Paperslide Videos! Easy Student-Made Video Content

Kids like videos. They like watching videos. They like making videos. Videos engage students. Teachers like engaged students. Therefore, teachers should like using videos during instruction.

That's a great concept. In the not-so-distant past, using video in the classroom meant either pushing the play button for a 2 hour sit and stare time or planning out the 2 week computer lab lesson where the teacher had to learn advanced skills and live stressed during the whole project.

This morning, Austin teachers participated in Discovery Education's Virtual Conference and heard Dr. Lodge McCammon of the Friday Institute share the simple Paperslide Video concept in an online webinar. The paperslide video is merely the idea that students create graphic representations on paper that slide across the table below a video camera. No faces on screen, no names given, and the whole process can take less than 25 minutes.

Do you know what 'integers' are?  Watch this student-made video and see if you learn anything.

On Dr. Lodge's website, he discusses  the Why and How to differentiate your instruction in the classroom using these quick one-take videos.  He had over 30 free to use songs on Discovery Streaming in many different curriculum disciplines.  All students have to do is apply the lesson content to their one-page graphics and let their Multiple Intelligences engage them in their learning process.

- Video on "How To Make A Paperslide Video"
- Video and printables describing the successful "No Lecture Classroom"

Teachers using classroom technology, like the standard document camera on the Innovation Station, can easily capture student work in a video and in less than a single class period, they can have students create and publish their work online to be shared with peers and parents! Use the document camera creatively to capture students showing understanding of concepts. It WILL pay off in the classroom.

Making a Slideshow Using The Innovation Station

Today's topic is demonstrating the capture of images using the Innovation Station's document camera. These pictures can be used in many ways, such as making a slideshow of book pages that can be viewed for multiple class sessions during the week.



What to do with the captured images?  How would YOU use the pictures? Our next post will share some of your ideas as well as give some concrete steps for incorporating captured images into your instructional time with students.  Stay tuned!! 

This video was made using an iPod Touch to capture the video, a Canon Elph to capture buttons on the doc cam during the two-camera shoot, and iMovie '11 to put both camera feeds together. The black bars on the side exist because of the very narrow video captured by the iPod Touch. 

Quick Classroom-made Videos!

So you are getting used to using a document camera during your instruction.  Are you taking advantage of the video capture capabilities? The AISD Innovation Station's document camera will capture video onto the SD memory card that came with it. Many other brands of document cameras will also capture video.  Try capturing project directions on video and putting it out there for the students to review on the school shared network or your online classroom website.

But can the students also use the video capture?  Sure they can!  We have middle school Language Arts teachers capturing student book report presentations on video. We have student math demonstrations in high school being captured as a group reteach resource. I've been in discussions with elementary teachers about using captured video clips in a student's digital portfolio that travels with him from grade to grade.

Dr. Lodge McCammon, demonstrates how 'paper slide videos' are easily made in the classroom. These are videos with a mounted camera, like the doc cam, and students create their visuals on separate pieces of paper. Sometimes the content is student-created graphics that illustrate an educational song (many cool tunes available on DiscoveryEducation.com that cover high school-level economics through elementary science) or videos like the example here which is a simple voice-over with graphics.




Don't be afraid to try something new or different.  Remember, our digital natives are often looking for reasons to come to school in the first place. With an already-made audio, your doc cam or digital video camera, and warm student body, a teacher can spend half a class period making a video that could stick in their heads the rest of the week. (Believe me. I still have the sublimate song stuck from 3 weeks ago!)

Doc Cam Resolution Reset

The Lumens document camera is one of the most powerful teaching tools attached to the Innovation Station.  The doc cam's image capture feature is a great way to capture an image for students to use with their notes, in their digital work, or for a lesson resource.

When using the Doc Cam input, one can push the 'Capture' or 'Record' button to save images to the SD card placed into the doc cam base.  One will get a visual cue that capturing is happening by seeing a rotating hourglass in the top left or 'Recording' in the top right during video capture. 

Occasionally, the user will not see these visual cues when image capturing. Usually, the reason is because the resolution of the doc cam has changed and needs to be reset. The solution is pretty easy.

Teachers can quickly see if they need to change the resolution by pushing the menu button on the base of the doc cam. If the top four menu tabs are visible, then your doc cam is presenting at the correct resolution.

If the top menu tabs are cut off or running off the top of the screen, the resolution needs to be changed. Using the arrow keys on the base of the doc cam, press the right button (3 times) until you see the line "Output Mode" on the screen. Push the down arrow key until Output Mode selection is highlighted. It probably says 'SXGA'. Once highlighted, push the right button to select 'UXGA' and then the enter key on the base. The screen will flash and return to full resolution.

Your doc cam is now ready to show a high quality image which can be captured for classroom use.

--Instructional?--

What innovative way have you used the document camera? How have you used captured images with your class?