Flip+Video

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 * Description**

The FlipVideo camera is "point and shoot" digital camcorder small and compact enough to fit in your pants pocket. It is a product geared toward the "YouTube" generation of users - namely the video blogger. At a cost of approximately $199.99 per unit it has made capturing video accessible and cheap for the average person who no longer needs to shell out thousands of dollars for a camcorder, tapes, tripod and microphone for simple home videos.

The FlipVideo is easy to use with a simple, "record" and "stop recording" interface and the ability to immediately playback and delete video recordings. Through a built-in USB connection you can easily download your videos to your computer and use available video editing software (ie - iMovie or Windows Movie Maker) to edit your video to post online, burn to DVD or archive on your computer. The FlipVideo does have a built in microphone with "tape recorder" quality audio. While not in the league of most still/digital cameras or camcorders, the FlipVideo does possess a simple "zoom in/zoom out" feature for added functionality. The sum result is that you are able to capture life's moments as they happen through video.

While the video quality is not of broadcast quality it is excellent for its target audience, video bloggers and those interested in doing simple home movies to share with friends and family.


 * History**

According to Mossberg and Boehret's article, "The Video Camera Revised" published in the May 3, 2006 edition of the Wall Street Journal, the first version of the product was released as the "Pure Digital Point & Shoot" video camcorder. The product was a next step evolution from a both the disposable camera market as well as CVS/Pharmacy's CVS One-Time-Use Camcorder. The product was renamed to the much more marketable sounding Flip Video in 2007. According to Pogue (2008), the FlipVideo currently controls about 13% of the camcorder market.


 * Impact on Teaching and Learning**

Living in our society today that revolves around constant media bombardment and a collaborative culture given the needs of our global economy, the teaching of video production and multimedia skills is something that can prove to be very useful in our education system. Today's computers are very powerful tools that build in the capability to do simple video, audio and photographic editing with relative ease. Incorporating multimedia development into our education system will allow us to impart practical digital literacy skills to our students along with the invaluable skill of learning teamwork. Multimedia production is a collaborative process that requires a team of people to do effectively.

A tool such as the FlipVideo dramatically lowers the cost of teaching rudimentary video production as a school can purchase several FlipVideo cameras at $199.99 a unit as opposed to $1000.00 a unit. Schools interested in integrating a multimedia production curriculum can now easily do so with a product such as the FlipVideo and readily available audio and video editing tools available on most computers. Production teamwork skills can be taught to students and they will benefit three-fold. First they will learn the invaluable team and collaboration skills they will need to survive in the workforce. Second, they will learn marketable multimedia-development skills. Third, they will be more engaged as media production is naturally fun.


 * Practical Applications**

Educators can use the FlipVideo a few ways:

First, the can use it as a tool to teach basic video production skills to students and develop curriculum around it.

Another practical application instructors can use the FlipVideo for is to document classroom and school events with their students. Documentation is always a worthwhile activity and given standards accountability using a tool such as the FlipVideo to document student progress can be valuable.

Science students can use the FlipVideo to record their notes and document their experiments for later review, just as a professional in the field would

Speech and language students can use the FlipVideo to record themselves speaking and conduct self and peer critiques of their work.

A final practical application of the FlipVideo would be to record classroom lectures and post them to students for later viewing. Making lectures available to student review has shown to have practical benefits in terms of student performance and retention.


 * Examples or Demonstrations**

media type="youtube" key="5ysNnmu7P_s&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425" Example 1: FlipVideo Interview Tips

media type="youtube" key="a4_gNQTxdX8&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425" Example 2: Discussion of the FlipVideo

media type="youtube" key="aG5LygZiz0o&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425" Example 3: Video-blog of a field trip.


 * References**


 * 1) Freedman, Terry. 2008, June 27. "[|Review of the Flip Video.]" The Educational Technology Site ICT in Education. Retrieved on Thursday, September 18, 2008.
 * 2) Mossberg, Walter, Katherine Boehret. 2006, May 3. "[|The Video Camera Revised.]" Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on, Thursday, September 18, 2008.
 * 3) Pogue, David. 2008, March 20. "[|Camcorder Brings Zen to the Shoot]." New York Times. Retrieved on
 * 4) Thursday, September 18, 2008.


 * External Links**


 * 1) FlipVideo Company Site: http://www.flipvideo.com

About the Author

This entry was written by Jonathan K. Wong, a Masters of Education in Educational Technology student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.