notch, and Apple likely will make the application very easy to use, prompting more participation.

Meanwhile, CNET pointed to a handful of reasons why the video conferencing feature might not prevail: Holding a cell phone at arm’s length to capture a continuous image of the caller’s face, while keeping one’s arm steady enough so that the image is not shaky, is not physically comfortable after a while. CNET also said that video calls are awkward by nature, and because FaceTime operates only on Wi-Fi for the time being, users will be forced to use the feature at home, at school, or in other Wi-Fi hotspots.

The news site also said that “according to Apple, FaceTime won’t support 3G this year, which is strange given that Fring, Skype, and other VoIP apps offer it.”

Mobile video conferencing might not have taken off yet, but Apple isn’t the first company to offer this capability on a mobile device. Sprint HTC EVO 4G users can video chat with the new Qik software offered on the phone. And with Fring, users can make free mobile video calls and live chats over a cellular or Wi-Fi network with other Fring members and other services such as Skype, GoogleTalk, Facebook, and more.

Apple is trying to tighten the links between the iPhone and its iPad tablet, which came out April 3. It is releasing a version of its iBooks eReading application for the iPhone, which means people could buy an eBook from Apple on either device and read it on either one as well.

That compatibility could incite more universities and iPhone-toting college students to turn to the iPad as an eReader.

The new iPhone 4 also will have a higher-resolution screen, longer battery life, and thinner design. It will cost $199 or $299 in the U.S. with a two-year AT&T contract, depending on the capacity. The iPhone 3GS, which debuted last year, will still be available, for $99.

The display on the iPhone 4 remains 3.5 inches diagonally, but Jobs noted that it can show four times as many pixels—the individual colored dots that make up an image—as the previous screen. That makes for a sharper appearance.

The battery on the new iPhone will allow up to seven hours of talk time—an improvement over five hours on the last model. It can handle up to six hours of web browsing over cellular networks or 10 hours over Wi-Fi.

The new phone will run the latest version of Apple’s mobile software, now called iOS4, which Apple unveiled in April to offer such features as the ability to operate more than one program at a time. Older iPhones and iPod Touch devices will be able to get iOS4 as a free download June 21, though not all features will work on them.

Michael Gartenberg, a partner at analyst firm Altimeter Group, said the iPhone upgrade puts pressure on smart-phone makers that use Google’s Android operating software. Android, which was first released on a phone in 2008, has been gaining popularity as major phone makers such have Motorola Inc. have relied on the software for iPhone rivals such as the Droid.

“I think Apple knows how to teach people about things they don’t yet know they want,” he said.

Links:

Apple iPhone 4 ^[47]

Qik ^[48]

Fring ^[49]

With school budgets continuing to shrink, many educators are turning to free or inexpensive software such as Skype, along with the web cameras that now come standard on most laptop computers, to connect with other classes or colleagues online—forgoing traditional (and more expensive) video conferencing solutions.

Numerous educators said they have used Skype in one form or another for lesson planning or instruction, with most citing its cost (or lack thereof) and ease of use as the main reason for going with the software program.

Skype offers a range of free services, including the ability to make voice or video calls and send instant messages to other Skype users. Users also can pay for services such as making calls from a PC to a landline or cell phone.

Brianna Sylver, president of Sylver Consulting and adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design in Chicago, said her Cross Cultural Research class recently collaborated with a class in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a manner that called for video conferencing.

After using Skype to collaborate with a teacher in Sao Paulo, the graduate-level class examined the differences between home security companies in the United States and in Brazil using both the slideshow and video capabilities Skype offers.

“The students would present to one another about things they were finding, like what things home security companies in Brazil would need to know if the company wanted to expand its services to the U.S.,” she said.

Sylver said the video function was helpful when her class of 20 students broke into small groups to interact with small groups of students in Sao Paulo.

“We used the webcam capabilities to create more intimate relationships between the students,” she said. “The students would also use [Skype] for collaboration outside of class, using the chat or webcam feature.”

Teachers at New Milford High School in New Jersey also use Skype to enhance their students’ learning experiences, said New Milford principal Eric Sheninger.

“In a sociology class, students spoke to their peers at Van Meter High School in Iowa about perceptions they had of each other and how the current economic crisis is impacting each community,” Sheninger said.

“Our Holocaust class has Skyped with a historian in Israel, where he has given historical insight into the creation and use of the term ‘genocide’ and the history behind labeling the genocide that took place during World War II. He also shared scholarly information on the use of these terms from his years of experience in education at Yad Vashem—Israel’s Holocaust memorial.”

While many educators use Skype as part of their instruction, some colleges and universities use the software as a way to connect with and answer the questions of potential students and their parents.

Bob Garcia, director of admissions at Alma College in Michigan, said he sees Skype being used more and more frequently in student recruitment.

“The main advantage to our use of Skype in communications with prospective students, especially those who are abroad, is that both parties are familiar and comfortable with the technology. It provides us with video, voice, and text options in a free and easy-to-use interface that we are all used to,” he said. “The combination of the economy and a shrinking high school cohort has produced a perfect storm for the need for more cost-effective ways to recruit out-of-state and abroad. Skype meets those needs.”

Not everyone agrees that Skype is a suitable alternative to more traditional video conferencing solutions.

Andre Kostousov, associate director of admissions and international counselor for Northeastern University in Massachusetts, said he has used professional video conferencing software in a previous position. Although Skype is convenient in that it can be installed on almost any computer, it has its drawbacks, Kostousov said.

“Professional video conferencing software produces a much higher quality feed and is much more stable. It allows you to have a clearer and larger picture,” he said.

That argument is echoed by makers of traditional video conferencing solutions, who say users get what they pay for.

Skype’s sometimes poor picture quality is something that Avistar Communications aims to counter with its video conferencing software, said Avistar’s chief marketing officer, Stephen Epstein.

“Because of the architecture, the quality of Skype’s video chats can be poor. The video often pixilates, and the audio is often unsynced. This significantly undermines the success of a video call,” he said. “Avistar’s software ensures that the quality of service is the best that it can be, given every user’s available technology resources, and dynamically adjusts accordingly—instead of degrading the user experience.”

The Avistar C3 platform provides high-definition, multiparty desktop video conferencing. Epstein said the Avistar C3 solutions are ideal for education settings. Desktop video conferencing enhances collaboration, boosts communication, and draws geographically distributed people together, he said.

“Benefits are both soft—faster decision making, enhanced productivity and efficiency—and hard—reducing travel costs and downtime from physical travel,” he said.

Sheninger said Skype is lacking in its video multi-conferencing ability, with another drawback being the need for users’ wireless networks at two simultaneous sites to function properly.

Epstein said Avistar addresses this challenge by including a bandwidth management tool to prevent the overload that can slow networks or crash other applications when using Skype. Avistar also has no limit to the number of participants on a video session, he said.

But even with the potential drawbacks to using Skype in the classroom, many educators said they plan to continue using the software.

Kathy Cassidy, who uses Skype in her first-grade class in the Prairie South School Division in Saskatchewan, Canada, said her use of the software has been completely successful.

“I had not done other video conferencing in my classroom before, and have not tried any other tools that are available. Skype has worked well for me, so I have had no reason to try other tools,” she said.

Links:

Skype ^[50]

Avistar Communications ^[51]

Note to readers:

Don’t forget to visit the Next Generation Collaboration resource center. The ability to work together on group projects is seen as an increasingly important skill for the 21st-century workplace, and a growing number of schools are rewriting their curriculum to include opportunities for such collaboration as a result. Go to:

Next Generation Collaboration

More than half of education technology officials in K-12 schools and higher-education institutions said they would buy video technology in the next year to make their schools “more effective and efficient” and better prepare students for the workforce, according to a new survey from technology giant Cisco Systems.

The survey results, compiled by Washington, D.C.-based research and polling firm Clarus Research Group ^[52], come seven months after Cisco bought Tandberg ^[53], a leading video conferencing company. Observers expect Cisco’s purchase—which initially was snubbed ^[54] by Tandberg stockholders, who balked at the $3 billion bid—to make the company one of the leading video providers in schools and colleges.

While 53 percent of administrators and school technology officials said their institutions “are likely” to buy video equipment sometime in the next year, more than eight in 10 survey respondents said technology plays a role in “improving how students learn,” with 82 percent agreeing that education technology will play a “large role” in “helping prepare students for the workforce of the future.”

The survey asked school and college IT officials to name their top technology issues. “Equipping classrooms with advanced technological equipment” and “using new technologies to help students and faculty work better together”—such as collaborative tools that facilitate online communication, for example—were the two most prominent school technology priorities.

“These results mirror what we have been hearing from education leaders and customers,” said Michael Stevenson, vice president of Cisco’s Global Education group. “They want to invest in new technology, but it must deliver good value and drive cost efficiencies. … Integrating video into the classroom environment can play a key role in improving collaboration, security, and interactive learning.”

“Retaining good students” was the most important “administrative and strategic issue” facing schools, according to the Cisco ^[55] survey. Other top priorities were improving communication with students’ parents, helping educators use the newest classroom technology, and providing network security.

Cisco polled 600 people from six educational backgrounds, including K-12 administrators and technology decision makers, community college IT officials, and four-year university IT officials and administrators.

Ray Schroeder, director of the University of Illinois Springfield’s Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service ^[56], said the video conferencing service at his university costs about half of what it did five years ago, thanks to the expansion of the online video conferencing market.

“You have a lot of competition out there, which has driven the cost down,” he said. “Now, when you take Cisco and Tandberg … they almost have to be more expensive, because of the quality they bring to the marketplace.”

Last October’s Cisco-Tandberg combination ^[53] attracted campus technology officials looking for a secure online meeting place that provides high-quality close-up shots, document cameras that show details on a page, and multiple camera angles for large-scale, web-based meetings.

Cisco, the world’s largest maker of computer networking equipment, had a cash balance of more than $35 billion at the end of July 2009, most of that overseas. By buying an international company, Cisco avoided the U.S. taxes it would have had to pay to bring the money home.

The all-cash deal was Cisco’s first acquisition of an overseas public company, CEO John Chambers said. Chambers said the acquisition “showcases Cisco’s financial strength and ability to quickly capture key market transitions for growth.”

Cisco has been focusing on the high end of the video conferencing market, selling so-called “TelePresence” systems with multiple plasma screens that present life-size images of the participants to provide the illusion of face-to-face communication.

With Tandberg, Cisco got the leading maker of video systems that range from small “video phones” to full conference-room setups, allowing it to sell a full range of solutions to schools and colleges.

A report published by the California Education Department and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art examined the role of video conferencing in K-12 schools. The report—which gathered data from businesses, nonprofit organizations, and telecommunications companies—outlines how bolstered broadband internet service can help make video conferencing more accessible throughout the state. The report advocated that video conferencing become a “standard teaching tool.”

The report, titled, “A Blueprint for Strengthening K-12 Videoconferencing in California,” said using the technology could help enhance education while the state’s operating budget remains mired in a deficit that has cost thousands of state employees their jobs, because it can help eliminate costly travel expenses.

“Today, the value of video conferencing in education is indisputable,” the report said. “It is no longer difficult to imagine a world where K-12 students in California can travel to an art museum or aquarium and engage with content specialists in real-time discussions without leaving their classrooms.”

Four percent of California classrooms have video conferencing equipment, compared with one-quarter of classrooms in states such as Texas, New York, and North Carolina that have video conferencing capabilities.

Link:

Cisco ^[55]

A Texas school system has set up a wireless network infrastructure that is capable of streaming high-quality video to students’ mobile devices—enabling true anytime, anywhere learning to occur with the help of visual media.

The Keller Independent School District recently began using a wireless video streaming solution that supports its effort to put mobile devices in the hands of every student. Using the Video-on-Demand (VOD) and Digital Media Management solution from SAFARI Montage, Keller ISD can stream rich digital content to students throughout the school district wirelessly, which enhances their overall learning experience, said Chief Technology Officer Joe Griffin.

“Our existing wired infrastructure limited where and how users could access the content,” he said. “We needed a cost-effective solution that could provide high-speed, district-wide coverage and ensure seamless delivery of multimedia content to students and teachers, while supporting our efforts to expand these capabilities to all classrooms.”

High-quality multimedia content requires high bandwidth to deliver the content to students through the web, generally causing VOD providers to recommend the content only be delivered over a wired network.

But Motorola’s Wireless LAN (WLAN) solution offers high-performance multimedia streaming through four key capabilities, according to the company: adaptive networking, superior video handling capabilities, high-power access points, and remote network troubleshooting.

To support the high-bandwidth requirements needed to distribute large, high-quality digital video files from the SAFARI Montage system, Keller ISD turned to Motorola’s 802.11n WLAN infrastructure and AirDefense’s wireless security and network assurance solutions.

Motorola’s 802.11n solution supports the SAFARI Montage Selective Video Streaming software and helps manage and ensure seamless delivery of live video streams to the classroom from cable TV, video cameras, and the internet.

“With our plan to move to a digital curriculum, it was crucial to have a reliable and easy-to-use wireless infrastructure in place that would support our one-to-one instructional objectives and enable visual teaching district-wide,” said James Veitenheimer, Keller ISD’s superintendent.

“We also needed a network that could work at a very high level and make it easy for students and teachers to use.”

One reason Keller ISD officials can rest assured that their wireless network will work as promised is the combination of security and advanced troubleshooting they get from AirDefense, which Motorola acquired in 2008.

The company’s Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS) provides Keller ISD with 24-7 wireless security and network monitoring, ensuring that hackers can’t access the sensitive personal information of students and faculty. An “Advanced Troubleshooting” module allows district IT staff to take a proactive approach to monitoring network performance; the technology reportedly can run a diagnostic test every morning before school starts to make sure each classroom has the capability to stream video reliably, without delays, so there are no surprises for the teachers or their students.

Because the AirDefense system remotely monitors and collects data from the wireless access points and allows for remote servicing as well, district IT staff can spend less time troubleshooting network problems in each building; instead, they can get issues resolved from a central location. Motorola says feedback from its customers suggests this capability can cut down on school site visits by IT staff up to 70 percent.

As Keller ISD looks to expand its visual teaching capabilities across the district, its new WLAN infrastructure supports future multimedia resources that will let teachers augment lesson plans with visual and audio learning tools to increase student focus and retention, officials say.

The Motorola solution also supports other technologies used inside and outside of the classroom, including personal devices such as mobile computers or Wi-Fi-enabled smart phones, as well as laptops—which can further enhance learning experiences, improve overall productivity for faculty and staff, and prepare students for the future.

“Video is a powerful tool for today’s educators that can significantly enhance the student learning experience,” said Tim Beekman, president and co-founder of SAFARI Montage. “But to truly benefit, schools need to have the right infrastructure in place to support the high bandwidth and quality of service required to deliver rich multimedia content, not just to the teacher’s classroom computer, but to all wireless devices—from netbooks to mobile phones.”

Links:

Keller ISD ^[57]

Motorola, Inc. ^[58]

SAFARI Montage ^[59]

To learn more about Keller ISD’s wireless video streaming, register now for this FREE webinar ^[60] on April 7.

Note to readers:

Don’t forget to visit the Successful Video Production resource center. Knowing how to produce, edit, and distribute video gives high school and college graduates a valuable and much-in-demand skill. Go to:

Successful Video Production

In a powerful example of how online social networking, youth exuberance, and digital media can combine to affect a nation, students at Florida’s Ocoee Middle School created a video called “Gotta Keep Reading,” an infectious message that has “gone viral” and inspired other schools and big-name TV stars to endorse reading as a path to success.

The video began when the school’s reading coach, Janet Bergh, thought it might be fun to do something like The Oprah Winfrey Show’s “flash mob” video in Chicago last year. Winfrey and her producers elected to kick off the 2009 season with a live open-air version of the show in Chicago, featuring the Black-Eyed Peas and other performers. The Black-Eyed Peas rewrote the words to their single “I Gotta Feelin” as a Winfrey tribute dubbed “Oprah Feelin,” and hours before the show began the approximately 21,000 audience members were taught choreographed steps to the piece to create a flash mob dance.

Don’t miss Florida’s Ocoee Middle School’s video, “Gotta Keep Reading” on page two of this article. Page two does require free registration to eSchool News Online and includes additional benefits for you as you’ll have access to all our news and features online.

As to why she chose to create a flash mob video about reading, Bergh said on Oprah recently that “students have a lot of other interests. Oftentimes reading takes a back seat to that. …It’s not always real cool to be seen with a book.”

“The initial inspiration for the flash mob was the idea of involving every student and adult on our campus in an event that was a fun, exciting, team building activity with a great message,” explained Sharyn C. Gabriel, principal of Ocoee Middle School, in an interview with eSchool News. “We wanted to promote reading—as we always do—in a way that was motivational, meaningful, and engaging to our middle school students. The idea of any publicity was not a part of the plan. However, it has been a welcome, super fun, and exciting addition to the project!”

Gabriel continued: “Our goal was to inspire all readers, especially teenage readers. They love music, they love videos, so why not a music video about reading? We thought this was a win-win situation.”

After the idea took hold in the school, the administration next had to secure rights to the song, “I Gotta Feelin.”

“We worked through [the Black-Eyed Peas’] publishers to get permission to use the song. While we did not speak directly to the artists, submitting our lyrics about reading was part of the approval process,” said Gabriel. “We are hoping they are thrilled that they motivated and inspired us, and we do know that they support our message.”

After the school secured copyright permission, music and drama teachers began to write the lyrics to the group’s song and to choreograph the dance moves.

Students practiced for the flash mob video during their gym classes.

The “Gotta Keep Reading” music video features nearly all of the school’s 1,700 students dancing and singing while holding books in the school’s courtyard. It was recorded with the help of the school’s partner, Full Sail University, in December.

“Full Sail University [staff] very generously donated their time, their equipment, and their talent to this project,” Gabriel said. “They support our school in a variety of ways, including curriculum development and professional training for our teachers.”
Lyrics were changed to make reading the center of the song, and to include the refrain “This book’s going to be a good, good book.”

The video was posted to the school’s web site in late January. It also was posted on YouTube, where it went viral and captured the attention of Oprah show producers.

This month, The Oprah Winfrey Show highlighted Ocoee Middle School and its video by filming a segment on the school’s campus. Winfrey announced that she and Target would pay for the school library’s makeover, including new furniture, new computers, and 2,000 books.

“They managed to get almost 1,700 kids pumped up about something you know I love,” Winfrey said during the broadcast.

Ocoee Middle School’s Gotta Keep Reading Video

[field name=iframe2]

(Singers are the school’s band director, Nicole Nasrallah, and its former chorus director, Jamie Perez. Principal Sharyn Gabriel is the solitary dancer at the front of the group when the video begins.)

Winfrey asked the students questions via satellite link, and the entire school gathered in the courtyard, just like in the video. Eighth-grade students Alexis Fox and Danny Mora were on stage with Gabriel and answered some of Winfrey’s questions.

Gabriel said the announcement about the library’s renovations is a great surprise, especially because the library was built to accommodate 600 fewer students than now attend the school.

“We are very fortunate to have been given this very generous and meaningful gift that will touch our entire community,” she said. “The plans for the renovation are top secret, but we do expect the renovation to be complete [by] the end of this school year.”

Since Ocoee Middle School recorded the video, Gabriel said, school data suggest that students are ahead of where they were last year at this time in the number of books read and Reading Counts! quizzes passed.

“There were many lessons learned throughout this entire process, but perhaps the most important is the value of an entire school community coming together to work on a great project with a crucial message,” said Gabriel. “The other lesson we hope to share with others is to think big. Our students can go farther and do more than we think they can. They can be rock stars if we believe in them and if we don’t hold them back.”

Gabriel said Ocoee has received messages from schools all over the country and even from other parts of the world—many sending their congratulations for a job well done and asking for information on how they, too, can do a similar project.

“We are thrilled beyond belief that others want to spread this message,” she said. “We certainly hope other schools will think outside the box when it comes to inspiring and motivating their students to read and succeed. We collectively need to share this message with students all over the world.”

The Oprah Show’s Flash Mob video with the Black-Eyed Peas

[field name=iframe]

Links:

Ocoee Middle School ^[61]

The Oprah Show ^[62]

Note to readers:

Don’t forget to visit the Successful Video Production resource center. Knowing how to produce, edit, and distribute video gives high school and college graduates a valuable and much-in-demand skill. Go to:

Successful Video Production

Research suggests that peer teaching can be an effective instructional strategy, both for the students being taught and those doing the teaching.

In that spirit, Mathtrain.TV is a free educational “kids teaching kids” project from sixth-grade math teacher Eric Marcos and his students at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, Calif. Lincoln students create math video lessons that are used for classroom instruction and also posted to Mathtrain.TV and other web sites, such as iTunes, YouTube, TeacherTube, and Google Video. The students use a tablet PC and screen-capturing software from TechSmith, called Camtasia Studio, to create the math tutorials. Anyone can use the tutorials as is, free of charge, under a Creative Commons license. All videos are reviewed (and sometimes further edited) by a credentialed math teacher, Marcos says. The Mathtrain site is powered by PHPmotion, a free video-sharing software platform, and viewers can rate and comment on the videos. Topics range from completing the square and prime factorization to finding the missing angles of a triangle. http://www.mathtrain.tv ^[63]

Imagine you’re back in school, and you’re learning about the human body. You open your book and see the flat image of a skeleton on your page. You imagine what it must really look like and try to study as best you can. Now, imagine you’re a student today. … That’s where the imagination stops. Thanks to new technology developments in projection and filming, students soon will be able to see the human body and other complex images, projected up close and in three dimensions. Welcome to the real education of the future.

3-D images floating out of screens, and kids in lightweight glasses with their jaws dropping open, might sound like science fiction–but in less than a year, school across the country will be piloting 3-D projectors to give all students, and especially those who are visual learners, a chance to fully understand the curriculum.

“It’s not something you watch,” says director James Cameron, who’s filming his new movie Avatar in 3-D. “It’s a reality you feel you could step into.”

Cameron is one of many directors using 3-D video to enhance movies. In fact, between movies and the availability of high-end, low-cost 3-D technology, 3-D video is now on the cusp of being home- and school-ready.

Interestingly, 3-D imaging is actually an old technology. It was first created by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838 through “stereopsis,” or the perception of depth, and his invention of the stereoscope in 1851 was viewed by Queen Victoria.

3-D video creates the perception of a differential between two slightly offset images when viewed by each of two eyes. By presenting each eye with a slightly offset or different image, a projection system or display can create the illusion of depth.

It’s estimated there were a million stereoscopes in living rooms around the globe by the mid 1850s, but owing to the technology’s lack of sophistication, consumers had headaches as a result of eyestrain and images were shaky at best. Not until the late 1990s, when IMAX began projecting in 3-D, did the platform really gain momentum.

In 2005, Hollywood studios’ Digital Cinema Initiative, aided by the Entertainment Technology Center’s Digital Cinema Lab in Los Angeles, created a specification for a standard digital cinema package. Now, approximately one in every three digital theater screens in the United States is equipped for 3-D, according to the report “3-D TV: Where Are We Now and Where Are Consumers,” by David Wertheimer, CEO of the Entertainment and Technology Center at the University of Southern California, and Shawn DuBravac, adjunct professor at the George Mason University School of Business.

But it’s not just movies that are using 3-D. Broadcasters, video game makers, home theater manufacturers, projector software developers, and even educational content developers have entered the 3-D market as well.

One large player in the 3-D market is Panasonic, which is working with Cameron to help direct Avatar by supplying him with 3-D plasma displays. Panasonic also is developing 3-D-capable TVs, DVD players, and active glasses.

According to Peter Fannon, vice president for technology policy and government affairs and 3-D expert at Panasonic, Panasonic’s active glasses and TV screens are fully high definition (HD) 3-D capable, which Fannon says is available only through Panasonic.

Panasonic’s active glasses are little LCD lenses that open and close the left and right eye images 120 times per second, making 3-D images appear seamless. “There’s no shuttering, no blurring of any sort. The TV emits the images to the glasses via a receiver built into the glasses. You see 1,080 lines of resolution on the screen–full HD quality–seamlessly,” said Fannon.

“We also have something called ‘schoolroom in a box,’ which [includes] whiteboards, plasma panels, small laptops, cameras, and projectors that are backwards compatible–meaning that you can buy these projectors, and when more 3-D content is available, adjust your projector to be 3-D capable for a modest premium,” he explained.

Other major players in the 3-D arena include Sony, LG, Philips, Samsung, Mitsubishi, Sensio, Intel, Dolby, Ubisoft, NVIDIA, Digital Projection, BenQ, AVRover, Sharp, Vuzix, and Texas Instruments (TI).

Three companies in particular–TI’s DLP division, BenQ, and AVRover–have specialized their 3-D technology for education, and these solutions debuted at Infocomm earlier this year. 3-D projectors also were a big hit at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Washington, D.C., this past summer.

AVRover, a maker of portable AV systems, has partnered with projector manufacturer BenQ to release the AVRover 3DSVS24, which the company says is the “first fully integrated 3-D Stereoscopic Educational System.”

This product is a portable and rugged 3-D AV system with all components securely mounted inside. It features a powder-coated, scratch-resistant steel console, as well as sequentially numbered active glasses eyewear, storage, and sanitation.

TI’s new 3-D technology uses just one projector with “DLP Link” active shutter glasses, meaning no IR emitters, polarizers, or special screens are required.

Images appear in three dimensions when the projector’s 120 Hz output gets divided between the left and right eyes, with each eye receiving 60 Hz in red and blue colors. Synchronization occurs during extremely brief “dark” times between active data transmission.

“For the first time,” said Dave Duncan, worldwide education business development manager for TI, “we will be launching affordable 3-D projectors in line with XGA and SXGA pricing made specifically for the classroom environment.” This means that pricing for the systems will be comparable to projectors with similar specifications that do not have 3-D capabilities.

One key feature of TI’s new technology is that its 3-D projectors also function normally as 2-D projectors without image distortion.

So far, roughly 15 projector manufacturers have adopted TI’s 3-D technology. There are 35 projector manufacturers that use DLP technology in all, and TI’s DLP division shares its technology, which includes 3-D capabilities, with all of these companies.

Boulder rolls the dice with 3-D

With all the relatively low-cost and seamless 3-D technologies now available to educators, some schools are starting to take advantage.

The Boulder Valley, Colo., Independent School District has decided to “future-proof” its classrooms by rolling out TI DLP’s 3-D technology.

The district, which spans 500 square miles and has 28,000 students in 51 schools, has always been an early adopter of technology, according to Len Scrogan, director of instructional technology.

“We always have extensive planning–we take our time, consider what really matters, and then we make investments in what matters when it comes to technology and our district,” explained Scrogan.

Boulder is a high-bandwidth district that believes in taking advantage of the resources available in education today…and in the future. “We live stream , we have many internet projects, and we plan on distributing 3-D as part of our technology backbone,” Scrogan said.

In a process that took about 18 months from start to finish, Boulder has reached its goal of having 3-D-capable projectors mounted in every classroom.

Boulder chose Vivitek projectors, which use TI DLP’s 3-D technology.

According to Rick Nguyen, executive vice president at Vivitek Corp., during Boulder’s competitive-bidding process, 46 3-D-capable projection units from different companies were invited for a tech shootout.

In total, Boulder purchased 400 of Vivitek’s 930TX units and 625 of the D825EX units.

“We really focused on total cost of ownership issues,” Scrogan said. “We standardized on DLP and we had specific expectations. DLP has a better contrast ratio and greater readability than LCD, and a good quality of image. But what’s also great is that there’s no filter cleaning, and it’s sustainable that way–it won’t deteriorate.”

“Educators have a lot to think about when considering how to implement 3-D,” said Bob Wudeck, business development manager for TI’s pro AV group, “including the brand of projectors, the content you want to use, research on 3-D and the technology, how best to invest, what type of glasses to use, and how you’re going to clean those glasses.”

Wudeck mentioned that AVRover’s eyewear cleaning box is a great solution, and that “little things like this” can really help a district when switching to 3-D.

Scrogan said his district will introduce 3-D video into the classroom with math and science curriculum first, then progress to many other subjects.

“We want to try things that are innovative and can make a difference in all areas of education,” said Scrogan.

Content still catching up

Even with more than 1,000 3-D-ready projectors mounted in Boulder’s classrooms, students might have to wait a little while before they begin realizing the benefits of 3-D video–because while the technology has arrived, the content is a little slower in coming.

Wudeck said TI is talking to major content developers about how to make their content work with DLP’s 3-D technology. These developers include SAFARI Montage (which is currently partnering with AVRover and BenQ to deliver a library of 3-D-ready content), EON Reality, Discovery Education, RM Education, and Promethean.

Since TI DLP’s 3-D technology is both 2-D and 3-D compatible, “once 3-D content is uploaded, the chip will recognize it as 3-D and switch from 2-D to 3-D [automatically]; it’s that simple,” said Wudeck.

“Once the content is there, we’ll start using our 3-D-ready projectors for 3-D ,” said Scrogan.

Having content readily available might encourage more educators to make the switch to 3-D-compatible projectors, although–according to Wudeck–educators already are lining up to future-proof their classrooms with or without content.

“Because of the affordability, ease of use, and quality of 3-D, educators will start implementing pilot programs around the country in about 90 to 120 days,” predicted Wudeck. “Just since NECC, TI has had an incredible amount of requests for demos. And when content comes in, I’d say, five to six months, then you’re really going to see a huge boom.”

“Once the pilot programs get running, we’ll start to get data about how kids remember … and understand content better when they see information in 3-D,” said Duncan. Like Wudeck, Duncan believes that white papers and case studies from 3-D pilot programs will be available during next year’s major tradeshows.

“We’re still in the early phase of the adoption curve,” said Wudeck, “but it’s moving fast. Expect to see some big rollouts in 3-D next year.”

Links:

T.I. DLP ^[64]

AVRover ^[65]

Panasonic ^[66]

Boulder Valley ISD ^[67]

Note to readers:

Don’t forget to visit the Building a Cost-Effective Digital Classroom resource center. If today’s students are to compete in an increasingly global economy, schools will need much more than textbooks and traditional pencil-and-paper approaches to succeed. Students need the benefit of technology-rich classrooms to give them marketable skills that they will use throughout their professional lives. Go to: Building a Cost-Effective Digital Classroom ^[68]

A new partnership will expand the availability of closed captioning (CC) and audio description (AD) in multimedia educational content–giving students who are hearing or visually impaired, are English language learners, or have other challenges greater access to digital learning opportunities.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has awarded two 5-year grants to CaptionMax for a collaboration with Discovery Education, intended to increase the accessibility of educational media used in K-12 classrooms.

Digital content that includes CC uses an on-screen transcription of the audio portion of a program. Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, as well as students with learning disabilities and those learning English, can follow along with classmates and keep pace with the rest of their class using CC. A teacher or student may turn off the captions if these are not needed.

Discovery Education’s streaming video collection currently offers more than 1,700 full-length programs and 13,000 core-concept video clips with CC. The grant project will increase these numbers.

Many Discovery videos also will be audio described, so that visually impaired students can access program content through a voice-over that describes key visual elements. The AD feature is mixed into the original program audio. Besides benefiting visually impaired students, AD can help students who learn best aurally or through multi-sensory input, CaptionMax says.

Through the partnership, CaptionMax will add CC and AD features to Discovery Education streaming videos in batches.

Dale Fulton, Discovery Education’s senior vice president of curriculum development, estimated that in the first 80 hours of work, approximately 150 to 200 new videos will be equipped with both CC and AD features.

Updated videos are available to educators as soon as they are loaded into the streaming service. Educators are alerted to new streaming content via a monthly newsletter.

“What is really unique about this [partnership] is that it is opening up the world to more students,” Fulton said. “It’s a remarkable way to differentiate instruction.”

Help for students with visual or aural impairments is frequently lacking in classrooms.

“This is a great step forward. The closed captioning is often missing in classrooms,” said Tracy Gray, director of the National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) and a managing research scientist at the American Institutes of Research. NCTI advocates for technology’s role in expanding learning opportunities for individuals with learning disabilities.

Gray praised the partnership and its members for their efforts.

Educators say visually impaired students often have trouble keeping up with classroom videos.

“Visually impaired students often find themselves in a classroom where the teacher is showing a video to complement the lesson and are left with no access to the messages that are provided on the screen,” said Jill Soule, a high school teacher in San Diego, Calif.

“The few times my students have experienced video description, they have been ecstatic.  The insight these descriptions afforded them was unlike anything they had experienced before.”

And expanding the accessibility of classroom videos to visually and hearing impaired students helps educators use digital content in the most effective way possible.

“Digital content, such as video, is proven to be a valuable resource in the classroom, engaging students through both the visual and aural senses,” said Kelli Campbell, senior vice president of content and product development for Discovery Education.

“Expanding the availability of titles with captioning and audio description increases the ways educators can integrate digital content into existing curriculum.”

Links:

Discovery Education ^[69]

CaptionMax ^[70]

U.S. Department of Education ^[71]

In a course that many believe to be the first of its kind, Northwestern University film students last winter learned the keys to creating online videos with the potential to draw mass audiences in a phenomenon known as “going viral.”

Students in the Evanston, Ill.-based school’s viral video class, also known as YouTubing101, produced online videos according to seven popular YouTube genres and learned how to craft tag words and terms that would push their videos near the top of popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

Eric Patrick, a Northwestern assistant professor who taught the 10-week class, said the utility of web-based video–for marketing purposes and distribution for artists–could eventually spur similar viral-video courses on campuses nationwide.

Read the full story at eCampus News ^[72]