Eloam in the House

Considerable innovation in the document camera industry became evident this year at the ISTE 2017 educational conference. (With over 15,000 educators in attendance, ISTE is considered the largest ed-tech conference in the U.S.)

Some delightful sparks flew out from a new exhibitor, Eloam. Eloam offered a mouth-watering slate of highly capable visualization products at an attention-getting price point for our constantly strained U.S. education budgets. Their products ranged from extremely low-cost 5 megapixel portable visualizers to low-cost powerhouse 15 megapixel offerings. Demonstrating considerable product flexibility, Eloam showcased portable, wireless, and even new wall-mounted units, all of which earnestly captured my interest. 

Coupled with some outstanding and easily navigable software, these Eloam products offer me most of what I am looking for in a visualizer for the K-20 classroom. Beyond outstanding HD image display, flexible input options, fast scanning, zooming, timed scanning and video recording (also known as doc-casting), Eloam demonstrates some new or significantly improved capabilities for the classroom, including:

• image editing
• multiple pictures on screen display
• OCR capabilities
• PDF conversion

It is my sense that Eloam seriously raises the bar with inventiveness and true ROI for schools. The truth is that most document cameras in schools are now aging rapidly. Eloam has smartly positioned itself as perhaps the best possible option for replacing aging legacy equipment at a low cost, yet offering even better capabilities and visual quality.

A Lesson Plan

One of our fearless undergrad students at the University of Colorado-Denver, Zainab Hashem, recently developed a deep expertise on the use of visualizers in the classroom. She developed a solid lesson plan for use with the document camera, one that is student and not technology oriented. Here is her fabulous lesson plan and a picture of her presentation:

Lesson Plan link.

Congratulations!

Congratulations are in order for HUE visualizers for winning a best-of-show award at ISTE 2017 in hot and spicy San Antonio Texas. Good job. I guess HUE is not just a "pretty face."

New @ InfoComm 2016

I’ve been an educational technology director for 25 years, with a significant track record in large educational technology and AV purchases. I returned from walking every aisle of InfoComm 2016, searching for promising trends, developments, and products that might offer value for the education market.

What does an educator see? I look for both memes that make sense in education as well as the practical solution: the product that potentially meet a need or solves a pain somewhere in my organization. Something crisply new and eye-catching can also spark a burgeoning idea in an educator’s mind. And at times, we chuckle when we see the emperor’s new clothes (vaporware, hype, or solutions in search of a problem to solve).

Frankly, this year’s InfoComm hoopla—from an educator’s perspective only—left me underwhelmed. There were no blockbusters, killer educational technologies, nor grand entrances as in past years. There was little to get us to stand to our feet and applaud great educational potential. This was a tepid year—a year of stolid incrementalism at best. Nevertheless, here are some of my ed-market visualizer observations:

A Document Camera Uptick? 

This year I noticed far more document camera companies displaying their wares (Qomo, Elmo, Wolf, HoverCam, et. al.) But does this represent an uptick in document camera sales? Not really. Some data suggest that 60% of U.S. classrooms already have document cameras. So here's a trend I am seeing: It seems each of these companies is moving away from their core competency (manufacturing visualizers) and branching out to ancillary markets by retooling or creating alliances. Thus, these companies were all featuring lecture recording devices, 360° cameras, collaboration software, presentation stations, or other technologies that leverage their know-how. Still, I wish these companies understood a bit better how to reach the remaining 40% of viz-less classrooms, and how to enter the legacy replacement market in a more positive and proactive way. I wish I could hep them more...

Center Stage

At ISTE 2016, the HoverCam folks made a bold step, offering their excellent visualizer technology embedded in an ecosystem of resources called the HoverCam CenterStage. This includes their HD document camera, a height-adjustable podium (pictured above), their free interactive software Knotester, integrated classroom audio system, a PC, and an interactive multi-touch flat panel. I can’t believe I just said that in one breath!

The Knotester cloud-based software is new and promising (despite the spelling that defies pronunciation at a visceral level), but the big story here is the complete ecosystem.

Makerspaces

Here’s an amazing idea for using document cameras, one that has not been suggested before. While cruising the aisles of the ISTE 2016 Expo, I ran into this sign at the HUE visualizer booth:

This notion is spot on. What a great application for a visualizer: having one in your makerspace. Brilliant! It can be used for so many things:

• Showing up close how to make cuts, assemble objects, twist ties, connect pieces, and etc.
• Showing clarifying details of an example project
• Zooming in on the smallest areas to show where to hook, nail, tie, or screw a part
• Showing off finished products for everyone to see
• Scanning or recording final products to display on a website
• Filming any of the above for later re-use

Thanks to the HUE people for bringing this up. What a great idea.

VIZ + AR

Here's an interesting development I saw at FETC 2016 this year: the unique combination of classroom document camera and augmented reality. See this video to get the idea:

Alive Studios Augmented Reality for Early Education from Alive Studios on Vimeo.

Well, the actual product, developed by ALIVESTUDIOS is quite attention getting--and unique in its offering. What a nice mashup--the classroom visualizer and augmented reality. They mix well. Too bad the document camera they use is such a low end solution. This company would do better partnering with more well-featured document camera companies. That way the doc cam has a life well beyond this application. But this application could also help sell other document cameras. Something to think about!

What's new @ FETC

I recently spent many days at the FETC 2016 conference in Orlando, looking for what’s new. One of the most interesting findings was in the AVERinfo booth. They released their new AVerVIsion F70W document camera. So what’s new? This high-definition classroom visualizer offers wireless mobility—the ability of the document camera to rove free across the classroom.  AVER claims this can help “transform the traditional front-of-the-classroom teaching style that so characterizes document camera use.Simply move it to where the kids are! It’s eight-hour battery makes it all possible. 

Pedagogy Matters

Here’s an example of effectively combining document cameras with modern pedagogy in the kindergarten classroom. The teacher hoped to further both her “students’ emergent reading skills and motivation for reading, incorporating the Document Camera/LCD projector to help students lead shared reading sessions.”  “The document camera/LCD projector enables the whole class to access the text,” she explained.

According to the teacher, “current best practices highlight the importance of multiple readings of the same text to develop literacy.  Educational experts like Richard Allington identify the need for multiple readings of a text.  Multiple readings of a single text is also a component of the current Close reading technique as a strategy not just for English Language Learners, but all readers, in order to improve fluency and comprehension.” She adds: “Shared reading has long been a part of the balanced literacy approach.”  Here is how she implemented this notion, in her own words:

“First I developed classroom library of emergent readers. I included the parents and students in choosing the texts.  The only guideline was that they could read it completely independently and unsupported.  Last year, I had the same program but when students shared they would merely share the book in read aloud fashion sitting in a chair in front of their peers.  The document camera has allowed the students to lead a shared reading that is more interactive and engages the listeners in the learning.  In this way, students that are less active in borrowing and sharing—the more reluctant readers—become engaged and the students participate in a more reciprocal [way].  I see students questioning more and engaging more than when I had students sharing in only a read aloud format.  The students are not only recognizing more words, they are learning how to question at a literal and inferential level.”

What a formula! Technology + pedagogy = learning success. It’s so simple and powerful!

Cross-Post

Here's a cross post in another blog about doc-casting that might be worth your attention:

DOC-CASTING

Jetion Arrives

Another new product appearing at conferences this summer is the Jetion visualizer. This visualizer offers a number of advantageous features for the educator:

• It’s very high definition (ten megapixel)
• It’s compact
• It permits wireless image transmission to laptops, tablets, smartphones or other mobile devices.

You can learn more about Jetion here. 

Ultra Cool

While attending ISTE 2015 in Philadelphia, I was pleasantly surprised to see HoverCam had reached new heights with their document camera offerings. Of course, I am talking about their new Ultra 8 visualizer, which was on display at the conference for the first time. 

Basically, the new Ultra 8 raises the bar in three ways:

A bump in high-defintion to 8.0 megapixel. (Special note: high definition really matters in the classroom.)

Compatibility with USB 3.0. (Special note: a good move, catching up to the newest devices, which have left USB 2.0 for the high speed USB 3.0)

No noticeable latency. (Special note:  latency is a deathblow for many classroom visualizers. Down with lag! Up with instantaneous response time!)

There’s some real ground breaking news here, folks. Something akin to a secret sauce. Viewing lag is a big deal. I did my secret latency test on this HD visualizer and was shocked to discover unnoticeable lag. That’s good for teaching. And good for learning. And oh-so-good for children’s eye comfort!

SXSW

Please consider voting for our SXSW proposal. To vote, just click on the voting icon below.

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/49162

(You will need to create an account and log in to vote, unfortunately. It would be so appreciated! Voting must be completed by September 4^th.)

See to Achieve: Where Virtual Reality, Vision, and Learning Meet

Reading. What does it take to be successful? Part of the answer is physiological. For the early learner, how well vision works is vital. Children’s eyes must be able to track, focus, and team (work together). Successful reading requires our eyes to track a line and focus on a word or letter—and our eyes must do those things together. Enter modern day virtual reality. 3D virtual reality experiences also require our eyes to track, focus, and team. Sound familiar? This presentation will show how virtual reality is fostering unanticipated benefits for vision health and learning; and how new mobile 3D technology is being used to screen for and improve early childhood vision. 

New Wireless Visualizer

At the huge InfoComm 2015 conference being held in Orlando in June, Ken-a-Vision featured a new classroom document camera: the EduCam WiFi Wireless Camera 7880c. 


I wish I could put my hands on one to test it in the classroom. Past wireless visualizers were either two finicky or too complex for use by mere mortals. I would like to see if this one breaks the boundaries. On the left is a picture I snapped on the showroom floor.

It boasts 8+ hours of operation (from a 7-hour charge) and built-in networking capabilities. Of course, it transmits images cross-platform to Macs, PCs, iOS devices, and Android devices, including iTouch and iPhone,

Hue of Learning

A number of new developments in the classroom document camera world erupted at the ISTE 2015 conference in late June, among them the release of the HUE HD Pro classroom visualizer. This document camera is full featured, high-definition—and frankly—just beautiful in its look and feel. Quite an aesthetic experience, really.

This USB visualizer can also be purchased with powerful control software and additional creativity tools, notably an animation tool that allows students to create stop motion animations.

And the price is right: the visualizer sells for only $69.95. Schools will like that, along with teachers who have to carve resources out of their own budget.

Readers should note that the HUE HD Pro won a Technology & Learning “best of show” award in their category.

Diluting the Dream

I have noticed an unseemly shadow slowly overtaking the document camera industry over the last half-dozen ed-tech conferences, a trend that deeply bothers me: some companies, most recently Aver Information and Lumens, seem to be disengaging from their core mission of selling visualizers and promoting visual teaching and learning. Instead, they are refocusing and retooling their business in favor of display sharing software, school video security systems, or even video conferencing.

Why are they doing this? Evidently, the document camera market has been shrinking, as it approaches 60% deployment in U.S. classrooms. They need to feed the revenue zombies with additional profit centers it seems. They need to survive.

Why does this trend deeply concern me?  Well, I would rather see these companies concentrate on

•  teaching strategies using document cameras;
• better professional development for visualizer use;
• visual teaching and learning approaches.

Doing these things well will create a welcome swell of new customers. Providing professional development services will usher in a fresh new revenue stream for a rapidly fossilizing hardware market. Concentrating on the instructional use, and not the hardware specs, of visualizers will create a freshness in the education market.

It’s always easy to follow the hardware breadcrumbs for revenue. But forsaking the heart of the matter—visual teaching and learning—is an immense mistake. That’s the core mission for these companies. Unfortunately, some of these firms are diluting their future potential by diversifying and moving away from their core.

Another iPad Solution

Another iPad version of a document camera was demonstrated at the large TCEA conference in Autin this year. The concept of Justand is simple. Take a look for yourself:

As I stated in a previous post, I am not sure this is the best use of an iPad in the classroom, but what the heck?

As things slow down...

After attending the first three large ed-tech conferences of the winter (TIES, FETC, TCEA), I realized that there wasn't a whole lot of new news or recent developments in the field of classroom visualizers or document cameras. 

But that's a good thing, if you remember my recent post about the industry changing features too fast for for education, making us dizzy. It's better to concentrate more on how to teach with the tool, than to worry about the next feature of the tool. That is why I want to remind you to take a look at the only book on the market focusing on effective teaching strategies using the classroom document camera, shown below.

Digital Shapeshifter

Visual teaching, differentiated learning, and formative assessment with the classroom Document Camera.

It's the only book on the market about great teaching with document cameras. You'll love it! I't's 165 pages dedicated to totally transforming how we use classroom document cameras. You can find Digital Shapeshifter directly from the publisher at this link. 

3D Doc Cam Refreshed

Wolf Vision
3D Document Camera

Wolfvision’s 3D document camera has been refreshed. Wolfvision is offering a new feature in their ceiling-mounted 3D document camera: the ability to record in 3D.

Displaying 3D with the WolfVision Ceiling-mounted
Document Camera

A Mobile Twist

Here's something completely new...

Casio just introduced a new, free mobile application called C-Assist, which offers educators a suite of tools that work wirelessly in conjunction with Casio’s projector.

The C-Assist Mobile Application is compatible with both Apple and Android platforms and enables educators to display and annotate content and presentations directly from a mobile device. The features for this new mobile app include:

• remote PC access (allows users to remotely access and display content on a PC connected to the projector)
• real-time projection of photos (by activating the device camera with the app)
• using a mobile device as a hand-held document camera
• an image capture function that permits using the mobile device’s camera to snap an image and send it directly to a Casio projector. 

Here is the Android App.
Here is the Apple App.
You can see www.CasioLampFree.com for details. 

VIZ Word Cloud

Here’s a graphic word cloud of all the key words or themes in our Future-Talk VIZ blog during the year 2014.  The more the word is found, the larger it appears in this word cloud. The word cloud is interactive, so explore a bit!

It’s quite interesting to visualize, in this way, the recurring themes and concepts that have emerged from Future-Talk VIZ this last year. It’s like putting your fingers on the pulse of what’s happening with visual educational strategies—and taking a read.

Once a Month

Due to my overly busy work schedule and commitments, along with a slower news cycle, new Future-Talk VIZ items will now be posted once a month--on the first Monday of each month. 

Visual Teaching and Learning (2)

Classroom visualizers can become transformative tools for visual teaching and learning. If we are going to get really effective at using document camera, consider the following highly effective instructional practices:

• Fill your screen with large images. When showing pictures, photos, graphs, charts, or other visuals in class, be sure to fill the entire screen with your visual. Small visuals don't grab the brain's attention. Full-screen visuals do.

• Add color. Use color to show organization, relationships, hierarchy, or key concepts/vocabulary. But watch out! Moonlighting directly above your projection screen can wash out even the most vibrant colors.

• Add the creative storytelling. Some of the most effective teaching I have seen with document cameras is when the teacher combines a large immersive image with gifted storytelling. The multiplier effect is phenomenal. Try it out.

• Involve your students. Can you get your students to use the document camera more than you do in the classroom? Think about it. How could you do that?

Visual Teaching and Learning (1)

Document cameras are great tools for visual teaching and learning. If we are going to get really effective at using this amazing teaching tool, first we must get intentionally rid ourselves of some weak instructional practices:

• Too much text. Lose the outlines. Stop showing the syllabus. Remember the 6 x 6 rule for any text you put on the document camera screen: no more than six lines per screen, no more than six words per line.

• Not enough visuals.  Again, lose the outlines. Avoid death by text. Stop promoting text comas in the classroom. Use more visuals: charts, graphs, illustrations, photos, pictures, and visual representations.

• Black-and-white. That's right, lose the black-and-white. Color matters. What percentage of your document camera materials are in black and white? That number will be roughly proportional to your visual instructional effectiveness in a lesson.

• Too much teacher talk. When you're document camera is in use, consider who is doing most of the talking. If it is you, reverse that equation. Involve your students.

Flipping Awesome

It happened again. Another great post in the blogosphere about great teaching with classroom document cameras. I don't mind cross-posting from other blogs when the content is absolutely beneficial to our Future-Talk VIZ readers. This recent post is another winner; it focuses on using the classroom document camera for flipped instruction.

Document Cameras in the Flipped Classroom

Viz @ ISTE

The ISTE 2014 educational conference, with over 16,000 educators and thousands more vendors in attendance, was remarkable. Let’s zoom in on some of the document camera developments in the exhibit hall. 

Document camera manufacturers and vendors were back in force this year, after a slight dip in presence last year. Checking in with each booth, I found no breakthrough features being touted at this time. But that's a good thing. See my previous post, Improve This!, to find out why. Some of the new offerings are shown below, although not all. 

Still, document camera exhibitors continue to make the same mistakes and need to address these issues in order to be more successful in reaching schools:

• learn how to speak in the language of the educator
• don't just show the visualizer--show how to teach with it
• develop training programs behind your offerings

More Assessment Ideas

Here are some more ideas for using document cameras in an assessment role. These ideas come from some of the creative graduate students in my University classes.
"It would be beneficial to record a student's hands moving over a text while reading aloud and document progress over the year. It would also save time because students could record their own reading while I'm working with other students--and I can assess the recordings later."

"For first graders, I would engage the entire class in an assessment as learning activity in which two kids at the visualizer search out long vowel a words in Click, Clack, Moo while the rest of the class follows along. I would give the children glass magnifier beads and show them how to take screen shots to share with others."

What's Missing?

The more I work with teachers in my graduate classes who have document cameras, the more I find that they really want to use document cameras more effectively than they do now. So what's missing here?

Transformative training, that's what!

Although it is certainly true that teachers rarely take advantage of some of the best and most powerful instructional features of these tools, the real key is using these powerful tools differently--doing new things--not just automating old practices. My national workshop "Powerful Visual Teaching and Learning with the Classroom Document Camera" is an example of what is desperately

needed. What matters is using richly visual teaching strategies, transformative student-involvement strategies, and fresh ideas. Those are the pillars of my workshop. If your school, organization, or company is interesting in leveraging these strategies and insights, please contact me. I am available to travel and present in your community, if interested.

Document Cameras--Priceless!

I don't mind cross-posting from other blogs when the content is absolutely beneficial to our Future-Talk VIZ readers. This recent post from Jennifer S. James is a real winner; it tells quite a powerful and dramatic story about visual teaching and learning using the classroom document camera:

Teaching with priceless artifacts.

Train Me!

Although document cameras are easy to use, it is rare that teachers take advantage of some of the best and most powerful instructional features of these tools. One resource that many educators are unaware of is the training video library for your manufacturer’s document camera

Check these out (shown in alphabetical order):

       Elmo

       Hovercam

       Ken-A-Vision

Lumens Recordex

I am willing link to the training libraries of any vendor that contacts me, so manufacturers should never feel that I am playing favorites. Just send me your links to add here. For now, these are the only ones I could find.

Out with the Old

In my 25 year career as a technology director, I loved opportunities that arose for trading in old technologies for new. I took advantage of this all the time, encouraging schools to do the same. So when I read about this offer recently, I jumped at the opportunity to share this with you. Now, I am willing to announce these trade-in (and any grant) opportunities for any vendor that contacts me, so manufacturers should never feel that I am playing favorites.  This is for educators: remember the September 30^th deadline!

Limited Time Trade-In Offer: $100 Instant Rebate

Solo 8 Trade-In Program from HoverCam Solo 8 price:             $349 Trade in Rebate*:   ($100)  Final Price:             $249** **Excludes taxes and shipping For a limited time, HoverCam will give your school a $100 instant rebate for each document camera you trade-in towards the purchase of a HoverCam Solo 8. To be eligible for the instant rebate, just take your obsolete document camera - regardless of brand - recycle it responsibly, get a receipt listing your unit and send it to HoverCam along with a photo as proof of recycle. Trade-In offer expires September 30th with a maximum of 10 units per school district. To place an order, just contact your preferred HoverCam authorized reseller or HoverCam directly.

A Teacher's Story (2)

Continuing from our last post,  this supernal 3rd grade teacher asks students to measure their own feet using a ruler, measuring with inches. She models how we to trace around the foot and estimate first; then measure the tracing and round up to the closest inch by using the document camera to model so that everyone can see clearly. Then, she asks students to work in pairs to complete this measurement. Once they have measured their feet, they cut them out and arrange them from smallest to largest on the floor.

After examining the vertical bar graph that the students have created on the floor, students create their own bar graph using the data of the measurements. Again, the teacher models bar graph construction for them under the doc cam. After completing the graphs, she has a few students come up to show their finished work under the document camera. Quickly and quietly, she captures their work by scanning it. Her plan is to upload these digital exemplars to the class website so they can show their parents what they did and how they learned it.  

Finally, the teacher displays an exit ticket under the doc cam for them to complete, as the lesson comes to its end, and before the students move out to lunch break.  (An exit ticket is a short task they must complete, often a formative assessment or reflection, before they can exit the room.)

Wow, fourteen creative ways to employ the document camera in a single math lesson! Can you imagine that? This is what visual learning and teaching are all about. And this is why classroom document cameras are deeply relevant in classrooms today.