Uneditted Videos

I have been struggling for some time now about creating and posting videos for my students and classes, because I am a perfectionist.  If I'm going to post something, I want it to be done well. When creating a video, I have yet to record myself perfectly. I constantly will make mistakes, say things twice, repeat myself, or say things twice constantly. Even if I don't make a mistake, my speech is so littered with "um" and "so" that it's embarrassing counting how many times I eliminate those.

Typically, when I create a video, it takes me 3-4 times the length of the video to edit it and do what I would consider a "great" job. For day-to-day lessons, that has proven to be unfeasible.

On the trip home today I listened to live radio and was reminded that the real world has a lot of mistakes, but that doesn't stop them.  So I decided that I would start publishing more videos -- but in a raw, uneditted format.  I will still produce high quality videos, especially for my physics class which is "flipped" and depends highly on video lectures for input, but I don't feel I need to do as high quality a job with my algebra videos, which aren't as highly viewed.

The same thinking, by the way, is the reason I don't blog very often -- maybe once a week.  I feel like I need my entries to be deep, rich, well written entries -- but they really don't.  After my Master's project is finished, I'll try to express more thoughts in rougher un-editted form.  Be ye warned....

Some Systems Videos

Hey guys,

It's been a while since I've posted anything since I've been working especially hard creating a lot of videos for my classes at school.  I'm now back into a flipped unit in physics, studying Torque and rotation with my students. If you're curious, you can follow the unit at our class website. I am creating this unit as a sample of a flipped unit for my Masters project at Cornerstone University, so I'm taking more time perfecting it than I normally might -- thinking about tying all the things I've learned together.

I've also recently created several videos for my algebra 1 students.  Though I am not flipping that class -- I do have a lot of students who are absent a lot, and I thought it might be worth it for those students for me to post videos of the lectures online.  Since I already have all my equipment up and out and ready for my physics classes, I talked through my algebra lessons too and here are those videos:

This is an introduction to systems of equations, and my explanation of the graphing method of solving systems:

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Here's the substitution method, which we'll be studying next week -- I like the colors in this video -- it turned out pretty:

And here's the elimination method, or what my text book calls "linear combinations".  Elimination is a much sweeter name.

This is probably one of my favorite lessons to teach -- I just think the combining equations and one variable disappearing is a beautiful magic trick -- makes me feel like a mathmagician, as some of my students say.  The only thing cooler than adding two equations together and having variables cancel out, is dividing two equations together and having variables cancel out, a trick I often do in physics, especially when sine and cosine values are around.

EdcampGR 2011

Just a few links for some possible presentations I'll be giving at Edcamp:
  Conversation on Standards Based Grading
     Public Notes

  Introduction to Flipped Classroom
      Powerpoint and Handout
      Notes on Google Docs
      Examples on my class website
      Vodcasting Ning
   
  Building a Class Website
      Powerpoint
      Collaborative Notes on Google Docs
      Example of my class website
      Dropbox Sign Up

Caution: First Tests Ahead

We're coming up on our first tests of the year in physics.  It will be interesting to me to see how the students fare on the tests under the flipping model. I'm confident they will do well on all but one topic -- and that's one I hope to review a little more this week in class: significant digits and uncertainty.  After we practice that some this week, I'll feel like they're more prepared.

They'll begin the next unit next week - kinematics.  The videos for the unit are mostly made -- though I have to edit a few more, and record one more.

I enjoy physics classes this year more than last -- primarily because we are doing more problems, and I can see the students work more frequently.

Sorry I don't have anything deeper to write about -- my mind and body are pretty tired after Monday's classes.

First Week of Flipping

Well, school has started.  It has been an exhausting couple of weeks, as tennis season is in full swing (pun intended).

I decided this year to implement a significant change in my physics classes this year. I have flipped the class, which means that instead of lecturing during the school day and assigning homework for students to do at night, we are doing practice problems and assignments in class and the students are required to watch videos of my lectures at home. The videos are all screencasts that I have made available on Youtube, and also through our class website.

The students seemed very positive about the idea as I explained it to them on the first day, and have hit the ground running with watching them. So far I have checked every day if they watched and took notes on the video, and have had only a few people not watch them on time for the following reasons:
   Slow internet at home -- Solution: he brought in USB Thumb drive and we transferred the videos onto it
   Didn't have time -- Solution: he watched it the next night, and was just a little bit behind in class
   Didn't know I had to watch them -- Actually, this was my fault that I didn't make myself clear in deadlines.  Temporary solution was to watch it in class that day.  I didn't mind doing this because it was the very first time, but I told them this wouldn't happen again.  More permanent solution: posting a video watching calendar or schedule, which I have yet to implement.

The in-class activities are more challenging than I had imagined because the students are answering things faster than I had anticipated.  I'm learning that I will probably have to overplan.  Another difficulty is that students are working at different rates so some are finishing early while others taking longer. I don't have a solution in mind about this yet.