This seems like a hundred years ago! Since the introduction of the Flip. Pocket Video Recorder a couple of years ago, several variations on the. theme have been put on the market, both by rivals and Flip themselves.
Since the introduction of the Flip Pocket Video Recorder a couple of years ago, several variations on the theme have been put on the market, both by rivals and Flip themselves. On April 2nd, 2010, I thought it might be interesting to read what I said about it, and what it might be used for, back in June 2008.
Filming in proFilming in progress by Terry Freedman
Here's a classic case of buying a solution in the hope of finding a problem for it! I have often toyed with the idea of purchasing a video camera and taking it with me on my travels, but the effort and cost have always seemed to me to exceed the likely benefits.
However, the Flip Video, which arrived on the shelves in Britain only very recently, changes all that. True, there have been other, similar, devices here for some time. But none of them, in my opinion, matches the sleek good looks of the Flip.
Elaine and I have been putting it through its paces, and would like to share the results, and our thoughts, with you.
The Flip has a number of advantages over a traditional video camera, or a still camera that can shoot video. It has clearly been designed with the YouTube generation in mind, because the process of shooting, editing, saving and uploading a video is just so easy.
Let's put it this way: I have a firm principle that if you can't get something usable out of a device or an application within 5 minutes then it's too complicated. The Flip comes with a quick start guide that is, in effect, a sheet of card with instructions and illustrations on each side. I gave it a quick glance just in case it warned me of dire consequences if I set it up in the wrong order (it didn't) and to find out where the batteries went (I was trying to open the compartment with the on-off switch). Other than that, everything was straightforward, and within a very short time I had shot and edited a couple of videos and uploaded them to TeacherTube and YouTube. Spielberg: move aside!
I think this ease of use is important because it changes the rules. I may be a creative person, but if I want to quickly record my actions or your thoughts, I don't want to have to do a course in video editing first and I certainly don't want to risk losing or damaging a camera costing hundreds of pounds.
The editing facilities are limited, but that is just how I like them. There is an option to mix your videos using a sort of template and add a musical soundtrack, which is fun but irrelevant for my needs at present. More useful is the ability to use sliders to mark the start and ends of a video clip and snip it to exclude the bits you don't want. If you save the original video in its entirety you could, I suppose, carry out this process several times in order to create several useful short clips. However, if you're going to do that you would be better off using a proper video editing application. The “snipping” feature is really meant to be used only to get rid of the start and end bits which will not form part of the final product.
In trying it out, I wanted to see what the quality of sound and video would be like outdoors, or in noisy environments. It strikes me that the whole point of a device like this is to be able to slip it in your pocket or bag and use it as and when you like. In a school context, you'd want the children and young people to be able to work outside, such as in the playground, the street, or a science field trip without having to mess about in Audacity to sort the sound out once back in school.
I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. For the most part, the sound in the clips here was fine – there was just a few minutes of an chat in a restaurant where the background clatter of crockery and cutlery made it difficult to hear Elaine. You have to get fairly close to the device, say about a foot, to ensure audibility.
Plus points
Easy to use: there is basically one big red button to press!
Very small and light
Comes with the software built in...
... And installation is automatic
Sound and visual quality are very good, especially before saving for the web
Very easy to transfer videos from the device to a computer: use the pop-out arm to connect it via a USB port, and the software does the rest.
Basic editing is very easy...
... As is uploading to YouTube or generating the code for embedding the video if it's uploaded to an unnamed web service such as TeacherTube.
Minus points
I find it hard to stop recording, for some reason. Elaine thinks it may be because my fingers are big. She has no such difficulty.
Storage capacity is 60 minutes. It would have been nice to have the option of reducing the quality or using an SD card to expand capacity.
Just slightly too expensive to make class sets of 10 or 15 a viable possibility.
Because everything is so automatic, it is not immediately obvious where the videos are being stored. It would be good to have a version which is geared for school network use.
Possible uses for the Flip video
Here are some possible educational uses we came up with:
Ask teachers, technicians and support staff to record brief commentaries explaining what their job entails. These could be stored as part of the school's Careers resources.
Ask pupils or staff to record a brief running commentary on a task they are carrying out.
Carry out quick interviews.
You could record interviews with people about an issue, and instruct different sets of pupils to use the “snipping” facility to edit them to reflect a particular point of view. This would be a good introduction to the concept of propaganda.
Record pupil presentations...
... And use them for reflecting back to the pupil how they appear to an audience, for the purpose of improving their performance.
Ask pupils to create brief “bulletins” about the work they're doing, for parents to be able to view, and/or for their e-portfolio.
Ask pupils to record their thoughts on what is good about a piece of work they have done, and how it might be improved.
Pupils could use the snapshot facility for extracting a suitable still shot to illustrate an essay, blog post or e-portfolio entry.
Old, decrepit, falling apart, no longer functioning perfectly, and constantly jamming — but enough about me. Our trusty printer was on its last legs, so we bought another one. Installing the software on a desktop computer and two phones took about half an hour in total, and that included pausing to make a cup of tea. But when it came to my laptop, it kept saying I wasn’t connected to the internet. Eh?
Several rebootings of everything, much swearing and 17 cups of tea later, it suddenly occurred to me that somewhere along the line my settings had got their underwear in a tangle, so I used System Restore to, er, restore the system to what it had been the day before, tried the software installation again, and it took five minutes.
This is an updated version of an article from 2011.
Teachers looking for material with which to furnish their lessons on how technology affects society need look no further than email. This form of communication has affected in at least three ways what might be called “disposable time” – the time one has left after the essentials like eating and sleeping have been taken care of.
First, the speed with which communication can be carried out is very much a mixed blessing, because the assumption – and expectation – is that as you have received an email in the twinkling of an eye, your response to it should be at least as fast. This is especially insidious because it is, I think, largely self-imposed. I worry that if I don’t send at least a holding email I will lose the opportunity of some new work or, at best, the other person will think me unconscionably rude. I am trying to resist this particular temptation because responding in what amounts to a knee-jerk fashion to every email results in achieving very little. When everything is regarded as urgent, the curious outcome is that nothing is treated as important.
The two-and-a-bit-tier systemSecond, there is the tendency for people to follow up emails with phone calls to see if you received their email. I don’t think this is actually anything new, because I recall, vaguely, that when people sent letters they would follow those up with a phone all too. At least in those days you could buy yourself some time by complaining about the sluggishness of the postal service. Nowadays, unless your choice of internet service provider was unfortunate, the most you can hope for is that the other party will believe you when you wonder aloud if their missive has gone straight into the spam folder. Sometimes, of course, this is actually the case, so when people say that to me, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Thirdly, there is the ubiquitous spam, of course. And I am not just talking about the spam you can take advance measures against: I am increasingly being pestered by people who offer me articles, but whose main aim appears to be to promote some online degree college or other. And by those offering a link exchange with an entirely inappropriate site that I would never promote – not necessarily because there is anything wrong with the content per se, but because it has nothing to do with ICT in education.
I recently had this brilliant idea: to trawl through my emails on returning from a conference or several days’ work away from home, and identify those which needed acting upon more or less immediately. These I would transfer into a folder called ‘Action’, whilst those which should be answered immediately would go into a sub-folder called ‘Answer NOW’. This has had the twin effect of making me feel that I was dealing with my inbox, whilst simultaneously not dealing with it at all. When I saw, this morning, that my ‘Action’ folder contained 131 emails which required my attention, I thought I might rename it ‘Inaction’. Instead, I got to work dealing with them, but only for an hour at a time. Otherwise, the work I actually get paid for would fall by the wayside.
It’s a difficult problem, but in a way my two-tier email system works: the ‘Action’ folder acts as a constant reminder of matters to be addressed, but they are not so numerous as to be insuperable.
Since writing all of the above I’ve discovered a really effective way of dealing with the email deluge. I’ve been unsubscribing from people who don’t give me value for my time. It’s a bit disconcerting going from receiving several hundred emails a day to a few dozen, but it’s done wonmders for my health!
Amazing, isn’t it? Five people who have been on the 60 Minute Writer course I’ve just finished teaching (apart from marking some work that people have sent in) have commented on the course evaluation form. And four of these comments (ie 80%) were really positive. One comment made me wonder if the person who made it had been on a different course. And, as usual, I have been focusing on the one negative comment. In other words, 20% of the comments have hijacked 80% of my attention.
I will relate the comments — which are anonymised — in a moment, but first, allow me to explain the nature of the course.
It takes place for one hour a week, in my case online. Each week I look at a different aspect of creative writing. For example, it might be to write something in a non-linear manner, such as starting at the end of the story instead of the beginning. For instance, one of the versions of the Bang on the Head story I’ve been writing in my Experiments in Style was written in reverse order.
I tend to structure the hour as follows:
Introduction to the topic or technique + prompt. (15 minutes.)
Writing alone. (20 minutes.)
Paired share in breakout rooms (10 minutes.)
Whole group sharing/issues arising/things learnt. (10 minutes.)
Next week. (5 minutes.)
I tend not to go into the breakout rooms. I do that very occasionally, but prefer not to because (a) it’s disruptive and (b) I want the students to learn from each other as well, not just me. I know that as a student I’ve felt quite put out when a tutor has barged in either as I was receiving some feedback or about to give some feedback. It’s a fact of life, possibly because of our conditioning or what we are used to, that in the eyes of students tutors and students are not equal, so an interuption by the tutor is potentially more disruptive than an interuption by another student. That’s what I think is going on at least.
The homework each week is to develop the piece they wrote during the session, and to read any handouts I send to them. These handouts are aid-memoires about the craft of writing. For example, I recently wrote and sent them a suggested further reading sheet. Sometimes they consist of the details of publications where they can submit their work, which I encourage them to do. As for the homework, I mark everything they send me, and keep a record of my comments on each piece.
Well so much for context. Here are the comments I received:
Terry is an excellent tutor who goes the extra mile for his students which is much appreciated.
Terry Freedman has been an excellent tutor throughout. His teaching style and resources have been absolutely spot-on, and this course has exceeded my already-high expectations. Thank you very much, Terry, for an excellent learning experience.
Thanks Terry, you influenced me to write in short periods of time. Also, to drop the angst and seriousness of life or to rephrase what I want to write in a more readable way.
Thanks Terry for another great term.
All fine and dandy, until I came upon a comment that said I should have offered more support while online. When I read that I almost fell over. How on earth could I have given more support? And what kind of support did this person want — help while s/he was writing on their own? Help during the feedback session? More personalised attention during the thirty minutes everyone was together?
Or could it be that they wanted more help technically? Google Classroom is notoriously difficult to get to grips with at first. Every time I teach a course online there is at least one person who can’t get into the Classroom. This time there were four. I don’t have the requisite permissions or access to deal with this, and it’s not my job anyway. But I sent everyone instructions on what to do, along with detailed advice about how best to contact Technical Support. In two cases I emailed the admin person for the Writing department to ask if they could personally intervene to get those students up and running. So even there I fail to see what more I could have done.
And if they did want more support, why didn’t they say something? Or did they think I count mind-reading as part of my skillset?
Anyway, such is the lot of a teacher. You would think I’ve become used to it by now. I’ve been criticised because of the traffic, the food in the café and the lack of a parking space. The only thing I haven’t been blamed for — yet — is the weather. I know I’m not the only tutor who ends up feeling irritated by just one comment, but it’s not a great feeling so I’m going to concentrate on the nice comments instead. Note to self: Must do better.
This is an article I published around the start of Covid, on March 26th 2020.
My writing on this blog dried up recently. Not because of writer’s block, but because of a bit of a dilemma. I didn’t want to write about applications that can help schools get online, or about other ways of responding to the current lockdown or self-isolation. There are enough people writing about that sort of thing without my adding to the noise. On the other hand, though, writing about anything else seemed irrelevant, mundane or even crass.
Claudius at work, by Terry Freedman
After a few days of mulling this over with no discernible effect, I spoke to E.
“I don’t know. Writing book reviews or better ways of using technology in education feels like fiddling while Rome burns.”
E answered without any hesitation at all. “If you stop fiddling, that won’t stop Rome burning.”
She was right, of course. Hence I have just published an article that provides both useful advice and a chuckle to everyone who is now having to conduct most or even all of their work online. I hope you enjoy it.
