I’ve been waiting for this moment for months. Our demo Swivl unit arrived yesterday afternoon, and we began playing with it after school. I’ve got a student teacher in Kindergarten who will need to be videotaped (dreaded edTPA . . .), so I instantly thought of Swivl. I’ve also got a 4th grade teacher who wants to know what little idiosyncrasies he does while teaching. I’ve got rock-star teachers that I want to video and share with the rest of the staff (I know – I’ll be careful).
But, you’re probably asking, “What is Swivl?” Swivl is a robot, essentially. A base unit follows a tracking unit via infrared signals, a device sits on top, and an app allows for front or rear-camera video recording. (You can also use it with slideshows and such – not worried about that here).
I’m not kidding – I’ve been laughing and smiling yesterday and today. Why? Several reasons:
- the power of self-reflection
- the ability to create your own teacher observation, and
- how cool is this technology!
My student teacher was out sick yesterday, so today was her first interaction with Swivl. She was in awe just as much as I was! This will obviously make her video-taped observations much easier, and it will allow her to videotape herself with little outside help/interference.
I’ve got a lot to learn about how best to use Swivl, and I’ll post more later. But I’m still smiling!
Find out more – click here see if you qualify for a demonstration unit at your school.
Visit Andrew Broere’s blog for more insights and ideas and follow him on Twitter @AndrewBroere!