But the original Flips had a couple of massive limitations. 1: Batteries. Simply getting them out, charging them, replacing them etc can be too much hassle for some, especially when other devices started using integrated rechargeable batteries. 2: (and this is the big one) still images. The Flip has never allowed individual photo’s to be taken on the hardware, meaning that you would either need a dedicated separate camera or have to take a snapshot of video footage using the provided software (no chance).

So. What to do now? In my experience video and photo have a considerable part to play in the classroom. You want 1 device to do both. You want it easy enough for children to use unaided throughout school. You want it robust. And you want it cost effective.

Well that narrows down the field considerably. If you are prepared to do without the Flip’s ‘arm’ and plug in either via an SD Card or a usb lead to transfer the data from your device to your computer in my opinion it leaves you with 2 choices. 1: IPod Touch 4th gen. 2: Kodak Playsport. I am lucky enough to have both in my classroom and below is my thoughts (purely on the above criteria):

IPod Touch: Not robust. Could be easily damaged via dropping, sand, water etc. Not cheap at £150 (but cost effective if you take into account the possibilities with APPs – which i’m not here!) Does shoot still images and video very easily. Still images can often be blurred when taken by children. Battery doesn’t last long.

Kodak Playsport: Robust (water proof and pretty much drop proof). Not ‘cheap’ but I think cost effective at £80/90 + an SD card as it takes both stills (5 mpixels – which I have found is fine for classroom use and a lot better than the iPod Touch) and HD video. It can be mildly fiddly to switch between photo and video but not prohibitively (2 button presses). You get a little blurring on photos in the arms of a child but nothing compared to the Touch and video footage is excellent. You can leave the Kodak off for weeks and come back to it and it still won’t need charging.

I think the best way to explain how highly I rate it would be to say if I had to ditch either the IPod Touch (with all it’s lovely APP goodness) and the Playsport, I’d ditch the Touch.

Here is a link to the Playsport for more details.

As a school, as the Flip camera’s started misfiring we have been replacing with Playsports, so far in 3 classes. Staff response has been extremely positive. What else is left to say?! Oh ok, below if you click on the image below, it will take you to a a full res image created by the 5mpxl camera:

So I decided to trial using Evernote as a method of collecting evidence.

First off it is important to mention that all my class’ parents have given consent for their child to have images and video on the internet. I wouldn’t have put this data into Evernote without consent as there are a few threads on the internet and Evernote’s own site discussing security of information they store.

In terms of set up, I created a notebook in Evernote called ‘Evidence’ then made a tag for each child (first names only) and 2 other tags called ‘writing’ and ‘maths’ as that was the focus of the evidence. That way, whenever I create a ‘note’ all I had to do was tag the names of the children involved and tag either ‘writing’ or ‘maths’. Then in Evernote I could just click the tag and I would have instant access to multimedia evidence for a child and subject area.

It’s worth noting that I already had an Evernote Premium account, which allows video uploads and a larger monthly usage allowance.

I was concious that I didn’t want the evidence collecting to replace significant time where I would be teaching a group of children therefore I have so far generally collected evidence in batches and also given our class camera out for the children to take pictures of the outcomes of their learning themselves.

Which brings me nicely onto…

One side effect of this method of collecting evidence is that with video you can go beyond simply collecting evidence of outcomes, to documenting the learning process. This has proved extremely useful in documenting Talk for Writing and phase 1 and 2 in the Literacy Primary Framework.

Whilst I am still in the early stages of using this system, I can see it will provide important additional evidence supporting traditional methods. As I have parental consent, I decided to share the notebook and am considering how to develop the system to provide a digital portfolio for parents to view their child’s learning. It will be interesting to see what Ofsted make of the system as when they ask for books I plan on sending them a url with a link to the notebook. I would love to give children an individual QR code which they could scan on our class IPod Touch to be taken to the record of their own learning but unfortunately Evernote currently does not support shared notebooks on mobile devices.

As a final note, my workflow in using the system could be, take a picture or audio recording on the class’ IPod Touch (video not currently supported on Evernote app), then tag it. However, I have found the simplest method for me is to use the class’ Kodak Playsport (an awesome Flip – Video killing video and camera combination), whip out the memory card, put it into my laptop, then transfer to Evernote Desktop.

I started looking into QR codes after an inspiring teach meet presentation by Julian Wood. They have great potential in the classroom to help support learning. However, at the same teach meet Dughall McCormick told me about Stickybits, a site which blows QR codes out of the water. So why am I writing about and using QR codes and not Stickybits? Well at the time of writing, Stickybits has a 13+ age of use. The difference? QR codes allows 1 link by 1 person. Stickybits allows multiple people to contribute any multimedia to a shared barcode. For more details on both systems click here.

Now, back to the QR codes… I now teach Year 1 and am really focusing on getting them to become reflective in their learning, knowing what they did well and knowing what they need to do to develop. I have set up individual writing targets which are displayed in the front of their literacy books and on a class display. But they need more, especially as a third of the class need support in reading their targets to start with. Enter QR codes. 1 per child to be stuck in their book next to their written target. With our class Ipod Touch (not arrived yet!) the children can then scan the code and be taken to a related Audioboo recording which says their target and information explaining how to achieve it. Of course, if it was possible to use Stickybits, the children could then record a voice or video recording back (consent form allowing) or take a photo of their work showing their progress towards the target. But it isn’t. I digress…

I can only start this when we get back to school and our class Ipod Touch arrives but I just know it will enthuse and interest the children enough to engage them in their targets, help them learn them and understand how to progress towards them. I plan to give out targets and codes to parents but am still looking at the most efficient way of doing this. If it all proves successful (i.e. do the children know their target and what to do to achieve it), I plan to widen the QR codes to group reading targets and individual maths targets.

If any of the writing level 1 target QR Code are useful for anyone, you can access and download them here.

To directly access the audio recordings, they are available on my Audioboo account.

The targets are taken from the Super Stickers APP targets.

#writingmod is teachers sharing, discussing and levelling examples of writing. It could be used to:

• Inform or support a judgement
• For CPD
• To share and celebrate a piece of writing

Writing to be moderated will appear on the writingmod blog (http://writingmod.posterous.com) with additional announcements and discussions through the #writingmod hashtag on Twitter.

To get a piece of writing moderated, just send an email to post@writingmod.posterous.com with the piece/s of writing to be moderated as attachments. As soon as the email is approved, it will appear on the #writingmod blog as a new post.

If you would like to moderate any of the pieces of writing,  simply leave a comment and level (e.g. 2a) on the piece of writing’s blog post.

I will still gather evidence for 6 pupils but instead of filling out the paper grids half termly then not doing an awful lot with them until the next half term, I will update my assessments for those pupils into a spreadsheet at the end of each Literacy or Maths unit. After this, in the same spreadsheet, I will assess the other members of the class. This will allow me to monitor progress and reflect on the best way to move children on all from one location. I won’t need to thumb through 30 grids and work out where there are correlating gaps or next steps to develop as a group, I can simply sort the spreadsheet by the APP statement within a level.

In short, I want APP to play a crucial role in setting next steps rather than being used purely as a summative assessment. If this is something you think might help in your classroom, please make a copy by clicking the links below, which will open as a Google Doc which you can copy into your Google Docs list. Simply add a ’1′ into any cell where that child has achieved that APP statement. The cell will then turn green allowing you to easily spot gaps or you could sort the column. I don’t know how manageable it will be yet but I believe that the extra effort will be worth it!

Reading APP Spreadsheet

Writing APP Spreadsheet

Maths APP Spreadsheet