Digital Handouts: An Alternative to More Paper and Meetings
Jill Ostrow
Jill suggests that video clips can be an effective way to expose colleagues to great content. She uses Keynote and iMovie, uploading the final product to Youtube. The clips can be embedded in a webpage or sent as a link via email. Short booktalks or strategy overviews or resource presentations could all be done this way.
"I want to contribute, I would just rather do something different than a presentation," Jane shared with me after one of her district meetings on English language learners (ELLs).
I tried to think of an alternative way for Jane to get the information out to her staff that didn't involve paper, wouldn't take too much time away from her teachers, but would be rich in content.
"What about a video?" I asked her." I'll record you with my Flip camera while you talk about something and then you can share the video." From that initial idea, came the notion of the digital handout.
Short and Sweet
We made a commitment that these videos needed to be short. No more than three minutes long and not a link, but a video embedded within an email.
Response
The feedback from teachers has been very positive. One teacher wrote, "These are much more accessible to classroom teachers than a handout. I copied the URL, converted it, and saved to our school share drive."
Below are the first three digital handouts we have created so far:
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