Periscope in the Classroom!

Periscope is a social media app that allows you to live broadcast video.  Many of you are probably familiar with Periscope, but have you thought about using it in your classrooms?!  When used correctly, Periscope can be a fun, safe way to give parents and families a little "peek" into your classroom during special activities or events.

I really love this article from the blog Primary Inspired.  She provides awesome tips for using Periscope in the classroom, as well as some great ideas for meaningful and effective ways to use this app in the classroom.

Some BPS teachers asked me for help in using Periscope to live broadcast some end of the year plays from their school.  This could be a really great way to share the play in real time with family that cannot attend.  However, I used tips found in the above article to ensure that we do this safely.  This involves turning off some options, to make the broadcast private and only accessible by followers.  

A suggestion made by Brenda from the blog post above is that you have a Periscope account that you use ONLY for school, and you allow ONLY parents (and other family members, like grandparents, as approved by you) to follow this Periscope account.  That way, whenever you broadcast to followers or allow chats from followers only, you know that only parents will be accessing this broadcast.

This icon is the button you use to begin a broadcast.  You'll be asked to type in a little description of what you're viewing, and then you'll want to consider the following settings:

Read the blog post above for more detailed information on what each of these items mean, and how they contribute to the privacy of the broadcast.

I created a Periscope for Parents sheet that tells them about the app and what they'll need to do to access it.  If you'd like to make a copy that you can edit with your information, CLICK HERE. Another consideration, of course, is student privacy.  If used correctly, this app will not be broadcasting live to the general public and will be safely shared with only parents and family members of your students.  It is your judgement whether you think a separate privacy notice would need to be sent home with parents or not; I would use the media release form they signed at the beginning of the year as the gauge on this.  The blog post above gives tips for using the app that does not involve broadcasting students' names, faces, etc.

In Billings, I know of one principal in particular, Travis Niemeyer, who is using Periscope for positive, effective communication at his school.  Check out Mr. Niemeyer on Twitter @NiemeyerMr to see some ways he is using Periscope at his school!

And if you're not quite ready to use it in your classroom - check it out for PD!  Teachers across the country are using Periscope to share tools, tips and tricks from their classrooms and it's AWESOME! iteachtvnetwork is an great place to find teachers who Periscope.  Click the image to visit their site and search their shows.  Also, check out this post from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd about Periscope, that's full of lots of great teachers to follow.

Another great resource is this Periscope Beginner's Guide!  Scroll to the bottom for a list of the "ultimate" Periscope educators to follow!