Screens are now a staple of everyday life. Outside school, daily routines feel like a series of transitions between screens of different sizes. Most parents depend on them to keep kids entertained and behaving. In school, one-to-one programs have become the norm, with screens used prolifically to personalize lessons and hold student attention.

Too often, classes become scrolling, clicking, submitting. Eyes glued to screens. Nobody talking. Even after the return to in-person learning, student screen time has stayed elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Beyond the obvious isolation this creates, a hidden cost is emerging. People often say, “modern learners are different.” The reality is subtler: learners now rely on screens not just to learn, but to function. That dependence is reshaping how minds develop.

Research shows students distracted by others’ devices score 15 points lower in math, and simply having a laptop in the room lowers comprehension and memory, even if it’s closed.

Banning phones in schools is a step in the right direction. But the question remains: is it enough?

What does dependence look like?

Dependence isn’t simply about whether screens are used, it’s about the role they play in shaping the habits and behaviors of individual students and the classroom as a whole. The issue is not technology itself, but what gets displaced when screens become the default mode of engagement. A few key patterns of screen dependence stand out:

• Escape and distraction — Students retreat into screens to avoid reality, constantly checking devices instead of listening or engaging. Over time this erodes self-regulation, making it harder to cope with the everyday demands of school or home.

• Automatic use instead of intentional use — Lessons, assignments, and even casual conversations default to screens, not because they’re the best option, but because they’re always available. This convenience narrows the range of experiences students have for learning.

• Shortcuts over struggle — Students lean on devices for quick answers, bypassing the productive friction where deeper thinking and lasting learning happen. The result is knowledge without resilience.

• Suppressing opportunities for growth — When screens dominate, face-to-face interaction, reflection, and collaborative problem-solving are pushed aside. These are the very experiences that develop empathy, creativity, and higher-order thinking.

What might be reshaping minds?

There is ongoing debate and research about the effects of screens, and a clear consensus has yet to emerge. But one fundamental principle of learning is well established: it requires reflection. Growth comes from the ability to step back from experience, view information from new perspectives, and integrate those shifts. Psychologists call this process cognitive differentiation or decentering of thinking. And it most often emerges in the context of human interaction.

When learning is dominated by screens — especially since so much of students’ lives outside school already is — those conditions become far less likely. Screens are designed to hold attention and keep users immersed in the experience. But immersion is the opposite of reflection. Instead of encouraging students to decenter, screen use often reinforces self-centered thinking, leaving ideas unexamined and growth stalled.

This explains why today’s learners feel different: they are not developing the same reflective capacities that previous generations built more naturally through interacting with people and the natural world. As a result, many students remain “stuck” in their current ways of thinking. This brings new needs, and new pressures, into classrooms.

The evidence of the hidden costs are now piling up. Seventy-two percent of educators say students are tired of devices in school, and parents too are voicing concern about adding to that load. In another survey, 88% of educators said more screen time made learning challenges worse, and 80% said behavior had declined — with a third saying it’s gotten much worse.

Tackling screen dependence is becoming the educational challenge of our time, especially now with the arrival of AI.

So what’s the answer? 

Some are making the case to remove screens entirely. In a recent People interview, social psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt, didn’t hold back: 

“The one-to-one devices was the colossal mistake… The biggest driver of the decline of education is the phones in the pockets and the Chromebooks on the desks.”

But that goes too far. Screens bring too many benefits to ignore. 

The real challenge is that even great teachers have limits. They can only plan so much, guide so many students at once, and give so much attention to the growing list of individual needs. On top of that, modern learners are different, because their experiences outside of school are so different, and that’s why so many schools turned to technology in the first place.

Still, problems remain whenever screen-based learning takes hold. Now with AI integrated into everything, “Active” lessons can easily slide into low-effort tech use. Students can short-circuit learning by reaching for quick answers instead of working through deeper thinking. So yes, limiting screen time is essential—even for the most tech-forward schools. But limits alone are not enough.

Students need off-screen learning experiences to build real mastery, especially the mastery they are going to need in an AI future. The research is clear: 

• Print and physical materials often outperform screens for comprehension and retention.

• Students are more likely to succeed at higher-level problem-solving when learning from non-digital materials.

• For “deeper reading,” paper clearly wins, with screens linked to more shallow reading.

With these concerns in mind, a better answer includes:

• Limiting screen time during the school day.
• Great direct instruction with devices off and put away.
• Adding rich off-screen and social learning activities where students face each other, not a screen.
• Creating frequent opportunities for students to reflect and differentiate their thinking.

To make this possible consistently, teachers need help. The real solution is technology that augments teaching and learning without fueling dependence.

Differentiation that differentiates

M2 has a screen, but it isn’t built for constant interaction. It turns itself off when not needed, staying on only to signal that it’s there to help without becoming the focus.

Instead of adding to screen dependence, M2 extends a teacher’s reach and creates more space for human connection and deeper thinking. It listens, observes, and understands classroom context, then responds strategically when called upon — during direct instruction, small-group activities, or hands-on projects.

By putting teachers and students back at the center, M2 keeps learning human and ensures screens set the stage for growth instead of limiting it.

See M2 in action

Book a meeting and explore how this intelligent co-teacher helps schools move past dependence and unlock real growth.

The post The hidden cost of screen dependence appeared first on Swivl.

Today, we’re excited to officially announce MirrorTalk.ai the mobile and web version of the Mirror, which we launched earlier this year. MirrorTalk has free and premium plans to cover everyone’s needs.

MirrorTalk is a tool for reflecting out loud that can be customized and focused for assessment, creative thinking, motivation, development, and more. Each reflection brings AI-powered insights on how you are thinking, and how to improve.

Modernity has made us less reflective than we’ve ever been. While engagement gets the overwhelming priority in education and life, we already know learning comes from reflection. Our aim is to restore the balance in our minds between engagement and reflection by leveraging AI to open up unique opportunities that aid how we reflect. 

Reflecting with MirrorTalk is as simple as talking about what you’re working on. Start by stating your learning objective, and you’ll immediately get a set of customized reflection prompts, which can be tailored to the language, length, or focus that fits your needs. From there, MirrorTalk helps you talk it out in the comfort of an objective and impartial listener. When you’re done, you get instant feedback, insights, and scores to help you understand and improve your thinking. You can use it yourself or assign reflections to students, teachers, leaders, and more. 

The reflective foundations

MirrorTalk automates reflection so you can talk it out with the frequency and personalization you’ve always wanted, but didn’t think you had the time for. And MirrorTalk’s Dashboard shows you insights about your thinking you may never have realized you needed, until now.

The lesson

Based on your reflection, we identify the Lesson – a learning gap or adaptive lesson that you may be struggling with. It’s like having developmental psychologists Jean Piaget or Robert Kegan consult you on any one of your reflections. 

Understanding

By reporting on how well you construct knowledge and derive meaning, Understanding identifies how you’re generating insights or coming to new realizations.

Zone

Based on Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), Zone identifies the optimal stress levels for your learning activities and helps you fine-tune the challenges you take on. 

Mindset

Expanding on Carol Dweck’s work, Mirror analyzes your thinking for evidence of a fixed or growth Mindset, then goes even deeper, analyzing the tone of your self-talk and the level of motivation represented in your thinking.

We even present data on developmental stages, cognitive and social skills, and cognitive biases. We also have more unique and powerful insights in the works.

MirrorTalk for everyone

MirrorTalk’s reflections can be customized for PK-12, higher education, and adults, and both the content and language of dashboard insights are developmentally appropriate for the participant.

• K12 classrooms: Set up reflections on any learning objective, for any grade, with the ability to focus on depth of knowledge, retrieval, creativity, problem solving, and more. Get feedback on how students are understanding what they need to learn and use our reflective foundations to guide curriculum, assessments, and PD.

• Professional Development: Most PD and coaching initiatives are slow and create dependence on institutions to make progress. MirrorTalk gets teachers thinking in motion automatically and prepares them to take on curriculum changes, formal coaching, certifications, and more. Also, we believe using MirrorTalk with students – to peer inside the minds of learners – is the next great leap forward beyond feedback from video coaching.

• Higher Ed: Help students across the whole university stay engaged in their academic growth, and help specific departments create better outcomes. Aid student teachers in their field work and even get them instant feedback on their lesson plans from reflection data of the students they are teaching.

New possibilities

We believe MirrorTalk opens up new possibilities in education and for humanity itself. Not only does it help restore balance in our minds with time spent over-engaging, it could help us reflect more. By helping people learn foundational life lessons with less difficulty and suffering, our vision is to help everyone learn and grow better than ever before. 

Get started

Ready to experience MirrorTalk? Sign up on the web or download the mobile app today and get a 60-day trial of our Pro plan, absolutely free. After that, you can continue using the free version, or invest in a plan that fits your needs. Plus, don’t miss the chance to demo the Mirror hardware device, and experience its power as a 3-in-1 reflection station, recording tool, and interactive small group guide. 

In a constantly accelerating world, the ability to adapt is more important than ever. Investing in building students’ and teachers’ reflective foundations will make it possible for everyone to thrive.

The post Introducing MirrorTalk.ai appeared first on Swivl.

It’s no surprise that companies and sports teams build reflection into their work. Leaders know that group reflection, like watching and discussing game tape, leads to deeper learning. We get better when we reflect together.

While group work is a staple in classrooms, group reflections are rare. The logistics of planning project based learning activities for and assessing group reflection have made it impractical. Until now.

With our next major Mirror release (March 25th), we’ll make group reflection more convenient, powerful and automated than ever. When we do, we’ll also – without irony – be making group work itself more convenient, powerful and automated than ever.  

This article will explain what’s coming and how you can expect to use it soon.

Just start a reflection

Set up the reflection as you normally would for individual students by adding a goal, a focus, dimensions, and more. Once it is set up, multiple students at once can pick their name/profile and get started. That’s it! Mirror is set up for group reflection out of the box. You don’t need to do anything. It even customizes the greeting for groups to help build camaraderie before they begin answering the reflective questions. Once complete, the reflective insights can start to give you a sense about how the whole group is thinking about their learning.

Pro tip: You can encourage more voices and avoid the same student speaking every time by adjusting the response length to longer intervals. 

It’s quick, easy and effective. But that’s just the beginning. During reflection setup, you also have the ability to add what we call the Workspace. This is where group work itself can be transformed. 

The Workspace has tools for you to build group activities that enhance learning and directly lead students toward reflection. All you need to do is add your first Step to get started with Workspace. These Steps are progressive instructions that include recorded and transcribed directions and incorporate various learning tools.

These directions and tools are presented automatically to any group of students that are using Mirror. All it takes is a couple minutes to set up, either on Mirror itself at Mirror on the web. You can add as few or as many steps as you like! 

Here we’ll outline some scaffolded examples of how to include Steps in your Workspaces. 

Recharge

Learning is stressful. Part of adapting to transitions in the classroom is figuring out how to quickly calm down and refocus from task to task. And reflection’s role in learning makes it worth making sure the transition was effective. To aid that, Mirror has a wide selection of tools for Recharging exercises – all of which take less than 2 minutes to minimize disruption. Exercises can be selected for their calming or energizing effects, or for whatever you think is appropriate for the classroom at that time. When done, students are automatically progressed into their reflection – refreshed with a new perspective – and for you to get those all important reflective insights on how they are thinking. 

Guided activity

Each step includes the option of voice recording and transcribed directions (which can also be typed). When activated for the student, the voice recording is automatically played. They can see the transcription throughout the activity and replay the directions as needed. You can guide students through any activity you desire! Want them to work with manipulatives? Perhaps they should practice their drawing skills? Want them to read a poem? All of that is now possible in a “learning center” that is fully automated. Once the activity is done, students are once again automatically prompted to reflect on that activity, accelerating the learning that just occurred, and furthering the insights you gain from how they are processing the experience. 

Pro tip: Want to add some constructive pressure to that activity? You can even set a countdown timer. 

Make it visual

The Workspace’s learning tools aren’t just for group directions and management, they are also for making learning visual. Just follow the same setup steps as before and select Whiteboard. Students will be presented with the same directions and a visual thinking canvas.  

They can work on math problems, mind maps, sketching skills and more! They can do it with Mirror standing upright or on its back for a real canvas experience.

Another tool to make thinking and skills visual is a Recording (which can also be used for capturing teaching skills). Have students practice delivery presentations or oral arguments. Both students and teachers will be able to “see” their skills in action. Once again, this activity is followed by a reflection on what they observed, what they realized, and insights about their thinking gets passed along to you. 

Multi-step activities

You can add as many steps as you like. As you add more steps, the more extended student work you can set up. For example, you could set up a Design Thinking exercise – build a spaghetti cantilever. Step 1 could be to watch a YouTube video to get some background knowledge or inspiration to start the project. Step 2 could be to use the whiteboard tool to sketch out their initial ideas. Step 3 could be to start prototyping and building at their desk with a time limit. Step 4 could be to record a presentation of their work so far, and then have them transition to a spoken reflection on what they learned from the experience. At the end, you will see a summary of the activity with reflective insights on what the students learned. 

At the end, you will see a summary of the activity with reflective insights on what the students learned. 

Multiple Mirrors

Long term, you can even imagine a classroom as having multiple Mirrors. This makes daily individual reflection even more accessible to every student. It also makes it possible for teachers to set up many autonomous small groups for project-based learning instead of just one. This would allow educators to circulate between groups and facilitate as they see fit instead of being anchored to one. And each group would be generating reflective insights for the teacher to gain a clearer picture of their work from day to day. This is one vision of a classroom of the future where teachers can truly teach at a higher order. 

More group work is better

We built Mirror to support group work and reflection for a reason. We believe more group work and more group reflection promotes better learning. 

Like teaching has gone from sage to guide, we also think technology – and more specifically personal devices – also needs to get out of the way to support learning. It’s proven that students learn better when they are engaged physically in what they are doing. Small group work also accelerates the development of their social emotional skills – they can observe each other, make eye contact and have to figure out how to work together. These are skills that are incredibly important toward retaining competitive advantage over AI. And prioritizing group work automatically promotes the kind of learning activities we want to see more of in classrooms – project based learning, design thinking, inquiry, and more. 

Time and logistics often limit what can be done in classrooms with groups. This is why technology CAN still help and why we made Mirror. It now makes it possible to do radically more small group work than ever. 

Stay tuned as our reflective insights for groups also make major leaps in the coming months ahead!

Experience the premium version of Mirror, free for 60 days

Ready to transform your reflective practice? The Mirror trial program offers educators a guided experience of the premium version of Mirror for 60 days, absolutely free. Sign up and get started today!

The post Get more out of small groups with reflection appeared first on Swivl.

Littleton Elementary is a small but fast-growing rural district in Maricopa County, Arizona. It operates seven physical schools plus one virtual academy. The district is known for its high-quality education, which attracts students of many income levels and backgrounds from around the area.

Facing a teacher shortage, the district has hired many new teachers from out of state. This means there is a high ratio of mentor teachers to early-career and new teachers.

How can a district maintain its high levels of instruction in these circumstances?  Littleton, like other districts nationwide, knows that the best teacher support is often in-house.  

The foundation of their support system is the use of reflection and video capture tools that offer an objective look at the classroom, so teachers can identify challenges away from the emotionally-charged day-to-day teaching.

In 2022, teacher support doesn’t mean sharing another slide deck about self-care.

Leaders can give teachers the support they deserve by helping them build a regular routine of reflection, and use video to go deeper when needed. 

Thousands spent on PD per teacher, but impact on day-to-day is unclear

A study by the New Teacher Project found that teachers spend 10% of their time on professional development activities, and districts spend about $18,000 per year per teacher on PD. Despite these large PD investments, teachers often lack adequate support in fundamentals like classroom management, which are more important than ever.

Consider these responses shared by a few of the 300K+ educators subscribed to our newsletter when we asked about how their training addressed classroom management:

“I don’t encounter classroom management issues that I can’t handle or address, but that’s not because of formal training I’ve had. That kind of training is not offered in teacher prep in college/university or professional learning once employed.”

“Nothing prepares you for classroom management. There was not even a course.”

“I have never received training on how to handle a student who refuses to sit down, take off their backpack, or complete any assignments.”

“I have taught for 23 years. There have only been three instances where I had no training to deal with student disruptions and behavior. Note: these have been in the last year.”

There were many comments echoing similar sentiments. A simple response to these circumstances might be, well, then train them! 

However, typical professional learning, theory-heavy and application-light, is the wrong response. Classroom management issues are highly context-specific to the personality of the teacher and students, the class size, the subject, and even the time of day of the class. 

Faced with urgent, unique challenges, teachers don’t need more nondescript, one size-fits-all style workshops. They don’t need more consultants or more observers in their classroom. 

Teachers need the tools and space to identify their specific issues. With an understanding of their challenges, they can start to address them objectively, and seek help they need from others. 

Helping teachers build a regular routine of reflection is the best way to do this at scale.

Reflection is more effective and convenient with Sessions

With Sessions by Swivl, administrators can give every teacher in a school or district the tools they need to begin a regular reflection routine.

Sessions guides teachers to reflect through several clearly-defined steps

1. Set a Goal. Goals are the backbone of the reflection process. We recommend starting each week with a small goal, and as you gain more confidence and time, increase the rigor.
2. (Optional) Incorporate Video Evidence. Remember this is optional! When you are ready to incorporate video evidence, you will always have the opportunity to do so after setting your goal. 
3. Reflect. Explain what went well and what you’ll need to work on in the future to realize your goal or embark on a new one.
4. (Optional) Ask for feedback. Reflection alone can only go so far in determining your next steps. Involving a partner will help you accelerate your thinking.

Even with teachers’ busy schedules, Sessions helps teachers reflect in a time-efficient way. Sessions helps teachers focus on specific aspects of their instruction as they reflect. 

Teacher preparation programs, the National Board certification process, and many state licensure programs all prioritize reflection as a tool for teacher growth. Why? Because it works.

Now, it’s time for all teachers to get the tools they need (and the time to use them), so they can realize the sustaining benefits of regular reflection.

Administrators: help your teachers build a regular routine of reflection

Remember Littleton School District in Arizona? 

Their Director of Instructional Technology Jim Verrill shared a recent story with us of a principal who was tasked with helping one of their teachers work through an instructional challenge. With all the professional learning options available, this principal encouraged the teacher to begin working through the challenges by recording their teaching and using Sessions to self-reflect. 

Then, through their robust system of teacher support, there are other actions teachers, coaches, or administrators can take to make sure the teachers get the help they need.

As Jim said, “Now, because principals have Swivl tools, they can help a teacher who needs support and have them work on reflection.”

The post Regular reflection is the PD teachers deserve. Here’s why. appeared first on Swivl.

First came remote learning. 

Teachers adapted to a new mode of instruction in a matter of days.

But remote learning was followed by hybrid, and then a school year of quarantines, disrupted schedules, and stressful changes to normal life. 

Then came the after effects. 

From the pandemic and the public health response to it, students have experienced social isolation, too much screen time, and constant health scares for two years. Now, teachers are faced with the behavioral and mental health crises that come with it all. As they try to help students rebuild deteriorated essential competencies, they’re going to need help. 

As administrators look ahead, teacher support can’t be business as usual. Teacher self-reflection and video coaching, as part of a plan targeted at teachers and students most in need, is the essential act for post-pandemic recovery.

But it all starts with a deep understanding of how we got here.

Screen time and isolation harmed essential student competencies

Adolescents’ screen time doubled during the pandemic, and increases were even larger for students of color. Excessive screen time and the decrease in sleep it brings are linked to an increase in impulsive behavior for children. At-home learning meant many students were socially isolated, contributing to soaring mental health issues. The APA reported that 4 out 5 teens experienced more stress during the pandemic, and the CDC reported a 30% increase in mental health ER visits by children ages 12-17.

Social isolation and technology overstimulation led to a decrease in two essential competencies: persistence and curiosity. These are the SEL competencies that have been directly tied to students’ academic success. Additionally, the increase in behavior issues teachers now deal with make helping students recover these competencies and other academic skills increasingly difficult. 

The challenge teachers face in addressing students’ current needs is not more of what was already happening. It’s a new issue with a new cause, requiring a new response.

A scaffolded plan for robust teacher support

When teachers say “we are not trained for this,” they mean it literally. Current classroom challenges are issues of classroom management. While there is nothing new about classroom management, the causes and manifestations of the issues are new. 

The most powerful tool for making progress on classroom management is reflecting and coaching based on classroom video.

First, teachers need to view their challenges outside of the in-the-moment stress of class. In other words, teachers need to reflect on videos of their own instruction whenever issues arise.

Then, teachers need support from colleagues and a clear elevation path to coaches.  This empowers schools to solve problems and support teachers using the collective intelligence and resources they already have.

Lastly, administrators need to see what teachers are facing, give personalized feedback and (in rare cases) share evidence with experts. This involves some combination of virtual walkthroughs, remote observations, and sharing video clips with experts like school psychologists. 

With schedules full and personnel limited, how can administrators make a plan that seems to be asking everyone to do more? There’s good news: the tools exist for leaders ready to direct time and attention towards schools’ biggest challenges. 

Video coaching powered by Teams is the missing link

For a robust system of teacher support that includes but goes beyond the typical observations tied to evaluation models and job contracts, video coaching is the flexible, scalable solution.

Teams by Swivl is the tool that can make this happen. Teams is a video reflection and collaboration system that allows educators to record, host, and share videos, then dive deep into discussion with video analysis tools like time-stamped bookmarking and commenting with built-in rubric support.

For Instructional Coaches and Administrators, Teams by Swivl helps overcome the barriers of space and time by allowing coaching to happen either asynchronously with recording or live with streaming. For teachers, it’s a place to securely store your content with the tools to bring value to regular self-reflection.

With Teams + Robots, administrators can begin to use video coaching for teacher support with the classroom management challenges, new instructional environments, and other unique challenges they face right now. It starts with giving teachers time and space to think.

Part I: Teachers self-reflect with Teams and a phone

The issues teachers and students face are ones that are time-sensitive. Teachers and administrators need a way to identify those issues fast and create a plan to address them as soon as possible. One of the fastest ways to get objective evidence of what’s happening in the classroom and improve the situation is self-reflection on classroom video. Unlike other forms of professional development, reflection requires no additional personnel and can be done in a variety of locations and at different times.

This is the time to back off on asking teachers to work on new initiatives, and give them time and space to reflect on their current responsibilities.

Video self-reflections can help teachers identify how they’ve dealt with difficult situations, and how they may work through classroom management issues. Additionally, reviewing short moments of instruction in Teams can help teachers identify situations they haven’t been trained for, and can act as a catalyst to seek additional help or start conversations with colleagues or administrators.

Getting started with teacher video reflection can be simple: teachers can begin by propping up a cell phone, tablet or laptop near their desk, and then reviewing the video in Teams at a convenient time.

Right now, many school and district administrators recognize that accelerating academic initiatives is not the top priority. This is the time to back off on asking teachers to work on new initiatives, and give them time and space to reflect on their current responsibilities.

Part II & III: Teachers collaborate with peers and coaches

The best professional learning is often available from the teacher down the hall. During a time when schedules are tight and traveling classroom to classroom may be impractical, Teams can make peer collaboration feasible. 

Teachers can connect with each other and instructional coaches by recording key moments in class, then discussing them through Teams. Research shows that collaboration improves student achievement when the discussion is specifically focused on improving student outcomes.  

During a time when the learning environment is often in flux, it’s essential for teachers to have a way to quickly discover, share and implement best practices. Ongoing discussion with colleagues and coaches centered around high-quality audio and video from the classroom is the most efficient, effective way to do this. 

Part IV: Administrators offer support & feedback

Classroom video and asynchronous discussion can help administrators improve the quality and quantity of feedback to teachers, while also making compliance easier. Of the hundreds of administrators I’ve spoken to throughout my career, one common thread is the desire to give teachers more personalized support outside of mandated observations, but struggling to make time for it.

We work with districts using Teams + Robots for virtual walk-throughs, where teachers in a grade level, department or school all share short video clips with administrators through Teams, and then receive feedback and hold written discussion afterwards. Others support new teachers and maintain the fidelity of their curriculum by collecting and responding to videos from teachers who all teach different sections of the same course.

For those who have the flexibility and desire to do so, Teams + Robots can also empower administrators to conduct remote observations, either recorded or streamed. We’ve found remote observations to be most effective when teachers have buy-in selecting the lesson they stream or recording multiple videos and sharing one of their choice. Teams by Swivl turns a post-observation discussion into a personalized, interactive, multimedia resource for professional learning.

Teams by Swivl turns a post-observation discussion into a personalized, interactive, multimedia resource for professional learning.

In addition to support for teachers in need, video coaching helps directly address the moments that make teachers lament “we are not trained for this.” When students may need support from outside experts, Teams + Robot makes situations portable and consultable. 

In the most extreme cases, where a school psychologist or trauma-informed expert must be brought in, video coaching helps get students and teachers the help they need faster by bringing clarity to the situation.

It’s time for schools take important steps forward

Regular self-reflection and video coaching help schools begin to rebuild by giving teachers and students more support. 

Through self-reflection, peer collaboration and instructional coaching, teachers can improve classroom management and share best practices during a time of increased behavioral issues. Through virtual observations and walk-throughs, administrators can give personalized feedback at scale and better understand teachers’ challenges while saving time and ensuring compliance. For the rare cases, schools can bring in trauma-informed experts to consult and coach on challenging situations documented through objective, high-quality audio and video.

In each of these cases, both the written, time-stamped, professional conversation and the high-quality audio and video recording of the classroom are there for stakeholders to refer to. A one-time conversation becomes a chance for continuous growth.

While technology is often a contributor to modern problems, we must look for where it can provide solutions. Through frequent video coaching not tied to salary or evaluations, school leaders can ensure teachers improve classroom management, students rebuild their most essential competencies, and everyone begins to take important steps forward. 

The post “We are not trained for this”: Why administrators need a bold plan for teacher support in 2022 appeared first on Swivl.

81% of educators said they taught less than typical or no new instructional material during the spring of 2020.¹ Statistics like this have led educators to believe that one of the biggest challenges we face in the 2021-22 school year is learning loss.

But is learning loss the root issue or simply a symptom of a larger problem?

While it is clear that students have experienced significantly reduced academic growth throughout the pandemic, students lost more than “learning” — they lost relationships with their peers and educators.

In education, relationships matter. At Swivl we’ve spent the past decade studying coaching and relationships, specifically the value they bring to human development. Our findings align with others: learning and emotion are strongly connected. More specifically, strong, long-term, trusting relationships are essential to a student’s learning and development.²

Most of the environments students and educators operated daily in throughout the pandemic did not foster strong, trusting relationships. Students, parents, teachers, and administrators were operating in crisis mode — navigating equity issues and the learning curves that accompany new technologies, as well as feeling burnt out from the overuse of virtual platforms.

And, let’s not forget that the small, daily interactions teachers had with their students in school hallways, classrooms, cafeterias, and during after-school activities disappeared due to social distancing. Pre-pandemic, these were powerful times of impromptu relationship building, coaching, and modeling.

But, how does focusing on building relationships with students help propel a student’s academic learning?

Linda Darling-Hammond, the President and CEO of The Learning Policy Institute says it best, “What the science of learning and development tells us is that … if you’re in a positive emotional space, if you feel good about yourself and your teacher, that actually opens up the opportunity for more learning.”³

When students are in environments that foster closeness, consistency, and trust, they become more willing to take risks and stay curious. Building strong relationships with students empowers them emotionally, socially, and academically. They gain a sense of belonging and increased motivation in the classroom, as well as the self-confidence to believe more is possible for them. 

How do we go about solving the issue of relationship loss? 

The education world’s typical approach to resolving issues (including relationship loss) is to assess, assess, assess. After quickly assessing and categorizing students, we cross our fingers and hope that in a few months when it’s time to reassess we see an improvement in their scores.

If the pandemic taught us anything, I hope it’s taught us that the education world’s typical approach to resolving issues is flawed. When we treat students as test scores, what narrative are we unintentionally, or intentionally, sending students?

Treating students as numbers diminishes motivation. It leads to a dip in self-confidence and a tendency to set lower expectations for themselves.

Long story short, using the assessment approach puts the content before the student, more often than not. Instead of starting with assessments to counter the issue of learning loss, start with having a conversation with each student. After a positive relationship has been established, a student will be more receptive to assessments and additional support. A student can even be part of the conversation about what support would be best for them during the school year.

How do we create these types of strong, long-term relationships with students?

It is more than requiring students to introduce themselves via video or having them complete an interest survey. As simple as it sounds, it all starts with having regular and consistent conversations inside and outside of the classroom.

As schools are returning to in-person instruction, we may find it challenging to find time to connect with each student individually. This is where our research comes into play.

One of the most successful ways we have found to connect with each student individually is through audio-only platforms. For example, when teachers:

• have online office hours before a project deadline
• continue a robust classroom conversation after school hours
• host brainstorm sessions to solve a community problem
• invite all of their class periods to practice their foreign language skills together

Audio-only platforms create a learning environment where students and teachers can easily connect outside of class time — synchronously or asynchronously. This learning environment also helps all types of students feel like they can participate, especially those who are more introverted in class.

Are there any other benefits to having strong relationships with students?

Teachers who have strong relationships with their students are able to customize new curriculum or trends within their classroom. They are able to see more clearly how each student may react to it, and what steps they can take to personalize each student’s learning.

In addition, focusing on relationships opens up the potential for more modeling. And in particular, it is effective for teaching things like values. 

For example, if a student is in a finance class they will likely be taught the importance of saving for long-term goals. When a finance teacher models the value of delayed gratification to their students, the students gain a clear picture of what delayed gratification is and are more likely to apply it to their everyday life. Meaning, the next time students have an opportunity to indulge in an impulse purchase, they’re more likely to remember what their finance teacher taught them about saving for long-term goals. 

And in a world where instant gratification is at our fingertips, we think building the skill of prioritizing values over emotions — otherwise known as emotional maturity — is one of the most important things we can do. 

The bottom line: before we start assessing students and categorizing them by areas of improvement, let’s build a relationship with each of them. We can begin building these relationships by having more conversations with them.

Sources:

1. University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development survey, spring 2020.
2. “How the Science of Learning and Development Can Transform Education,” Science of Learning & Development Alliance, May 2020
3. “The Power of Relationships in Schools,” Edutopia, January 2019

The post Relationships Have the Power to Change Education appeared first on Swivl.

Resources discussed during the webinar>

Generously provided by our panelists

The post Exploring Language Acquisition Skills and Instruction through Video Observation appeared first on Swivl.

As a firm believer in the benefits of video reflection, Natalie is bringing her video observation experience and her favorite Swivl classroom video tools to Aspire University to prepare new leaders in education. “Starting our residents with learning about the power of video observation early in their practice can really take them to the next level earlier in their career,” said Natalie. “I really want them to understand that teaching is a field that you can continue to improve and grow in even when you’re not in front of the students. I want them to learn the power of planning and utilizing Swivl as a resource. It lets you see yourself and watch these little nuances that you probably would not pick up on if you were just in the classroom by yourself, so I’m really excited about the Swivl platform. I’m excited about integrating it into the progress and the careers of new teachers because it will benefit them,” Natalie continued. “I want them to be reflective practitioners. Lots of other fields, like sports or music, focus on the idea of improving practice before the game. When you’re in front of the kids that’s game time, but what happens before game time is extremely important. We can use Swivl before the game and during the game. I really think that it’s going to help our kids learn more. Plus, we’re being great models for them. We’re asking our kids to never stop learning, to be critical thinkers and problem solvers. So, my next step will be to learn more about Swivl’s video response and reflection app for students, Recap, to help our kids to join in the fun as well.”

Swivl software and hardware have found their way into thousands of schools around the world. It’s a video reflection and skill development cloud platform for teachers and students, built to improve personalized teaching and learning and create meaningful, actionable dialogue between educators, students, and parents. “I’ve tried several platforms before. I tried using Vimeo, YouTube, Dropbox and I just found that those tools took a long time to upload, and it wasn’t as user-friendly in terms of adding slides or photos, being able to edit them and share them quickly and easily,” says Natalie. “First, as a Principal at Aspire Public Schools I started using Swivl with my teachers. We just fell in love with it. Now, working with Aspire University, I wanted to bring this fantastic resource and this great partnership to Aspire University as well.” While Swivl is best known for its Swivl Robot, a mobile automated video capture unit that works with your mobile device to seamlessly capture video and high quality audio, the software is what makes Swivl so powerful, and with new premium features now available to free users, the benefits of the Swivl platform are more accessible than ever.

So how will Aspire University be using the Swivl platform? “I want to utilize Swivl as a way for teachers to record their practice, review their recordings in a group setting, receive feedback and have an opportunity to practice before they’re actually teaching students,” says Natalie. “During seminars we have the majority of the day that’s theory. That’s when they’re learning teaching strategies and practices. Then, they are released to go and apply those practices in a classroom full of kids with another partner resident. They record each other using the Swivl app and then they come back to the seminar space, where we watch ourselves in small-group setting. They reflect on their practice and then they practice again. It’s this constant cycle of planning, practicing and improving their work.”

Student teachers and mentors use the free Swivl app on their phones or iPads. Swivl Robot is not required, although, it guarantees high quality audio and is perfect for those, who want to record themselves. “When I go to school sites, the mentors and I observe the residents in practice in their actual classroom. During that time I’m recording them and I’m thinking about what kind of debrief conversation we should have. What went well during that observation and what will be the best leverage to help them move forward. To me nothing is more effective than actually seeing yourself. So, they could hear it from me, but instead the mentor and I work together to provide probing questions, and then we show the residents a small snippet video of themselves in practice. The resident is SO much more apt to actually see what went well and how they can improve based on the probing question and seeing themselves in action.” The videos made with the Swivl app are automatically uploaded to the secure Swivl site, where the student teachers and the mentors can safely share their videos with each other. They can also leave time-stamped comments, which makes sharing and receiving advice and insights so much easier, especially if it’s not possible to get everyone in the same room. “When I’m not there, when it’s just the resident and the mentor, they can utilize Swivl as a way for them to work together to improve their co-teaching and for the mentor to give the resident feedback”, says Natalie.

Using Swivl, a mentor can also highlight a specific teachable moment and show the students what they did well even if they are far away from each other. “We’ve also been using Swivl as a way to celebrate and share best practices. Every week each region sends a newsletter out to their region. We include the residents, the mentors, the principals and the superintendents, and we send those video links from Swivl, so all the folks in the region have an opportunity to see these wonderful teachable moments that are happening across the region. So Swivl is a part of our instruction, a part of our practice, the follow-up work, and then we also use it as a way to celebrate.”

I asked Natalie if her mission as an educator has changed, now that she’s moved to a new role. She replied, “I’ve been in education for over 12 years now. The mission is still the same in that my hope is that when kids see me, they see themselves and that they could hope, dream, and aspire to accomplish things that maybe they wouldn’t have, had they not seen someone that looks like them, achieve it. The beauty in growing, learning, and improving is that now that there’s technology and other resources, those initial dreams that I had are even more possible.”

Sign up for a FREE Swivl account!

The post Teachers Improve Practice with Video appeared first on Swivl.

Biology and Physics teacher from California, Josh Chan, recently tried out the new Swivl Expand Lens for iPads with his students. While many people are familiar with wide angle lens use in photography, the Swivl Expand Lens was specifically designed for the front-facing camera of an iPad to double the camera view for video capture. In addition to expanding the horizontal view, the lens expands the vertical view, which means teachers can actually see what the students are working on. “It is really cool to setup my iPad and record the whole table building circuits. You can see the circuits and the students working on them,” says Mr. Chan.

Equipped with a wide-angle lens that features an integrated stand, he is transforming the small group learning experience with valuable observational video. “I teach a lot of workshops and sometimes I don’t have the ability to have someone record those “aha” moments,” says Mr. Chan. Conveniently, with the Expand Lens, there’s no need to. It takes seconds to set up and works great with the Swivl app–a free app for capturing and safely sharing educational videos, that features convenient built-in tools for exchanging feedback–so you can record and observe without interfering with the learning process.

AVAILABLE IN OUR STORE

The post Biology Teacher Uses a Simple Group Learning Observation Tool appeared first on Swivl.

Recently, Principal June’s school started using the Swivl Robot, an automated video capture unit that works with your mobile device and a suite of online tools to enable educators and students to use video for skill development. Thousands of schools use this small, portable device to make regular use of video a seamless practice in their classrooms. “This is our first year piloting Swivl. It’s a great professional development tool,” says the elementary school principal.

Kayla Green, an enthusiastic young teacher who came to the Rosa Parks Academy over a year ago through the Teach for America program, became an instant fan of the robot. It is so easy to use and puts her in control of her own professional development. “I use it very often! There are many different things that my coaches tell me that I need to work on or that I’m doing well. I record myself to see if I can also see the things they’re talking about, and I can. I’ve been able to see how I am as a teacher in the classroom and what I can work on as far as voice level, body language and all those different things that I need to do in the classroom in order for the students to be challenged and for the lessons to flow nicely,” says Kayla.

Using video reflection for professional development is paying off for Kayla. Since she started utilizing the Swivl Robot, Mrs. June has seen impressive growth in Kayla’s practice. “She’s given herself a great opportunity to be reflective, and so now it’s not just about what I’m saying or what her coach is saying. It’s about what she’s able to see herself from her own practice, and that’s what it’s all about. We’re trying to develop students that are critical thinkers and problem solvers, and we want our educators to be motivated and inspired to do the same things in terms of their own professional growth,” says Principal June.

The post Educators Build on Reflective Teaching Practices to Get Students College-Ready appeared first on Swivl.