Name:  April Barton

School: Cottonwood High School

District: Granite School District

State: Utah

Subject: Mathematics 

1. What drove you to begin making Doceri screencasts for your students? 

I was having difficulty keeping students caught up with the material when they were absent.  Either they would just be lost for a unit or two, or they would have to come in after school and I would have to give the entire explanation again.

I decided to record my lectures so they could get caught up easier.  I tried a couple of different apps to help record my lectures and to help connect my computer to my iPad, but Doceri is the one I personally liked the best.   The biggest advantage of Doceri is you can connect your YouTube account to your Doceri app.  All you have to do is just drag and drop to upload your recordings, which makes it very convenient and quick. April’s YouTube Channel

2. Did you completely flip your classes? 

Half of my classes are flipped, half are not.

3. How has Doceri changed how you interact with your students?
Doceri has really helped me keep students current with the material.  I was also surprised how some students would watch the lecture again, even if they were there for it in class. In the end, students turned more more assignments in on time with more of the problems completed.

4. What advice do you have for new Doceri teachers?
You might think that making recordings of your notes would only be useful if you are trying to flip your classroom, but I have seen a lot of improvement from my students just by recording and posting my everyday lectures.  I would often walk into school in the morning to see students watching the notes on their phone to get caught up on what they missed the day before. However, it’s important to make sure to keep reminding them throughout the entire school year that they have that resource, because students tend to forget.

Also,  for anyone who is going to flip their classroom, I highly recommend sending out text reminders to the students to watch the notes.  I use Remind101 because it is free and the students do not have access to my personal cell phone number.

Example screencast on volumes