I have discussed previously about the advantages of using Swivl technology for teachers to film themselves teaching.  Having now tried a 360-degree camera in the classroom, I would say this has even more advantages.

I recently purchased the Samsung Gear 360 (shown above), a camera that serves to record a full 360-degree view as video or photo.  Once recorded, this technology enables teachers to watch a video of themselves, as well as observe everything that happens in the classroom.

As the camera records everything that is going on around the classroom, it can catch many things that can be missed by both the teacher and even observer such as low-level behaviour issues or students who just need extra support.  In this way, the 360-degree video can be incredibly useful and informative as an extra tool for providing teachers with feedback after they have been observed.

After the video has been recorded, it needs to be converted into another format such that you can can move around the video (either by dragging the cursor on the screen or using a VR headset), thereby watching in 360-degrees.  In other words, the video or photo needs to be stitched from the dual-sphere video into an “equirectangular” (flat mode) video first for it to be viewable in 360-degrees.  To transfer into such a format, there is the software that comes with the camera, Gear 360 CyberLink ActionDirector.  One thing to keep in mind, however, is that 360-degree videos take up a lot of memory.  A 10-minute video clip for example, is about 1.6 gigabytes big!  You therefore need to make sure that you have an SD card with sufficient memory and allow the necessary time for conversion (depending on your computer’s processing power, this will probably take about 30-minutes).

In addition, there are several online options for storing 360-degree images, including:

• 360player
• Kuula
• Host 360 Photos

In the example above, I used 360player for the purpose of hosting 360-degree views of classrooms.  This can also be informative, as we consider classroom displays and how best to organise our students’ learning spaces.

Concluding thoughts…

The Gear 360 is certainly a powerful, easy-to-use tool that is relatively cheap (less than $100).  By providing teachers with the ability to both film themselves teaching, and at the same time, give teachers a view of themselves from the student’s perspective, lesson feedback can become much more thorough.  This is a tool that I would recommend for any teacher to use, both for watching themselves teach and for watching everything else that has been going on in the classroom while they have been delivering their lesson.

Swivl is a robotic platform accessory for smartphones and tablets, providing an easy way to capture and share video.  After purchasing the Swivl a few months ago, we’ve been putting it to the test in order to record presentations and to serve as a self-observation tool for teachers.

You simply insert the smartphone or tablet into the swivelling platform and wear or hold a digital marker, which the Swivl robot follows using an infrared signal.

The marker itself also captures audio, so even if the presenter is standing several metres away from the device, the video recorded will still provide crystal clear audio.  When the video is completed, you can upload it to the Swivl cloud for viewing online anywhere.

In this video below, I am wearing the marker around my neck and you can see the Swivl can rotate 360 degrees in order to follow the marker that I am wearing.

There are many educational applications for this sort of technology.  As well as being a great tool for recording presentations for flipped learning, its most powerful application is to enhance teaching.

One of the most useful lesson observations I received early on in my teaching career was when a colleague videoed my lesson.  Watching the video afterwards was like no other feedback I had ever received; I could actually see myself as others saw me teach.  This “self-observation” was incredibly effective, as I was quickly able to see with my own eyes what I was doing well and what I could improve.  The additional benefit of having the Swivl robot of course, is that no human observer is needed to record the video for you – the robot does it all for you, enabling you to get a true sense of what you’re like as a teacher.

According to Bill Gates, teachers around the world need more effective feedback in order for them to improve their teaching practice.  From Bill’s own observations inside the classroom, this is the key area that needs to be addressed in education today.  I would just add that to better facilitate this coaching process, it is self-observations that teachers need.  As we introduce this technology into teacher training, we will see teachers make dramatic progress in the classroom.

School began for teachers with two days of technology exhibitions.  Delivered by teachers for teachers, this event was an exciting professional development opportunity for our staff.  State of the art digital technologies were laid out across eight “stations”, enabling staff to move from one station to the next in rotation to explore and learn about the different technologies the school has available.  During the two days in which our technology exhibitions took place, teachers got the opportunity to both present a particular technology to their colleagues and be presented to, creating a dynamic professional development environment.  On day 1, lower primary teachers presented to upper primary teachers, and on day 2, upper primary teachers presented to lower primary teachers.

Among the many exhibits on show, teachers got the chance to use the virtual reality headsets, robotic equipment, metal detectors, augmented reality books, audio books, playtables, green screens, nano drones, video equipment and various educational iPad apps!  As well as helping teachers to better understand the technology itself, this was a brilliant opportunity for our staff to collaborate and share ideas in order to positively impact teaching and learning in the classroom.

[pjc_slideshow slide_type=”technology-exhibitions-2″]

The planning and organisation for this event took many months.  I began by putting together a list of all our technologies and then created floor plans (below) to best distribute all resources across the different year groups.  After meeting and providing training to each year group, I created a rotation timetable in which each year group and specialist group viewing the presentations could move from one station to another.  Finally, I met with the coordinators and senior leaders at our school to help with the organisation and management of the days’ events.  On the first day, we began by rotating staff every 25-minutes, and on the second day, we reduced this rotation time to 15-minutes.  Our music department sounded a trumpet at the end of the time period to signal the next rotation, which helped everything run like clockwork.  We also had key bits of “housekeeping” (rules) to keep everything flowing smoothly:

1. Please stick firmly to the rotation timetable (20 minutes per station).  Wait for the trumpet to  sound before moving promptly to the next station.
2. After the first three rotations, every presenting group can release up to three people to visit other stations.  When the trumpet sounds, these three people must return to their own station to present.  Another three people from the presenting group can then go off to explore when the trumpet sounds.
3. Be careful of extension cables and wires.
4. Remember to ask good questions to benefit your own learning.
5. Finally, complete the reflection survey that will be emailed to you.

At the end of both days, I delivered Kahoot quizzes for our staff to help consolidate their learning from the technologies on exhibition.  Based on feedback from staff, it was a useful professional development opportunity and gave everyone a chance to become much more familiar with all the new (and old) technologies that we have available to enhance teaching and learning.  It was a fun and productive two days!

Day 1 – Floor Plan

Day 2 – Floor Plan