A New Document Camera Designed to Record Video for “Flipped Learning” and Classroom Instruction. Say Hello to Solo 8

Use of video recording in schools is increasing, with more teachers “flipping” their classroom and video used as a tool to assess how well students present and comprehend material. At the Illinois Computer Educators Conference in Illinois in February, spotlight speaker Richard Colosi, an educator from New York and winner of two national video contests, urged conference attendees to record student presentations and play back the recordings.  “It’s when you record the material you find out if the students really understand what they’re talking about,” he said.

A challenge when recording video with a smartphone or tablet is stability – and a tripod or stand may not always be available. Also, once you record the video on a device – or snippets of video – sometimes there’s a need to edit the content into a more coherent lesson, and that often means transferring the video to a computer to use the best editing tools.

The HoverCam Solo 8 was designed from the ground up with the latest microprocessor power and highest sensor resolution to record HD 1080p video at 30 frames per second over a USB cable directly to a computer’s hard drive.  It is the only document camera available today that does that over USB – with most other document cameras recording at lower resolution, lower speeds and with video recording time limited by the size of inconvenient SD cards. With the Solo 8, instructors can record hours of video footage directly to their computer, without the extra step of transferring video to the computer. Furthermore, the Solo 8 allows annotation over video while recording, to further enhance a lesson.

The Solo 8 weighs just 1 kg – 2.2 lbs. – and has a small base so it’s easy to pick up the camera and swivel it in any direction.  It has a flip-up camera head that is fully rotating and a bendable arm to record video in almost any direction.  It can be used to record video of students at the back of a classroom – or up-close to reveal amazing features of objects - and it records and plays back in HD 1080p resolution with the speed and clarity you expect to see from an HDTV broadcast. And, when using a USB 3.0 cable, the video is uncompressed YUV video – for an even better HD image.

The HoverCam Solo 8 is more than just a “document camera.” It is becoming a teacher’s best friend for easily recording and playing back high-quality HD video using the computer and for “flipping” the classroom. To find out more, please visit www.thehovercam.com and click on the video below.

HoverCam Leads Way Again with Solo 8 - World's First USB 3.0 Document Camera with 4K Resolution and Full-Motion Video

In 2010, HoverCam launched the world's first USB document camera shaking up the document camera market for K-12 schools. Four years later, the company is about to re-energize the declining document camera market with the Solo 8, the world's first SuperSpeed USB 3.0 document camera outputting uncompressed HD video up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second. 

This is the first USB document camera with no image delay, ghosting or latency when displaying live video on commonly used 1080p resolution displays. USB 3.0 has about 10x the bandwidth of USB 2. The benefits of this breakthrough to teachers will include:

·      * Teachers can now show live video images of solving problems, working worksheets, modeling and more in full motion video with the convenience of a small document camera connected to their computer.

* Teachers can easily record high quality HD videos at their desk for "flipped learning".

* Since the Solo 8 is also USB powered, no additional power cord is required. And, because the footprint of the Solo 8 is small - about 2 inches by 2 inches - it can sit on a teacher's desk without taking up much space, available to use any time.

*    * Connecting the document camera to the computer via USB makes it more convenient for teachers to us camera images with their SMARTboards and other interactive displays. Moreover, with HoverCam's software, it's convenient to scan documents as PDFs directly to the computer.

          Other Key Features of Solo 8: Record and play back full motion, HD video at 30 frames/second. Annotate over video, even when recording.

·       Solo 8 incorporates an 8-megapixel sensor that outputs uncompressed YUV video at up to 4K resolution.  See close up details with amazing clarity. See text of an A3 double-page document more clearly than ever before.

·       Backwards compatible with computers with USB 2 connectors. Over USB 2, Solo 8 delivers MJPEG compressed 1080p video at 30 frames/second

·       The world’s first implementation of ASR (Adaptive Sensor Resolution) in a document camera. This method allows Solo 8 to use all 8MP of the camera resolution at all times and allows the camera to zoom using ASR maintaining outstanding image quality. 

·       Improved version of HoverCam Flex Software called “Flex 10” – which operates natively on Windows and Mac computers. The new software delivers maximum camera performance and improves the end-user experience. (Previous versions of the software were coded on top of Adobe Air.)

·       Improved OCR (Optical Character Recognition) performance for scanning a document into editable text.

·       Additional features: USB powered, small footprint and powerful software for scanning, recording video, slingshot, integration with interactive whiteboards, taking photographs, and more.

·       People are saying Solo 8 has higher performance than Elmo, Aver, Lumens and SMART document cameras at half the cost.  The Solo 8 MSRP is $349 and it begins shipping in April.

HoverCam have been demonstrating a Solo 8 prototype at trade shows this winter and the response has been enthusiastic, according to company officials. Teachers and tech directors appreciate the image clarity and smooth video images, they say. For additional information, please contact www.thehovercam.com

(The writer is VP of Sales for the HoverCam.)

HoverCam: An Ideal "Document Camera" For Higher Education

HoverCam Solo 5x closed (l)
and open (r)

The HoverCam, based in San Diego, CA., makes document cameras, a product that's the modern equivalent of the obsolete overhead projector that used to be in every schoolroom and many conference rooms. Until now, almost 90% of the HoverCam's sales have been to the K-12 education market. That could change with the introduction of two new products, the desktop Solo 5x document camera and the ultraportable, pocket size HoverCam Mini 5.

The Solo 5x has unique features making it ideal for use on college campuses. Namely, its small footprint, high resolution, USB connectivity and multi-function capability including the ability to scan, video conference, record video and to present allow it to be used by college faculty numerous ways.

Here’s a list of the main features and uses on a college campus:

* Solo 5x has a small footprint -- it sits on an instructor’s desk in the office without taking up much desk space

* Scan documents and articles at the desk (without having to go to the photocopy machine down the hall)

* Use for instruction in class to show books, articles, iPad (tablet) screen – anything

* With its small footprint, the HoverCam Solo 5x doesn’t take up much space on a lectern.  It can be folded flat and easily put away

* Record instructional videos to post to a website for flipped classroom learning

* Incorporates a high-resolution, 5 mega-pixel camera, ideal for remote learning and "virtual office hours."  HoverCam works with Adobe Connect, GoToMeeting, Zoom, WebEx, Skype to show clear images during video and web conferences

* Take the HoverCam Mini 5 (the pocket-size version of HoverCam) to the library or on the road to scan multiple pages quickly and accurately. Ideal for scanning archive documents, rare books and other precious resources that may not be removed from the library.

* The HoverCam Solo 5x costs only $299 and the ultraportable HoverCam Mini $249, making either affordable for every instructor on campus to have their own HoverCam camera-scanner.

For additional information, please visit the HoverCam website at: http://www.thehovercam.com/products/solo5 and http://www.thehovercam.com/products/mini-5

HoverCam Allows Any Teacher To "Flip" The Classroom & Create Flipped Videos

The success of the Khan Academy and the use of online recorded videos to demonstrate problem solving which students can access at any time is turning classrooms upside down.

Welcome to the world of "flipped learning" where the teacher's job is not to lecture and pontificate, but to coach, made possible by the high-speed web which hosts a world of instructional videos and education content. The concept of a flipped classroom is where students learn the concepts online at their pace (easily repeating when necessary) and the role of the teacher in class is to answer questions students couldn't figure out on their own.

Khan Academy and Internet searches will yield many results on how to solve specific types of exercises, but for those times when teachers feel compelled to create and post their own content online, what's the easiest way to create a high-quality instructional video? If the teacher doesn't have a stand or tripod for the smartphone, tablet or camera, attempting to make a recording by placing a device on a stack or books (or something more unstable) puts the device at risk.  And, where to find a special stand (with a clamp) that would hold a camera positioned over paper pointing down?

The HoverCam offers an easy solution. Essentially, a HoverCam is a high-resolution camera on a stick with software that allows recording in high-definition HD video.  Here's how it works.  The instructor plugs the HoverCam "document camera" into the USB port of a computer and launches the software. Next step is to position the paper or instructional materials directly under the camera and make sure everything is lined up. Then, press the record button in the software and the video is recorded directly to the computer's hard drive.  Because the HoverCam has a microphone, sound is also recorded. Viola, instant video on the computer which can be posted using HoverCam's software to a website, attached to an email, inserted into a PowerPoint and uploaded to Dropbox, Evernote, YouTube and other cloud services.

In addition to recording flipped videos, the HoverCam can also be used as a "document camera" to show live images of papers and solid objects to the class; used as a scanner to scan & file multiple documents or student assignments; used as a high-resolution webcam for distance learning and Skype; and used to grade tests.

Here's a step-by-step video tutorial from HoverCam's website showing how to create a flipped video for the classroom:



The HoverCam is priced right for schools with prices starting at $219 and is sold through a network of education specialist resellers throughout North America.  The company offers a free trial of its units to education institutions.  For additional information, please visit the company's website at http://www.thehovercam.com/teachers