A Quick Take on Swivl

Andrew Broere — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 03:38:03 +0000

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!

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Andrew Broere, Author at Swivl

A Quick Take on Swivl