The IPEVO Interactive Whiteboard System #EdTech

(Editor's Note: IPEVO sent me this product for the purpose of a review.)

The IPEVO Interactive Whiteboard System

I am always on the lookout for new tech that can help teachers in my district and districts around the country. One of the main issues with new technology is that it is usually too expensive for classrooms or the price is right, but the quality is not there. The IPEVO Interactive Whiteboard System is a product that is the right price and of great quality. 

One of the things I love most about this product is that it was so easy to set up. After downloading the software onto the computer, I just needed to connect the camera to the laptop and angle it to the screen. 

This graphic showed me exactly the best placement for my laptop and the camera. It only took me a couple of minutes to set it up correctly. Once I got it, I was able to mark exactly where I set it up so that I can quickly place it in the right spot each time I need to use it. 

Here is what one setup might look like in the classroom. 

The wand was very easy to use and the response was very quick. It took little time to get comfortable in using the wand as I used it as a mouse on the desktop and to annotate pictures using the IPEVO software. 

The system does come with a ceiling mount adapter if you have your projector mounted. You will need an USB extension if you are running from the ceiling all the way to your computer, so please keep that in mind if you purchase the system. 

Here is an example of the annotation software for the IPEVO Interactive Whiteboard System. 

Another possibility to consider is the mobility of the system. It can easily be packed up and shared with other teachers looking to add an element of interactivity to their lessons. Other systems can be too large and impossible to share. That is not a problem with the IPEVO system. For schools that are looking to save dollars, this is a great option to consider. 

Here is a look at everything you will get when you order the IPEVO Interactive Whiteboard System. 

System Requirements:

• PC
• Microsoft Windows 7, 8, Vista or XP
• Dual core CPU 2.0 GHz or higher (2.4 GHz recommended)
• 1 GB RAM or higher (2 GB recommended)
• Mac
• Mac OS X 10.6 or higher
• Intel Core 2 Duo CPU or higher

Overall, I am very happy with the IPEVO Interactive Whiteboard System and recommend it to teachers out there looking to add another tool to their teaching tool chest. I have used other IPEVO products and have never been let down by a single one. For a great price of $149.00, teachers can add an element of interactivity to their lessons and allow students to take the stage to share what they know. Feel free to email me with any questions and to check out IPEVO's website for more great products. 

Epic @Evernoteschools Experiment Update #4 #edchat

Last week was a fairly simple week. Kids come in, get their iPad from the cart and log into Evernote. It's become a solid routine for my students. I still need to remind some of them to log off, but it's much better now than is was a couple of weeks ago.

My classroom has a Smartboard and I use the Notebook software to take notes. It's nice because I can save the notes as a PDF and upload them to a shared notebook in Evernote for my students to access. One day, my computer decides it doesn't not want to open Smart Notebook and kept crashing. This happened right before I needed to use it with my Freshmen. Say what you want, but Freshmen to not respond well when plans change on the fly.

At first, I wasn't sure what to do. I had everything ready to go on the Notebook file, but couldn't access it. Normally, I would just write on the chalkboard, but the Smartboard covers my chalkboard, so I could write there. I looked over to my desk and saw my IPEVO Document Camera and my Livescribe Pen plugged in and it clicked. I will use both of them to accomplish the same thing with Notebook with an added bonus. Recorded audio!

I told the class we were going to try something a little different and I needed them to pay close attention and speak up when called to answer a question. I took out my trusty Livescribe Notebook, turned on the document camera connected to my computer and displayed on the projector, and started recording a lesson in front of the class. It was awesome!

I did about 10 minutes of notes and conversation and stopped the recording. After class, I uploaded the Pencast to Evernote and shared it with my students by placing it in the shared folder. It was an awesome and really smooth process.

I couldn't be happier with the way that turned out. I will be doing more of this in the future, but next time, it will planned in advance.

Have any questions about using Evernote in the classroom? Send me an email or a tweet and I will help you out.

Want to use Evernote on the iPad, but are not sure where to start? Check out my book on the iBookstore and you will be an expert in no time!

IPEVO and the Epic @EvernoteSchools Experiment #edchat

When I was at ISTE, I stopped by the Evernote booth and had a chance to see a demo of IPEVO document cameras. The cool thing about these cameras is that they will be able to (Sometime this summer) save pictures directly to Evernote accounts. I loved this idea! There are plenty of things I do by hand in class that I would love to take snapshots of and move directly to Evernote. I know my students will also want to do the same thing once the Experiment gets rollings. I reached out to IPEVO to see if I could demo their awesome devices and they agreed! Here is what I saw with the two different devices. 

Point 2 View USB Document Camera retails at $69.00 and it is a great bargain. I was able to take it out of the box, load the CD and start looking at things with the camera in under 5 minutes. The Point 2 View is extremely portable and the arm attachment bends to all for different angels. What I like best is that the camera can detach from the arm and be clipped to the computer as a webcam or moved around to show different aspects of an object. I have seen document cameras that cost hundreds of dollars and have tons of bells and whistles, but the average teacher does not need all of those things. The Point 2 View is perfect for the classroom setting and exactly what I need for the Experiment. The program that I installed allowed me to take pictures, zoom up to 3X and review the pictures that I took. I could choose to flip the horizontal or vertical to get the picture correct that I was trying to display. I can set a timer to 3 or 10 seconds if I wanted to get class pictures. All of the controls were very simple to adjust and did not require an extensive manual. The camera has an autofocus button that can be set to Auto if desired. The picture was crisp and clear allowing me to change the resolution if needed. I'm very happy with the Point 2 View and would recommend to to teachers looking for a nice way to integrated a document camera into their classroom at an affordable price. 

Here are the specs for the Point 2 View USB Document Camera from the IPEVO website. 

• True 2.0-megapixel CMOS sensor
• Full autofocus lens
• Up to 2" (5cm) macro focus
• 3x digital zoom
• Up to 30 fps live video capture (at 640 x 480)
• USB 2.0 Video Class (UVC) interface
• Mac & Windows PC compatible
• Max shooting area: 9.4" x 7.2" (240mm x 182mm)
• Max shooting area with extension stand: 17.17" x 13.4" (450 x 340mm)
• L x W x H: 3.8" x 0.9" x 1.1" (96 x 24 x 30 mm)
• USB cable length: 4.9ft (150cm)
• Color: Silver camera, white stand

Ziggi USB Document Camera retails at $89.00 and is a nice upgrade. Since I had already installed the software for the Point 2 View, I did not need the CD that came in the package. I took it out of the box, plugged it in and opened the P2V software. You can see the specs below, but I will mention some of the differences you are getting for the extra $20. The max shooting areas is up from 9.4" x 7.2" to 12.2" x 9.1". A nice larger capture area is always a plus when working with larger objects. This comes is hand or odd sized projects or items that a teacher wants to display. The arm is much taller on the Ziggi as well. This is nice if the teacher really wants to pull back for an better perspective. I love the fact that the Ziggi is compatible with other applications. The need for hardware and software to play nice is very important in the educational field because we generally are putting together networks piecemeal so they more compatibility the better. I really like the Anti-Glare Shield for the Ziggi as well. If I'm trying to project something from a tablet, the glare protection is huge when I'm trying to display something quickly for the class. These reasons are more than enough to spend the extra $20. 

Here are the specs on the Ziggi USB Document Camera from the IPEVO website.

• True 2.0-megapixel CMOS sensor
• Full autofocus lens
• Up to 2" (5cm) macro focus
• 3x digital zoom
• Up to 30 fps live video capture (at 640 x 480)
• USB 2.0 Video Class (UVC) interface
• Mac & Windows PC compatible
• Max shooting area: 12.2" x 9.1" (310 x 230mm)
• LxWxH: 4.92" x 3.15" x 10.63" (125 x 80 x 270 mm)
• USB cable length: 4.8ft (146cm)
• Color: black
• Compatible with popular image/video capturing and internet calling applications, including Apple's PhotoBooth, Google Picasa, Skype, Window Live, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, GoogleTalk, etc.

I was thinking about how I'm going to use this as part of my class and I was really excited about the possibilities. When the ability to send pictures to Evernote is available, I can quickly snap shots of things i have been working on in class and upload them to the shared Class Notes folders. Another thought was to use the Livescribe pen in conjunction with the Document Camera. If I took notes and talked using the Livescribe Pen and the Document Camera, I could create pencast that can be saved to Evernote and instruct the class at the same time. I could take care of two issues at once. Since the upload of pencasts to Evernote is seamless, it will not take extra time out of my day to create, upload and share the information. 

This is a perfect example of what this Experiment is about. I want to try and see how the different combinations of products can enhance the instruction and learning of the students and teacher (me). There will be things I will try that are awesome and things that will not work as well as planned. I'm excited that people are interested to see how this works and that there are companies wiling to have me pilot their products in class. Please share your thoughts on how you would use an IPEVO Document Camera in your class. 

I look forward to sharing more exciting updates on the Epic Evernote Experiment. 

-Nick

The Epic @Evernote Experiment #edchat @EvernoteSchools

Hello everyone! I've had plenty of requests to write about what I'm doing and I wanted to wait until I was all set before I wrote a post.

This Fall, I will be doing an Epic Evernote Experiment. I know that I have used the word Epic to describe my previous project (The Epic Romeo and Juliet Project), but this Experiment is truly Epic and I'm a sucker for alliterations.

My plan is pretty simple, use Evernote to share all of my class notes and reading with the students. All assignments will be shared through Evernote as well as any additional resources that I use in class. Seems pretty straight forward.

I have spend the past few days compiling all of the resources I have used in my class for my Honors American Literature, Traditional American Literature and Freshmen English. I have created notes, notebooks and tags for each piece. Units were cross-referenced using tags and the title of the note so students can quickly find what they are looking for on Evernote.

I created four Notebooks for each class; Assignments, Notes, Handouts and Stories. These are the four standard notebooks that will be shared with each student when they arrive to class in the Fall. They will have access to all of their textbook needs on Evernote wherever they are. All additional notes will be placed in the Notebooks as the school year progresses.

In the Notes Notebook, I have placed background information on authors and historical information centering around the various texts and stories we will be reading making sure to use the tagging feature to allows students to pull the information up quickly. I also created notes that have YouTube video read ins of some of the stories. I have created a complete digital backpack for my students. They will have everything they need for the entire year on the first day of school.

This process was a long and tedious one, but I have these notes FOREVER. I was able to upload PDFs and us the Evernote Clipper tool on Google Chrome to quickly and easily create notes and store them in the correct Notebook with the specific tags I needed. This really is a game changer for how my students will be able to access information inside AND outside of the classroom.

This would be an awesome experiment, but it's not quite epic. With that in mind, I have added another level to bring it to epic proportions. E-portfolios. I'm looking for my students to use Evernote Notebooks to store their written work and projects. With the ability to take photos and record audio I envision students being able to take pictures and store their thoughts on various work throughout the year. Long term, this could be great if an entire school district got on board and students from a young age could curate all of their work over the course of their school career. Imagine a 12 Grade student being able to review their writing from 5th grade. I can't think of a better way for an individual to measure growth. I wish I could see my work from grade school.

I'm excited to be working with some other companies who partner with Evernote and want to help with this Experiment. IPEVO is sending over a document camera that, later this summer, will allow images to be directly sent to Evernote. I'm really excited for the chance to look at this document camera. I have heard nothing but good things and I'm always pumped to offer more tools to my students. I envision many of my artistic students using the Document Camera to record their hand drawn work at home and storing it on their Evernote accounts. Their are many different possibilities.

I'm talking with other groups that are interested in being part of the Epic Evernote Experiment. If you are a company and want to join the fun, please send me an email at OneNerdyTeacher@gmail.com and I will get back to you right away. If you know of a product that would fit in well with my Experiment, please let me know and I will reach out to them. Any new products will be mentioned on my blog as they come in and I look them over.

I'm really excited about the possibilities of creating this environment for my students. Follow the journey on the special page I created. The Epic Evernote Experiment

If you want to start your Evernote journey now, follow this link to sign up!

That's it for now, stay tuned for more fun in the near future.