Resources 

• TouchCast's home page

• How to Make a TouchCast: The official TouchCast Manual by Charley Miller

• TouchCast Usage in Education is their guide aimed specifically at teachers by Ayelet Segal.  Pages 10-15 have actual examples of teachers' TouchCasts

• TouchCast's blog

• If you get the free app for your iPad, you'll easily be able to find their numerous short and very helpful tutorial videos 

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 Use TouchCasts for:  

• Anticipatory viewing before a unit or concept: equsafestructures

• Supplemental resource for students

• Flipping of instruction: Review of Prokaryotes part 2

• Student project (either the primary project is the TouchCast, or else the TouchCast is a way of presenting the primary project / research / essay): Here's How to do Trigonometry.  Education in Pakistan. Nicole's PTSD Project

• School announcements, news, admissions info

 

 Evaluation 

• It's important to think through the qualities that will make an effective TouchCast, then communicate those to the students.

• Here is a sample assignment and rubric.

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 Some Ideas for TouchCasts 

 

 Art:  

• film a tour of some of your work and insert media vApp resources about the people, places, and events that inspired specific pieces

• use the green screen effect to stand in front of works of art or buildings so you can explain their composition and provide resources

• pick five of your favorite artists and create videos of 60 seconds for each that conveys their style non-verbally, plus insert pictures or web pages that show us more

 

 Admissions: 

• have a team of students make a video giving a school tour filled with vApp resources to post on your website ("Here is our gym, where you can see the volleyball team practicing. Check out this webpage for team schedules, and click on this video to watch a short film of interviews with atheletes and fans.")

 

 Community Service:  

• make a short informative film with media resources about the need your club serves and the services you provide

• create a recruiting video to inform, inspire, and engage

• make a TouchCast as a real resource for a community you serve

• promote an event like a blood drive with a video that shares vApps about why it's important and how to get involved 

 

 English:  

• use the teleprompter feature to read your text on the importance of setting in a novel you're studying while inserting images, maps, and websites relating to the places you describe

• act out the "hero's journey" motif in five minutes, and include web resources to elaborate on the different stages

• do a dramatic reading of excerpts from letters by an author with vApps providing biographical resources

• explicate a poem with the whiteboard feature and images and webpages

• narrate sections of The Canterbury Tales, and include a map showing their journey with various resources along the way

• explain a movement like the Harlem Renaissance using map, image, video, and webpage vApps

• create a newscast about a participial phrase that lived an outlaw life by breaking various rules but has now reformed and is helping build clear and expressive sentences

 

 History:  

• tell the story of the key events of the first year of the Revolutionary War by drawing on a map to which you add images and webpages

• show the spread of the plague in Europe on a map while you explain its impact on people, the economy, religion, and art

• act out a key historical event while the camera person inserts vApp resources

• create a newscast in which you give breaking news and resources about an event

 

 Language: 

• write out a weather forecast to read from the teleprompter with image vApps from the foreign country

• film yourself using vocabulary from the unit you are studying, and insert pictures you've taken of the items you list

• give a tour of your house using vocabulary of the home

• take advantage of the green screen feature to transport yourself to the beach or a cafe

• create a tourist video highlighting key destinations and activities

• set up a language exchange with students in another country, and give them a tour of your town or state (be sure to slow down your speech so they can understand!)

 

 Math:  

• film everyday objects and use the whiteboard feature to illustrate their geometry

• show examples of parabolas in your city, and embed resources about parabolas

• explain aspects of probability and provide examples and resources

 

 Music:  

• make a musical concept clear by being filmed while you sing or play and including vApps for further information and examples

 

 PE:  

• film someone pitching, shooting a basketball, or serving in tennis in iMovie, play it in slow motion, and import it to TouchCast where you can explain the technique while providing vApp resources on technique, athletes, teams, games, etc

• make a promotional video for your team or school's teams and include related images, web pages, etc. 

 

 Science:  

• film a friend or something from your physics lab in motion, narrate about the physics principles involved, and include web resources for further exploration

• using maps, the whiteboard feature, images, and webpages, trace the story of an animal's migratory life

• present the current state of the science around an environmental problem with embedded vApp resources

• film a chemistry experiment while narrating what is happening and embedding resources about the process

• take footage during a field trip, then insert vApps with more resources about your observations and data

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TouchCast in Education image credits:

 

Golden Gate Bridge by Bernard Gagnon. AFA Protestant Chapel by Hustvedt. Expo58 Building Philips by Wouter Hagens. Eden Project 6 by Mike Peel. Integral House #3 by livinginacity.  (untitled--Notre Dame interior) by Mykola Swarnyk. Cathedral Schematic Plan by Lusitania.  Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris from rear, 2007. Notre Dame de Paris picture by Moyan Brenn on Flickr. Gargoyle, Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris by Lee McLaughlin.