THE “SWIVL”
http://www.swivl.com
Self-directed camera
work in the classroom
Personalised CPD at
the touch of a phone
As a school we want
to put the idea of self-reflection at the heart of teaching and learning. We
want teaching staff to be able to see what they are doing in lessons, hear what
they say, witness the way their pupils react to activities and make alterations
if they feel that any of these things can be improved. The trouble is that most
of this comes from observation and it’s difficult to observe yourself. There
are numerous classroom observation companies that will set up cameras in
classrooms and record lessons for you. These are often very expensive and rely
on a good deal of IT support and server capacity in school. I wanted to try
these and was in the process of setting up some connections to get started,
when I heard about the SWIVLE. This is a portable camera holder that tracks
your movements if you wear a portable lanyard which picks up an infra-red
signal. Once you’ve hooked up your iPhone, iPod to the plinth, it will follow
you around the room, pick up audio and record your lesson to a private ICloud
and YouTube site that will allow teachers to view their lessons on their own or
to share them with people if they wish.
IAlink to a demo of
it working on YouTube is below
This is possible at the
fraction of the cost of permanent or more standard cameras – around £299 for
the hardware and for software and storage support for a whole year for all your
staff. This means that teachers can see what they really did or said, rather
than what they think happened. It allows them to record pupil reactions and
engagement and reflect afterwards on what happened. It allows the teachers to
be far more reflective and in charge of their own CPD.
But does it really
work in the classroom and what do teaching staff think. Over the next few weeks
I am going to lend out the equipment to a number of staff across different subjects
and get them to record their thoughts, tweaks and gripes in this forum.
Good “SWIVLING”
Swivl, Impact tool for all? ..................teaching has been revolutionised with many technological
advances and how far these have entered your classrooms seems dependent on you as a person and your
audience. It also depends on your school environment and the resources that you have at your disposal.
The Swivl has many Strengths. It's cool slick design
stands out in a room and attracts a lot of attention even when a device is not
plugged in to it. It's easy to use, small and light in weight. When connected
to device sync is quick and the connection is immediate and remains strong as
you move around the room. The Swivl device should be placed about standing head
height for good connection. The quality of sound recorded is pretty good this
includes background sound, when the device volume is put on loud. As an
additional feature there is a microphone available which is a lot more
sensitive.
Other features include downloading a free app called
Swivl Legacy. This allows you to save captured sequences and share within a
secured network hence not using up your handset storage capacity. The captured
sequences can be shared within a secured network.
Unfortunately like many devices there are some
limitations to its use. Firstly the infrared does loose connection if the
sensor is not directly facing the device. The tilt on the device Is manual so
would serve better if the design allowed for a ball platform hence capturing
images in all directions. I have also found that the device is not sensitive
enough as it often did not follow me.
Every user will need to fully charge their handset device
and have additional batteries on supply for the Swivl device itself.
How it may be useful in lessons or for teachers?
As I piloted the device I received mixed views about its
use. As I explained to my students it can be used for checking on progress,
improving practice for both students and teachers, helping to monitor students,
helping to build on confidence and self esteem, re -building relationships with
students. As a wider role it can be used to encourage staff to share good
practice and offer advice where required to improve practice in all areas of a
school from all parties concerned using the Swivl device. For example during
CPD and Nqt training.
Personally I would be happy to use this in my classroom
as a tool to reflect on my own teaching and allow students to watch themselves
so to also reflect hence make more progress.
I used it for the following -
- dealing with low level behaviour.
- improving student presentations.
- monitoring class relationships .
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