I began flipping my Advanced 7th Grade
Science Classes this fall when I learned that the class time was going to be
cut in half, but the goal was to still try and cover the same amount of material. “YIKES”!!!!, was my first response, but then
I began doing some research on flipping and that seemed to be a possible
solution. I began using TechSmith’s
Camtasia software to record my lessons.
It does cost and I know there are free alternatives, but the ease of use
and editing made the purchase well worth it.
Students watch a short (2-10 minute video) each evening
and come prepared to work on labs or class assignments. It’s amazing to me how something that might
have taken 30 minutes of class time can be accomplished in 10 minutes or less
in a video. The students that need to pause
and rewind can without making the rest of the class wait. The feedback from the students and parents
has been very positive and I certainly have been able to come much closer to
meeting the goal of teaching the same number of standards in half the time.
I have all of my videos uploaded to youtube and then
link them to my Weebly site scienceisfun.org.
Students can watch them anytime and anywhere as long as they have access
to the internet via a computer, iPad or phone.
As our school moves to 1:1 fully next year, I see a
number of additional uses for screen capture software both from the teacher perspective
and from the students’ perspective. As
with all things technology, I am continuing to learn the best way to use these
tools, but I see some great merit in flipping in order to have more class time
for labs and other hands on experiences.
My school purchased camtasia for me and a few other staff members. I have yet to use it. My goal is to create several art history videos and art demonstration videos this summer! I can't wait! We will be using MyBigCampus so I will be able to load my vids to that site but I have a weebly site as well. I have already had students create screencastings but I have yet to create any. I may just give my advanced classes the task of creating them...makes for more authentic learning!
ReplyDeleteI find this very interesting. I tried recording some of my class and posting it on my teacher page for students who were absent. Our technology director at the time did not care for this idea as I was taking up a lot of space with my videos. I also ran into the problem of many students not having devices. Once we get to the point where all students have devices, I would like to try this again. This looks very interesting because using YouTube would take care of storage problems.
ReplyDeleteI solved the no devices problem by burning DVD's for the students that didn't have computers or internet. However it's a challenge if you can't make a number of videos in advance.
DeleteLinda, I haven't tried the flipped classroom model yet, but I'm hoping to next year when we are 1:1. How much did the software cost?How how much time do you figure you spend each week making videos? Would you send me a link to one of them so I can get an idea of what your videos are like?
ReplyDeletePam,
DeleteHere is a link to my start of the school year videos on my website: http://scienceisfun.org/start-of-the-year-videos.html