Video Screen Capturing

Ummm…What did I miss yesterday?

I get asked that question ALL THE TIME! But I guess it’s better than, “Did we do anything important yesterday?” My immediate response usually is “Check ClassJump.” But often times that’s not enough; especially if we went over more difficult material. So what is a teacher to do? A traditional option is to have that student get the notes from another peer and learn the material either with that peer or on their own. But is that best? I would think in most cases, no. Would it not be awesome to have the student be able to view the lesson and examples they missed during their absence? With Video Screen Capturing…they can! Using video screen capturing, a teacher can record a lesson or parts of a lesson, then share it with students. The type and quality of the video will depend a lot on the software and hardware you have access to. The examples I’ve provided (See below) were made using an Interactive White Board (by Promethean) and ActivInspire (Promethean Software). I created an example from a lesson we covered in class and was able to record my explanation and solution to the problem using the hardware/software combination. Once the video is complete, it can be converted to a smaller format then emailed, posted, or given to the student for them to use as often as they’d like. Sure there are examples available on the web, which are great! But I feel like it is more personal when MY students hear MY voice and can follow MY process. Let me know what you think!

Until next time…

-Mark O.

Class Websites

While most districts are encouraging their instructors to have some sort of web-space for their classes (I hope), I feel like many teachers are reluctant to dive in for fear of the unknown. By unknown, I’m referring to not knowing how to use proper coding (or programs which do it for you), being afraid of the internet, or even exploring possible site which allow an easy space for website creation and utilization. WELL HAVE NO FEAR…CLASSJUMP IS HERE! ClassJump.com is a FREE website, for teachers, which allows the teacher to take advantage of a number of tools which support instruction and communication to students. Once a teacher has registered for a free account they’re practically good to go!

Creating classes is very intuitive and the instructions are clear and concise. Accessing the calendar to post assignments, announcements, and documents (yes documents!) is easy! Here students can view assignments from the day or download a set of instructions for a homework assignment. Given teacher permission, students can also use the message board feature to respond to questions or topics posted by the instructor or a classmate.

Personally, my FAVORITE features are the Subscribe for Updates, Email the Instructor, and Send Documents. These features increase communication as well as efficiency. The Subscribe for Updates feature allows students (and parents) to submit their email to be notified whenever something is updated to their class’s website. It proves very convenient for students who are absent, so they can be kept informed if something new is happening in class. The Email the Instructor feature allows students to send an email to the instructor. In my case, that email goes directly to my SmartPhone so I can provide instant feedback. The Send Documents feature is very similar to a DropBox where students can upload digital assignments and send them to the instructor. For me it resembles a watered down version of WebCourses or Blackboard.

Personally, I have had much success in using ClassJump. Check out my page for my classes: www.classjump.com/Ophaug. Feel free to browse around, check out some of the features and definitely let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

-Mark O.