Swivls for Hands Free Video

by Paula White

Our county does this thing called “Seed Projects” where teachers (or collections of people from schools/departments) propose a technology project that is unique, unusual, and forward thinking (my words, not those of the project proposal materials.) I found this tool called a swivl and made a proposal, which got accepted and I got 3 of these and 3 iPods for recording for my classroom.

So the deal is that the kids have something to talk about and they record themselves holding that conversation. The cool thing about this tool, though, is that it swivels to face the person talking, or whomever is holding the sensor. Kids talk, passing the sensor to the speaker, and the swivl turns to collect the face of the talker. No videographer needed, just put the iPod into the swivl, turn them both on and begin the conversation.

We’re using it to collect conversations to share with parents at conference time.  How would you use a tool like this?

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