If Only My Head Could SWIVL… (Original post)

by: Ann Marie Carrier

If I only had eyes in the back of my head, or ears, or four hands, or unlimited time, then maybe I would actually have some of the tools I would need to properly assess, meet and personalize the individual needs of each of my students. But unfortunately we don’t. There will never be a time when good teachers like yourself have enough of everything you can to make learning ideal for every situation and no matter how hard you try, it is impossible to be in four places at once…until now! Swivl brings you their multi-camera and robotic recording program and camera tool that can finally help to be the eyes and ears in the back of your head and help you see and hear everything going on around you while you deliver direct or digital lessons to students! Busy trying to assist a single group while feeling you are missing what’s going on i the next? Don’t worry, Swivl can help!

Whether you invest in a single recording camera or use their app on individual devices, this tool can help you deliver slides and recorded content to individual groups around your classroom while individually recording both audio and video of the groups collaboration and individual responses to embedded questions, content and discussion topics than can be watched and listened to later for assessment of learning. Although this program records what is happening in all groups synchronously, by specifying and choosing an individual group device to target during playback of the recorded video, you may focus in on their audio and video response while muting all others at any given moment. This unique feature will allow you to identify gaps or misconceptions in students understanding of content that they might have been afraid to ask or mention aloud, and assess if those silent students are participating and responding to questions when you are not around. Swivl has many benefits and lends itself easily as an assessment tool that assists with personalized learning as it records evidence of student learning, identifies issues caused by off task behaviors and conversation and confirms mastery of others while you are busy working addressing issues or questions from another group around the room. All of this information is available to you at any time as the video is uploaded to the cloud for further assessment by you at another time so that you can then adapt future lessons to meet the individual needs of all your students.

I encourage you to check out how this new tool can be used to assist you in the classroom, to benefit your students and to be used around your school to record lessons that quickly can be otherwise assumed to be entirely effective. Let Swivl be the eyes and ears of your next content lesson. You’ll be glad you did!

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Solution: A video technology solution that included Swivl Robot Pro, Swivl Expand Case, and Pelican Aircase.

Results: Improved teacher reflection that helps increase student achievement, the district’s ultimate goal.

Lake County Schools is a public school district in Tavares, Florida with 5,500 teachers, leaders, and staff serving some 42,000 PK-12 students across 48 learning sites. They aim to be a dynamic, progressive and collaborative learning community where every student will graduate with the skills needed to succeed in post-secondary education and the workplace.

Meeting this bold mission requires educators and leaders who can reflect on their teaching and make needed changes to meet the needs of a diverse student population. But it’s not easy to see what’s working—and what isn’t—from the front of the classroom.

That’s when Lake County School’s Innovative Professional Development Facilitator Andrea Pyatt
came up with a strategy for using video technology to conduct teacher reflection and improve
learning outcomes.

Armed with a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, Pyatt enlisted the help of Jon Redding, online manager, and Lisa Sabino, district instructional coach. Together, they set out to provide the district’s educators with a video platform that would help teacher reflection and increase student achievement.

They had several requirements and wouldn’t settle for anything less than the perfect solution. The video technology had to be simple and easy to use so that educators would immediately see the value and not be afraid to use it. It also had to operate independently and not rely on additional staff time for camera operation.

Teachers had already expressed concern over permanent ceiling cameras as too “Big Brother-esque,” so those were immediately ruled out. They also passed on a video robot due to its difficulty of use.

It was at the 2015 Learning Forward Conference—at a Swivl demonstration given by Troxell Account Executive Ian Wiengold—where they found the perfect solution. They immediately saw Swivl’s potential as a video tool that supported feedback on classroom instruction, and tapped Troxell Account Executive Eric Blomquist who worked tirelessly to create a custom solution that fit the district’s exact needs.

With the Swivl Robot Pro, the instructor simply wears a Bluetooth-enabled necklace which the Swivl tracks and records as he or she moves around the classroom. After watching the playback, the instructor sees things that he or she didn’t observe live and how certain actions might impact the learning experience. This reflection is critical to helping teachers become aware of blind spots or potential classroom inequities.

Lake County Schools then invested in a Swivl Expand Case with a wide angle lens to capture more of the classroom, and a Pelican Aircase with a customizable “Pick N Pluck” interior that snugly protects the equipment.

The result is improved teacher reflection that helps increase student achievement, the district’s ultimate goal. Blomquist not only went above and beyond to build a solution that exactly fits the needs of Lake County Schools, he earned Redding’s respect—and established Troxell as his “go-to” for additional solutions.

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Swivl recently released an update to their software, also a new app (https://www.swivl.com/pro-plus/), that allows you to use multiple iPads to record at once. You can have up to 5 iPads recording video, and audio, at once. This allows you to easily record up to 5 different students, or groups, in a classroom at once. This increased video data will allow a teacher to better be able to give feedback to students as they work in groups because it is impossible for a teacher to be with all of the groups at one time. By going back to the video after the class is over, or even during the class in block situations, the teacher can better observe the intended learning characteristics they were aiming for during that class period. You can find some other examples of the use of the multi-iPad setup by going to the Swivl Blog.

Our initial test run involved a 6th grade Language Arts class where the students were working in inner/outer circle groups as the inner groups were having a discussion about a topic and the outer group was observing and recording feedback. An iPad, with a wide angle lens, was place in front of each group before they started. We had the main iPad in our Swivl so that we could hear, and view, the teacher interactions with the students. We had 3 separate groups spread throughout the classroom and each group had their own iPad.

The students conducted their conversations, the teacher interacted with certain groups occasionally, and the whole time the video was being recorded. The students were to give feedback to the inner circle while focusing on the characteristics of feedback that were discussed in previous classes. This was the first time they were going through this process so the teacher needed to know what feedback to give to the students in order to improve this type of activity in the future. The nice thing is that this teacher was working with an instructional coach and they could now go over the video later to focus on the feedback to the students, while also reflecting on the activity itself. The comments feature in the Swivl Cloud library will also make it so they can share the video with others while they work to improve the effectiveness of this learning activity for students.

One important possible outcome of this recording is that we can now give better feedback to the students about how they work in groups. We expect our students to know how to work collaboratively and effectively in groups but it is not something that we always teach, let alone give specific feedback to students in order for them to improve. We can’t expect it if we do not teach it, or model it. We need to be able to give feedback to students in order for them to learn how to better collaborate with other students. Repeated use of this software with effective feedback to students could lead to vastly improved collaboration skills for students and we know that is something that they will need to be successful in the 21st century.

Patrick Donovan is a Technology Integration Specialist in Ames, IA, an authorized Google Education Trainer, a Swivl Pioneer, and much more. He has a Masters in Curriculum and Instructional Technology from Iowa State University. Check out his website and Swivl Pioneer page, and follow him on Twitter. 

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My students are currently all in book clubs, reading and discussing various novels, but with statewide assessments the three days previous, I had not been able to meet with any groups that week. My higher reading groups also do not meet with me as frequently as some of my other students, so I often do not know what they are specifically discussing. It was these reasons that prompted me to try the Multi-Camera feature for the first time. We started off the lesson well; groups were formed, iPads distributed, and everyone successfully joined the session I created. But that’s when the questions started! Was the master iPad recording, too? What should a group do when they finished their video but others were still working? How loudly did students need to speak in order for their ideas to be heard on the video? All the questions I hadn’t considered before the lesson came cropping up.

As a STEM ambassador to my building, I knew we’d need to practice what I preach: If you don’t know, problem solve until you figure it out. And so we did! We worked through all the bugs, from how to end a recording session to whether or not a group could stop recording and then sign back in to video some more content. There was lots to laugh about when I watched the videos later as we all worked together to figure out the technology. However, the parts we got right were pure gold.

For this particular lesson, I had set no guidelines other than students should meet together and discuss their books. I was curious to see what students would choose to talk about and which of the many reading skills we’ve been practicing all year they would employ. On video, I enjoyed discussions that ranged from what a brick fireplace is to how students were so excited about their story, they had to read ahead a few pages. One group took a picture walk and made predictions for the novel they just started, Caddie Woodlawn. Another group that met with me tried to settle on a theme for Sign of the Beaver. I watched as when one group discussion was running out of steam, the girls worked together to brainstorm additional discussion questions they could talk about. Students took turns sharing and kept each other on track. They asked good questions and tried to help one another capture the meaning of unfamiliar words. Knowing I would “listen in” on every conversation later and really cared about what each group would have to say seemed to encourage students to push themselves and dig deeper. I noticed discussions lasted longer than usual and seemed to cover more content.

Professionally, this was a great experience as well. I was able to discuss my maiden voyage with a coworker who is also using Swivl. She has been using the Swivl products and features longer than I have, so it was nice to know I had support and could see some of the things she had done with Multi-Camera before trying it myself. I also appreciated being able to see myself on camera. One book club had not completed their page goal so when I watched the video of that group, I was glad to hear that I spoke to them firmly about goal setting and expectations, but not in a rude or demeaning way.

With my new wide angle lenses and this experience under my belt, we look forward to using Swivl features again soon!

Inspired by Ashley’s experience? Apply to become a Swivl Pioneer!

Ashley Nicol has been teaching for 7 years at Caro Community Schools, which is located in the Thumb of Michigan.  She is a graduate of Saginaw Valley State University, with an elementary major and endorsements in Science and Social Studies.  Currently a fifth grade teacher, Ashley has previously taught in 2nd grade as well.  She serves as a building technology coach and advisor for an after school simple robotics and computer coding club. Check out Ashley’s Swivl Pioneer page, and follow her on Twitter. 

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I will be the first to admit that there was a time when I was very anxious and nervous when someone mentioned recording me. Record a conference, professional development, coaches meeting—NO, NO, and NO! Now, I am convinced that videos are productive tools to enhance teachers’ professional development and students’ achievement.

After attending a Jim Knight workshop and receiving a copy of book, Focus on Teaching: Using Video For High – Impact Instruction, I committed to using video with professional development courses. This year, I have been using Swivl with the teachers in three math cohorts. The teachers recorded a mini lesson or whole group lesson of themselves using manipulatives. The teachers were asked to watch the videos before sharing with other teachers for a collaboration activity. The Swivl robot’s ability to navigate with the teacher’s movement made it easy to get the full picture of what was happening in the classroom. Some teachers recorded the whole lesson for their own personal review but shortened the videos to the portion that would be shared with grade level peers.

At first, everyone was nervous and no lesson was good enough to be shared. Most teachers did not submit the first recording. The Swivl cloud gives teachers the flexibility to share, edit, or delete a video. Most teachers did not submit the first lesson recorded. Each teacher would notice room for improvement or ways to make the lesson more engaging and record another lesson. Self-reflection and self-correction is key to continuous achievement. Swivl creates a safe professional learning community.

Inspired by Keysha’s experience? Apply to become a Swivl Pioneer!

Officially, I have been in education over 20 years. I started my career as an educator as a paraprofessional in a middle school. I taught 3-5, until I starting coaching 10 years ago. The last 4 years, I have served as a Title I Math Specialist at the district level. I support 31 schools and 26 math coaches. In the effort to support schools, I am presently facilitating math professional development with 3 cohorts with teachers. My life’s goal is to help people become the best they can be in every area of their life. Check out Keysha’s Swivl Pioneer page, and follow her on Twitter. 

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However, as much as I can tout the benefits of individualized observations for students, I can only do so from afar. As the Educational Technology Specialist for a statewide STEM initiative, I work primarily with teachers, not students. When I applied to become a Swivl Pioneer, I shared this with the Swivl team but also discussed some of the many ways that I felt Swivl could benefit educators at all levels including allowing us to truly review and reflect on our work.

I present between ten and fifteen professional development sessions each month ranging from 30-minute overview sessions to six hour workshops. The formats run from online webinars to conference presentations to hands on workshops. Topics range from Google Teacher Boot Camps to Microsoft Office to web tools in the classroom. Teaching adult learners requires a different mindset than working with students, but the goal is the same- I want each of them to “get” it.

I recently set up the Swivl+ system and used it during a portion of the Google Teacher Boot Camp I was leading. I did so with several goals in mind. First, I knew in advance that several of the participants would not be able to attend this first session and the recordings would provide an easy way for me to share the information with those participants. Now, I know that I could have done the same with a video camera on a tripod or even a webcam, but the Swivl+ system would also allow those participants to see and hear the discussions of the other participants. When it comes to teacher professional learning, almost every teacher will mention the “teacher conversations” as one of the most valuable parts of an effective professional learning session.

But the Swivl system also helps me as a trainer and facilitator. This is the first Boot Camp I have led as a Google Certified Trainer. Having the video of my session will provide me with incredible feedback on my performance. Were the teachers truly engaged during the presentation? What conversations were they having as they worked through the various activities? Were they off track (yes, teachers do that too) or were they engaging in peer learning?

I have a second session of the Boot Camp scheduled for next week. After working through the process the first time, I plan to use the Swivl system again and hope to record a whole session. I included in my personal professional development plan that I would “review recordings of at least two training sessions I conduct and reflect on my performance.” I also included “I will ask a critical friend to review the same two sessions and to provide feedback on my performance.” When I wrote that plan, I had my Swivl but was only casually familiar with Swivl+ and certainly was not part of the Pioneer program. Now I know just how much easier it will be to complete that plan.

Inspired by Keith’s experience? Apply to become a Swivl Pioneer!

Keith George is an Educational Specialist for the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) of the Alabama State Department of Education. Keith has been a part of the AMSTI since March of 2016. Prior to that, he was part of the Alabama Department of Education’s award-winning Alabama Learning Exchange, or ALEX, web portal. He joined the Alabama Department of Education after enjoying thirteen years of teaching in middle and secondary classrooms across the state. Check out Keith’s Swivl Pioneer page, and follow him on Twitter. 

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In our first official foray into the Swivl+ world, I decided to address STEM. Often in STEM we break into groups that work cooperatively to address and hypothesize a problem. In this experiment, I split the students into 5 groups as that was how many tablets I had available. The purpose of the experiment on this day was for students to learn about a new technology in our classroom, Cubelets. These magnetically interlocking cube robotics perform differently depending on their configurations. Student were able to explore and collaborate on this.

Generally during an experiment of this type, I would rotate between groups which would give me some insights into the discussions my students were having. However more times than not, when I would have a chance to talk to a particular group they would have questions for me or I would need to prompt them to tell me what they were doing and how they came to their decisions/conclusions. Whoever the most vocal student in the group was would answer not necessarily the student who had the ideas. There is always at least one group who even though they are doing the experiment, they have nothing to say about what they are doing. I would need to rely on students statements during the lesson wrap up, again by the most vocal in the group, and individual worksheet answers to gauge understanding. Often there are students who can explain verbally but not as well in writing, so their answers on these worksheets are minimal at best. There are also students who can be verbal when in a small group of other students but become shy when expected to speak in front of the rest of the class. Because of Swivl+, this was not the case this time. By placing a tablet running the app and connected to the session with each group, I was able to go back and observe each individual group’s thought processes and conversations. I was even able to observe how the students interacted when they thought I wasn’t watching. I was pleased to see one group in particular being very respectful when correcting a group member’s behavior. This is not something I ever get to see close up with my 4th graders.

I can’t wait to use it again!

Inspired by Amy’s experience? Apply to become a Swivl Pioneer!

Amy Kuntz received her undergraduate degree from Huntington University (Indiana) in 2001 and has a Masters in Educational Technology from Boise State University (Idaho). She has been teaching at Caro Community Schools (Michigan), where she grew up, for 15 years in various age groups from Kindergarten to Adult and Alternative Education. She is currently a 4th grade classroom and lead teacher, technology coach, school improvement science chair, and volunteers her time co-running an after school computer coding and simple robotics club.  Check out Amy’s Swivl Pioneer page, and follow her on Twitter. 

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FOR THE TEACHER

I began using Swivl to record my lessons and to upload the video to share with an Intensive Intervention coach using Swivl cloud. Swivl cloud provides the opportunity to invite others to have chat conversations and leave feedback with a time stamp. The Swivl robot was easy to use in the classroom because all I had to do was turn on the device, wear the Marker (which is both a tracker and wireless microphone) on the lanyard, and hit the record button. The rest was easy. The Swivl’s ability to rotate 360 degrees while following the Marker allows the teacher to showcase student learning. The built-in microphone picks up the speaker’s voice clearly and the Swivl can even pair with extra microphones for additional teachers or for students.

FOR THE STUDENT

Swivl Pro+ allows me to quickly add additional devices by using the app and entering a classroom code. Instantly I can video record the whole classroom and at the same time record multiple camera views of my students in their cooperative groups. In the classroom, I just push the record button on one tablet and all at once I can record up to five different views of the classroom with individual sound for each device. This powerful tool allows me to stop seeing from the corner of my eye to now observing every angle in the classroom. I can now target each individual child in the classroom with one video that provides multiple camera views. This is different from traditional observation because Swivl Pro+ gives me the opportunity to hear the students’ thinking process, watch their interaction with other students, and hear the students’ conversations and opinions as they arrive at an answer. I no longer have to quickly turn my head to see how “Johnny” is performing in the group. When I listen and watch the video discussions I can determine if they are on task, I can hear the deeper level conversations and watch student achievement.

Inspired by Jen’s experience? Apply to become a Swivl Pioneer!

Jennifer Crandall is a sixth grade special education teacher at Kickemuit Middle School in Warren, RI. She has been working for the Bristol-Warren Regional School District for the last eighteen years. Her full-time role is to teach in the inclusion classroom for language arts and math and she also teaches two intensive intervention reading classes. In addition to her classroom teaching, Jennifer also is a Digital Learning Teacher (DLT) for the school district. Check out Jen’s Swivl Pioneer page, and follow her on Twitter. 

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Individualized Observation Transforming ESL Classrooms

by: Yvonne Post

New technologies are transforming the way we teach, deliver instruction, and learn in Northside ISD. This powerful tool allows teachers to be creative, provide engagement opportunities, and create endless learning possibilities. Delivering quality instruction and making learning fun is an important ingredient in any NISD classroom. ESL Kindergarten teacher, Stephanie Griego at Raba Elementary, is taking learning to a new level. She has been using the Swivl robot to record her lessons for personal reflection and growth as well as use the Swivl+ app to create engaging and interactive lessons with her students. The lesson I would like to highlight was about the food eaten at the Thanksgiving Feast. The Swivl+ app is ideal for the ESL classroom as it allows up to 4 small group conversations to be recorded at once as well as record the teacher during the lesson. The app provided the teacher individualized feedback for each group and the opportunity to hear each student’s voice. During the lesson the teacher was amazed at how engrossed her students were and how well the students took turns conversing about the foods. The excitement and engagement of all learners was contagious that day. New technologies are changing the face of classroom engagement and Mrs. Greigo’s ESL Kindergarten class is proof!

By individualizing observations, teachers can see and hear each of their students during small group activities. As Yvonne and her teachers have experienced, Swivl Pro+ is a powerful tool to measure authentic student engagement that’s not modified by the teacher’s presence, so they can observe student behavior when they can’t be physically present. If you are curious to learn more about individualized observations and Swivl Pro+, we encourage you to attend one of our weekly webinars.

Sign up for the Individualize Observations with Swivl Pro+ Webinar now!

Yvonne Post is an Elementary Academic Technology Coach for Northside I.S.D. in San Antonio, Texas. Her goal is to encourage and facilitate 21st century teaching and learning by modeling best practices, providing meaningful staff development and supporting campus planning with teachers and administrators that will further the vision of enhancing student achievement and excellence through the use of technology. Yvonne currently supports 6 elementary campuses within her district.  Check out Yvonne’s website and Swivl Pioneer page, and follow her on Twitter. 

The post The Impact of Individualizing Observations in the ESL Kindergarten Classroom appeared first on Swivl.

2nd Chance Coaching

Typically a coaching cycle will involve some observation where the instructional coach is observing and recording something specific in the classroom based upon a planning conversation. Often times while the coach is making observations, based upon what the coachee (teacher) wanted, there could be other things going on that would be useful upon which to record data. I have found it happening myself while having a reflecting conversation that both the teacher and I will think of something else we could have recorded. Normally you would have to schedule a second time to plan, observe, and reflect but if you have video of the initial lesson, you can use that to continue the coaching cycle. You do not need another classroom observation since you can just rewind the video and start from the beginning.

Remove the Lens of the Observer

In my science classes we would spend a lot of time talking about how measurements can be impacted by the person doing the measuring. Even when a coach and coachee agree to what they want observed in their classroom, there is always the chance that the observation will be influenced by what the coach believes and thinks. We can remove the chance for bias by using video as a 3rd party data point. You can’t argue with what you see on the video recording as it is not impacted by any perceptions, it is just what you see. This will also make it easier for the coachee to believe what the other person saw as they can go back and rewatch it also. There are a lot of things that happen in a classroom and it is hard to be aware of everything that is going on. Even the greatest quarterbacks in the NFL will look at pictures or watch video after every drive to see what was really going on, not just what they perceived to be happening.

Reducing Discomfort From Having Others in the Room

There are many teachers who get noticeably nervous when another teacher is in the room, even if they are the ones to ask them to be there. Students can also get distracted or behave differently when others are in the room, which can cause a change in the data and remove some of the effectiveness of the observation. By using the Swivl, the teacher can record multiple classroom sessions which will allow them to get more comfortable with it and will also allow the students to get comfortable with having the classroom recorded. You should never expect to get everything right the first time so recording multiple classes will allow you to get a better video to use for the coaching process and will remove some of the variables that happen when having observers in the room.

Allow For More Coaches to Help

A classroom can get crowded really quickly when there is an extra adult in the room, let alone if multiple teachers join your class. I once had about five principals in my room who wanted to see my class in action while they were in our building for a meeting. Combining 25 students with 5 more adults and it was very crowded and became disrupted. By using a video recording, you can allow others to take part in the coaching process without overcrowding your classroom. This also gives you more time since you do not need to have everyone’s schedules to line up with free time at the same exact time. You can even use the video in your PLC time by having a coaching discussion with other teachers and use that to grow together.

Overall the Swivl is a very versatile and easy to use tool which makes using video in the coaching process a powerful tool when it comes to learning and growing as an educator. It allows us to learn even when we feel that the lesson bombed and that there is nothing to take away from it. Even after a horrible loss, every NFL team goes back and rewatches the video of their game in order to learn and grow. (sorry for the multiple football analogies) We should be able to do the same thing, and having an instructional coach help us will only increase our growth as an educator.

Patrick Donovan is a Technology Integration Specialist in Ames, IA, an authorized Google Education Trainer, a Swivl Pioneer, and much more. He has a Masters in Curriculum and Instructional Technology from Iowa State University. Check out his website and Swivl Pioneer page, and follow him on Twitter. 

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