For this weeks exploration of flipped and blended classrooms I really wanted to take the opportunity to explore some of the whiteboard apps that are available to educators. Thinking about flipping my classroom, my number one concern is the ability to provide consistent instruction to students whether they be at home or in class. A solid whiteboard app would allow me to recreate the necessary elements of my in-class instruction while also allowing me to push students towards developing better understanding of math content in a variety of ways.
I chose to explore two different whiteboard apps based on feedback I have heard from other teachers and from various google searches. Kami - your paperless classroom hero Kami is an app that allows you to annotate and interact with any file you upload. Aside from seamless uploading of PDFs Kami does have the power to allow teachers to upload word documents and even powerpoints but at the cost of an upgrade to a paid version. I felt that Kami was extremely limited with its free version and required too much work-around in order to be useful without paying a fee. I also felt that Kami was not as responsive to inputs as other whiteboard choices. I used both my finger on the touchscreen and a stylus; neither impressed me. Kami does not have a built in screen capture feature so users would have to create annotated slides and then use something like screencast o'matic in order to create a presentation that could be posted for students. Show me Interactive Whiteboard - iPad ShowMe is an amazing app that turns your iPad into an interactive whiteboard and has a built in recording feature so that you can record videos right from your device. It was very simple to add in a picture, PDF or other file and start annotating directly over the file. You can prepare slides in advance and then go through your presentation, speaking over slides and describing all of the annotations in real time. It was really easy for me to use my iPad to take pictures of different examples that I had already created, adding them directly into the presentation I was cultivating for my flipped lesson plan. I can imagine finding amazing resources online and then using screenshots to easily develop fresh teaching materials right on the device. There is also a comprehensive “Explore” tab organized by both content and standards that makes available ShowMes created by teachers from all over the world. I was very impressed by the ease of using this app. Sadly there are limitations imposed to those who do not want to pay a fee. You are only allowed to upload 5 videos for free and then you have to pay a monthly subscription to continue posting content. Despite all of the great features that are made available by something like ShowMe, none of it matters if students are not able to access resources due to limited technology or internet options or if they simply refuse to make use of the learning material. As Jon Bergmann and Caitlin Tucker explain, we have to Flip & Engage so that students are interacting and not just passively watching. Having students interact with the screen cast increases the likelihood that they will learn something from the experience and walk away feeling as though the resources you are creating should be valued. EdPuzzle is a great option to bring in once you have created content like a screen cast because you can add further annotations and even quiz questions on top of your video to require students to view, explore and think while engaging. Integrating activities relating to the video such as having students complete google forms or engaging in online discussions through google docs might also be a way to monitor student engagement and ensure that they are utilizing the flipped aspect of instructional screen casts to their fullest potential!
4 Comments
Scott Marsden
4/7/2019 08:48:41 am
Brandon,
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Catalina Goldstein
4/7/2019 01:18:11 pm
Hey Brandon it sounds like you found some good whiteboard tools. I always love finding a great free website. It's always a bummer to have to pay for a service unless it's truly worth it.
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Monica Knecht
4/7/2019 02:45:15 pm
Brandon,
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JP
4/8/2019 08:41:00 pm
The whiteboard tools seem pretty cool. I would like to try them next. I am still trying to find how I can best utilize them my class, perhaps using it as a way for students to collaborate.
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