Mobile Device

I have an iPad and an iPhone. Unfortunately I don't know what apps exist on Android for Flipping, but much of the general commentary and advice should hold no matter what mobile device you use.

Mobile Device as Camera

By far the easiest way to go is set up a phone or tablet and record. This could be with the camera pointed at a white/chalkboard while you deliver a short lecture or pointed at a piece of paper recording your hand with a pen or pencil writing on paper. If you are standing at your board you will have to be sure to speak very loudly and work when there is no (or little) background noise. Most mobile devices can simply take the recorded video and then upload it directly to YouTube or Google Drive either directly or with the use of free apps. They will also have apps available to allow you to do some editing of the content as well.

Stuff you may want:
  1. Tripod - If you're using your Phone as a camera you will need some way to hold it in the correct location. A quick Amazon search will find a number of suitable phone tripods. You can also try a gooseneck phone stand as well.
  2. Tablet stand - If you're using a tablet you'll need something a bit more substantial to hold it. we have several teachers using this Gooseneck stand with their iPads.
  3. Swivl - The Swivl is, "A personal robotic camera man." Basically you drop your tablet into the holder and it will turn to track a lanyard you wear around your neck. The lanyard also serves as a wireless microphone allowing you to record pretty good audio. This is perfect if you just want to record yourself at your white/chalkboard. It is a bit pricy though ($400).

Running Screen Capture Software

This has become my favorite way to create videos for my students. It is just so easy and requires no extra setup at all. You'll need some sort of app. I've used Explain Everything on my iPad and I would strongly recommend it. There is also an Android version of Explain Everything and while I've never tried it, if I had an Android tablet I'd buy it simply based on my experience on the iPad. It's not a free app and I say that's a good thing! It only costs $2.99 and I'd still buy it if it cost $29.99! Developers need to eat too and I want to make sure they keep making this awesome app even better in the future.  You can see my complete set of iPad recommendations as well as Explain Everything tutorials in my iTunes U course "Flipping with an iPad"

Whatever program you use, you'll want to make sure you can download or save a copy of the actual video file. Some of the free apps will only stream your video from the cloud. If you can access the original video file you end up with a lot more options. Also you don't want to create a year's worth of material and then have the company that was hosting it go out of business and take your material with it. If this happened in the middle of the school year this would be even more tragic.

Stuff you may want:

Easy External Microphone

  1. Stylus - I've created videos drawing with my finger, but I much prefer using a stylus. If you're lucky your tablet came with a stylus. Alas Apple has decided there is no need for a stylus with an iPad. You've probably seen those fat squishy styluses which are fine, but not really good for very precise work. The stylus I use has a clear plastic disk as the tip and I high recommend it. You can get it on Amazon for $16. I've used the Adonit Jot which has a similar clear disk, but I can't recommend this stylus as it didn't work well for me (plus costs a bunch more).
  2. Microphone - If you're using the Notier stylus I recommended then you will want to use an external microphone. The easiest one would simply be the microphone headset that you probably got with your phone. You need to be sure that it has the microphone and headphones on a single plug. If it has two plugs, one for the headphones and one for the microphone you'll need a special adapter.


Comments