I chose to look at how instant video feedback can help student performance improve in PE. I used the Ubersense video analysis iPad app to record students’ performances.

There were many teething problems with the videoing and time management along the way, but the end results in terms of students improvement were very pleasing. There were also teething and time management problems with producing my final video…but it’s in.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I am using ipads in my PE classes so that students can record each other performing and then offer instant visual and verbal feedback to each other.

The concept is great and the results in terms of improvement have been amazing. I now just need to get my head around the time management issues.

I am using the coaching app Ubersense and it is really great. I have some concerns with it though. Everytime I want to video an individual student I have to not only type their name in, but also their email address or phone number. I realize it’s so I can share the file with them later, but as I am not intending to do that, the process of entering all of my students’ names was very daunting. I got through about 2 classes before I gave up. I ended up just videoing them all under my name and then had to sort them later.

I also have other concerns with time management and this app. Sharing also takes forever, although I have recently set up a shared Dropbox folder which I think might be easier.

I do love that I get to spend much more one on one time with each student going through their skills and strategies for improvement, but it takes a long time and ultimately takes away from teaching the class as a whole. My hope though, is that the students will improve faster each time we learn a new skill so that we will then have more time to have better more skillful games later in the unit.

My biggest issue with time management is supervising the students to stay on task whenever they get an iPad in their hands. The first lesson was a write off.  We had very little usable footage for instruction, but a ton of self portaits and few new apps on the ipads. I counted on the first lesson being a bit of a novelty but because the ipads were not in class I still had to remind the class what the intention of having the ipads in class was.

So now it is my job to work out the best more efficient process to video each student and then give them all feedback. I found it was easier to video them in groups of four and then show the videos at the end of each set.

This is a work in progress for sure, but a concept I am determined to stick at because so far, I have already seen great results.

But every day I see more and more conclusive evidence that the kids of today really are Digital Natives and the things they are capable of are astounding.

Earlier this year, our school ran the Formosa VEX tournament earlier this school year, and I remember being blown away not only by the designs of the robots, but also the skill level and game strategies of the competitors.  I was a judge at the tournament and really had to think hard at the end of each round about getting the correct results to the table….this involved counting bean bags and writing down the correct number on a piece of paper! In contrast, there seemed to be a lot of laptops going on for the coordination of games and results and two young freshman boys ran this part of the tournament as cool as cucumbers.

I recently returned from the Pan Pacific VEX Robotics tournament in Hawaii. It was a sight to behold. There were 103 Middle and High School teams competing and the energy in the convention center was buzzing. I was impressed at the high level of knowledge that the students displayed when asked about their design and programming of their robots. The young middle school students were the ones who amazed me the most. We took two middle school teams from our school who really stepped up to compete against their high school counterparts. All of the younger teams could hold their heads up high at the end of the tournament. What they all achieved was next to brilliant.

Robotics is a huge subject in our school and I think this really highlights the whole Digital native theory. Our Early Childhood classes are using Beebots in Math lessons. Our Upper Elementary through to Grade 7 are using Lego Mindstorms. We have Tetris and Robot C in our 8^th grade and the High school is on a different level again. It’s just a part of the daily curriculum for our kids and one they have taken to with ease.

Children today have so many opportunities to use technology every day that of course they are digital natives. We as teachers can only facilitate their learning and introduction to many of the  aspects of tech, but in my experience, they take this starting point and run with it. Sometimes what I think is a new tech concept to my students is merely just an extension of what they already know. My own pre-school kids can work iPads, smartphones and computers like…….natives.

The phrase Digital Natives is a funny term. Sometimes I just pass it off as a new trendy word and think that I am pretty tech savvy too……I could take them!

But every day I see more and more conclusive evidence that the kids of today really are Digital Natives and the things they are capable of are astounding.  

Earlier this year, our school ran the Formosa VEX tournament earlier this school year, and I remember being blown away not only by the designs of the robots, but also the skill level and game strategies of the competitors.  I was a judge at the tournament and really had to think hard at the end of each round about getting the correct results to the table….this involved counting bean bags and writing down the correct number on a piece of paper! In contrast, there seemed to be a lot of laptops going on for the coordination of games and results and two young freshman boys ran this part of the tournament as cool as cucumbers.

I recently returned from the Pan Pacific VEX Robotics tournament in Hawaii. It was a sight to behold. There were 103 Middle and High School teams competing and the energy in the convention center was buzzing. I was impressed at the high level of knowledge that the students displayed when asked about their design and programming of their robots. The young middle school students were the ones who amazed me the most. We took two middle school teams from our school who really stepped up to compete against their high school counterparts. All of the younger teams could hold their heads up high at the end of the tournament. What they all achieved was next to brilliant.

Robotics is a huge subject in our school and I think this really highlights the whole Digital native theory. Our Early Childhood classes are using Beebots in Math lessons. Our Upper Elementary through to Grade 7 are using Lego Mindstorms. We have Tetris and Robot C in our 8^th grade and the High school is on a different level again. It’s just a part of the daily curriculum for our kids and one they have taken to with ease.

Children today have so many opportunities to use technology every day that of course they are digital natives. We as teachers can only facilitate their learning and introduction to many of the  aspects of tech, but in my experience, they take this starting point and run with it. Sometimes what I think is a new tech concept to my students is merely just an extension of what they already know. My own pre-school kids can work iPads, smartphones and computers like…….natives.

1. I do the video analysis of batting and throwing for each kid
2. The students do a video analysis for a partner
3. The students do a video analysis for themselves.

Why do you think this unit is a good possibility for your Course 5 project?

www.ubersense.com

I like the idea of extending the use of video in my PE classes because I think that being able to visually analyze one’s own technique is very beneficial to improving. I also want to use the Softball unit because the kids come in having their own ideas and techniques for hitting and throwing a ball, and more often than not, their technique is incorrect. This gives me a starting point. I would like to be able to use some iPads with the Ubersense app which allows for “precision slow motion” and “side-by-side comparison”.  Students could use this app to analyze their own techniques either immediately, or at home (flipped coach/classroom ideas).

What are some of your concerns about redesigning this unit?

My concern is that I only get 10 actual teaching days per unit for my Grade 7 class. To to try to teach them the skills for throwing, catching and batting, along with the rules of softball is hard enough let alone adding video editing into it. In saying this, maybe the video analysis, if I can make it simple enough will actually speed up the learning process. I’m also unsure if we have iPads available for borrowing from the tech department. We do have Flip cameras, but then the students would have to use another video editing programme if we wanted slow motion analysis. It still could be done. I can also ask those with iPhones to bring them in and get the Ubersense free app put on it.

My Grade 6 class has 20 teaching days per unit, but these are only about 45minutes contact time, and my current Grade 6 students are pretty immature. Again, I am sure if can be done. They are pretty tech savvy, so it would probably be pretty easy for them. I’m just not sure these particular classes would understand the reasoning behind it.

My other concern is that it will be a different method than that currently used by my colleagues. Many of them do video their students, and some also post the videos for the kids to see, but I don’t think any of them at this stage are using student based technology directly in their PE classrooms. I need to check with others to see if they are doing this, or if they want to join me in this.

What shifts in pedagogy will this new unit require from you?

I’m not sure this will require me to change my pedagogy. I will still be teaching the same skills, but I will be slightly changing how the students receive feedback and how this then relates to their progress.

What skills and/or attitudes will this new unit require from your students?

This part of the unit will require the students to have some basic video editing knowledge. However if I am able to use iPads/oPhones with Ubersense then there is no video editing required, as I think the programme does it for you. It will now be about students self-assessing and self-analyzing their own techniques and using their own images to correct their skills.

This is what I am thinking at this stage. I would like to stick with the video editing idea, but I will think further about it in the holidays and find another direction to go with.

In my Middle school we use DyKnow to monitor and manage our students who are in a 1-to-1 laptop programme. Being in a Robotics class mean that the students are almost always on their laptops, and being typical Middle schoolers, they like to stray from their tasks. They also get very focused with programming their robots and can be reluctant to look away from their computers when I need to speak to the class as a whole. DyKnow allows me to “easily supervise and guide student learning with our incredibly user friendly Classroom Management Solutions or encourage participation and collaboration with our Interactive Learning Software”.(DyKnow.com). I can black out the students’ monitors with a message to look my way if I need them. I love the collective groan I get when their monitors are blacked out and they get their “Attention Please” message pop up. I still don’t know all the features of DyKnow but even this simplest of functions is great for classroom management for me. There’s always that smart kid who turns off their wireless so I can’t remotely access their laptop!

Keeping the room free from clutter, and having space accessible for maneuvering robots is a primary necessity. As soon as the students enter the room, they have to go to their set cupboard (they work in pairs) and place everything they don’t need on the shelf. They should then come to their workbench with only their robot (which they take out of their set cupboard) and 1 laptop between 2. This helps keep the room slightly less messy, especially as we had a big class. It also gives the students room to have all their Lego material out without it getting caught up in their belongings. There is also a policy at our school that students are not to charge their laptops at school, therefore reducing the dangers of tripping over cords. They are all supposed to charge their computers at home and bring a spare battery to school every day. I teach my class in the middle of the day so we have not had any battery issues so far. There are plugs at each work bench which is different from the usual classrooms, so it actually wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Another solution that our Robotics team uses is that we have labeled/numbered every group’s kit box and NXT brick. All the cables have been color coded and the equipment draws are all numbered with a photo.  It’s a great system and it helps keep the kids responsible for getting everything put away neatly, and for taking ownership of their robots.

An ex-principal from my current school came back to visit today with his tech team to see where we were going with our Robotics programme. With this in mind we started discussing the direction that technology was taking in our school and the importance it held to student learning. He began talking about how many of his students were getting caught up with doing as many AP subjects as possible in order to enter good universities. We discussed the pros and cons of excessive AP courses and their relevance and authenticity to real life learning.

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He began talking about one of his students who was taking an online course and how amazing it was that she was able to do everything completely online and that her group mates consisted of 3 other members and they were literally scattered to the 4 corners of the world. Of course that is exactly what we are doing with our COETAIL course. He then asked about our knowledge of online learning in schools. His own school is interested in encouraging their students to take online courses for credit.

It made me wonder. Is this a direction that learning in schools is taking? Of course many high school students around the world have to take online courses for their high school diplomas, but the vast majority of our students are still in traditional schools and are learning with a teacher in front of them and classmates around them. I am sure that schools in the future, be it 5 years away, or 25 years away, will at some stage not be able to cater to all of their students’ needs. In this case, they may have any number of students learning via online courses. For me, right now, I would hope that schools would not take this course of action as obviously schools have to more to offer than just education

But who knows what direction education will take in the future. The progress made in technology in the last 25 years is simply astounding. The last 10, 5, 2, 1 past years. Who knew our lives would be so driven by technology. Schools are driven already by technology so there can be no doubt that what we will see available in 5 years is nothing we can even imagine right now.

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The term “Flipped Classroom” really did throw me off and I wondered how it would ever be a component of my Physical Education classroom.

I googled “Flipped Classrooms in PE” and hang on……I’m already doing that. All of the articles I read on Flipped PE classrooms focused on the same thing. Videos are the be all and end all of the Flipped PE classroom. Just read my previous blog post, and even my action research project I completed years ago, where I champion the use of video feedback for all of my students.

Funnily enough, 7 years ago when I was researching video analysis in sports, there was not a lot written about it. Most of it was from a sporting/coaching perspective and not really related to the classroom environment. Now there are a bevy of video analysis programmes and apps available to help teachers give students relevant and meaningful, visual feedback.

In my own classrooms, I post bi-weekly photos of all the students’ skills. They are to watch these videos and analyze their skills based on certain steps of the sequence for each skills. When they come back to school they should then be able to focus on, and attempt to correct the step or steps in the sequence that are not quite correct. I narrate as I am videoing so they know which areas I think they need to work on. I did just watch an example posted by The Flipped Coach  I like how he adds visual arrows and lines while he is commenting to his student. This is an area I would like to pursue.

I also occasionally send home “how to” videos that I have found on YouTube, particularly for sports that I am not entirely familiar with. This is great because the kids and I get the benefit of a more skilled teacher for these skills. I also send basic game rules home and then quiz them on them. I have found this to be a good way for the students to learn the games we are playing rather than trying to introduce too many rules at once during class and learning the skills as well.

After reading some research on Flipped Classrooms in PE, I am happy with where I am with my teaching. I definitely have gained some great knowledge from sites such as The Flipped Coach and Syded who both give examples of video feedback, and/or posted results from studies they did when trialing the flipped PE classroom. I agree with the The Flipped Coach when he states, “In my coaching and teaching experience, there is no better way to achieve change in students then when they can see and analyze their own technique.”

It is hard to give personal video feedback where a lot of video editing is involved when you teach so many students, but maybe I can work around that by using exemplars with the fancy lines and drawings on it, and get the students to compare themselves against these as a second step. More food for thought for my Course 5 project.

When I read through the TIM levels, I can see that my classroom (and I) fit into many different levels. In fact I would say it covers all areas of my class, but due to the nature of the course, the way I integrate technology into the lesson is often dictated by the abilities and skills of the students in the class.

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In terms of being a meaningful experience, my colleague and I tried to relate our unit to a real life event. We started our Mars rover unit at the same time that NASA’s Curiosity Rover was launched. The students engineered and programmed their robots to mimic the actions of Curiosity on Mars.  We attempted (and achieved) making the course active; constructive; collaborative; authentic and goal directed. The actual relevancy of the Curiosity Rover didn’t mean too much to the kids (which surprised us), but they were more than happy to attempt to complete the challenges. I think I integrate technology somewhere around the infusion and transformation level, but again, this also depends on the skill level of the particular students involved. A number of students can programme the robots to complete complex tasks and many have worked through the programme and problem solved high level programming sequences to achieve these tasks. Other students are excited when their robots travel forward and turn 360degrees at the correct timing in their sequence.

I also teach PE and this is where technology integration is not so obvious in my classes. I use a video camera and post bi-weekly videos of their skill development. All they have to do is find them in the mainshare and copy them on to their computers. I have dabbled with a number of iPad apps for PE, but have not made it a regular part of my teaching yet. Without having done too much research in to the Course 5 requirements, I think that I will look to integrate technology into this subject area. I have been a firm believer in the skill improvements made with video analysis and would like to incorporate this into the students’ roles in one of my Grade 7 classes.

All in all, technology integration is a daily part of my teaching but more time by me needs to be spent on how and why I am using technology the way I do. It is great food for thought, and definitely one that I will continue to look in to…..after I write my reports!!

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In today’s schools, our classes are driven by technology. In my school, there is technology available to every student from the earliest of ages. In KA-Grade 2, there is a 1-2 IPad ratio. In Grade 3-5, a 1-2 Netbook ratio, and a 1-1 laptop programme from Grade 6-12. With this much focus on technology in our school, we should have a plan in place that enables us to teach students not only the skills to use a computer and other forms of technology, but the implications of using technology in today’s digital world.

I am not necessarily questioning the standards set in place at our school, but if I was not doing this course, I would not have gone in to look at them….and I teach Robotics. The technology standards have been written for our school, but I am not sure if they are specifically being taught to. Unit plans have been written and posted on Atlas Rubicon. I’m not sure how many people go into update them and read them on a regular basis.

For me, I feel that the directive of who teaches the NETs standards must come from the school’s IT Director and Curriculum Coordinator. They should work with the divisional IT specialists to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that all teachers are aware of the standards aligned to their unit, and that they are therefore teaching to, and including these standards in their lessons.

The IT integration specialists and Curriculum Coordinator should then be working with all teachers to ensure these plans are set in place. Specific skills can be taught throughout the year, starting from day 1. Every teacher should be responsible for teaching students the risks associated with technology in the global world. Students in a 1-1 programme have a lot of unsupervised time, so these risk topics, could, and should be covered more closely in Homeroom and Advisory classrooms where more time can be spent helping students understand how the internet works.

We live in an age of connectivity so countless hours at home are also spent on their laptops. This being the case, then both students and their parents are also responsible for the teaching and learning of Digital Citizenship.

Teaching the NETs standards should be a collaborative approach.

*Disclaimer: I am not criticizing my own school, because I do not actually know how other subjects write their unit plans. Perhaps I need to go in and look more closely at our technology standards to check how they are aligned to our unit plans.*

It has literally taken me hours to produce, from the infinite thoughts that accompanied me on my bike rides; to the scraps of paper alla Jeff style; to the dazed and confused time at the laptop; to the final product.

Am I happy with the end result? Yes. I have created a movie and used many different aspect of video editing. This video was primarily created in Camtasia, but I added the music using Imovie for Ipad. If I had been able to create the whole movie in Imovie, I would have finished this weeks ago as that programme is so fabulously simple. Unfortunately I needed to edit the clip speed for my slow motion frames so I needed to use Camtasia, which would crash on me very few minutes. Good times.

Is it exactly what I envisaged? Um, no. I wanted to produce a video that I could show my classes when we were in our Softball units. I think I still could present them with this, but I had had big dreams of a much more smooth and transitionally exciting block buster…..particularly in the parts where I was videoing the students.Picture the frames fading in and out to each student talking so it looked like it was one smooth conversation.

And then the students posed different problems. Here are two of my favourite students, both excellent athletes……both who informed me that they did not play Varsity Softball last year. No problem, they are both trying out this year and both will make Varsity. But “Sally” had a shocking throwing technique when we first arrived in the gym, so we ended up having a coaching session mid-videoing. She improved a lot and I did consider adding the before and after footage, but that would have taken the video to other places that I didn’t want to go. Interviewing them was hard work too because they both kept getting the giggles.

Anyway I am happy with the video and I do plan on using it for my classes. I think it is great for them to see Upper School athletes being used as the models. I think it is a great example for our Middle School students.

This is another video I made with a classmate/colleague a few years back to use in our Health classes. This was done in Movie Maker and it is a good one to show to students. I was recently contacted by Youtube regarding my use of music and asking that I gave permission for advertisements to be shown alongside my video.