Assignment #7: Eyejot

In assignment 7, Dr. Yuen challenged us to create a 40-50 second Eyejot message, and I found it to be an interesting and easy assignment. My biggest challenge was simply getting access to a webcam. I was able to borrow a friend’s, since I have none and could not buy one right now. However, now that I have completed the assignment, I see the purchase of a webcam in my near future!

I had never used a webcam before this class, but because eyejot was so user-friendly, I completed the assignment with ease. As a third grade teacher, I am always looking for tools that are simplistic enough for a child to use, and this was definitely one of them. One idea I had was to assign the students to record a message from the point of view of the characters in one of our Reading stories, then we can post the message on our blog! I’m sure the students would love to see a recording of themselves on the blog, and would even be excited to show off their work to their family members and friends. When students “show off” what they’ve learned, they are reviewing and reflecting on the content. And the best part is that they won’t even realize they are learning while “playing.” I think at the beginning of the year, I will reserve this privilege for students who demonstrate intrinsic motivation in the classroom, as an incentive to participate.

One drawback of Eyejot (at least of the free version) is that it has no authoring capabilities. Therefore, your video is unable to be easily edited. Also, the clips are only a minute in length (again, for the free version) which may limit educational implications. A final concern that I have (as always) is getting Eyejot approved through the filtering software of the school district. But, once these concerns are addressed, use in the classroom should be effortless.

Please view my eyejot message by clicking here, or by viewing the message below: