IPEVO and the Epic @EvernoteSchools Experiment #edchat

When I was at ISTE, I stopped by the Evernote booth and had a chance to see a demo of IPEVO document cameras. The cool thing about these cameras is that they will be able to (Sometime this summer) save pictures directly to Evernote accounts. I loved this idea! There are plenty of things I do by hand in class that I would love to take snapshots of and move directly to Evernote. I know my students will also want to do the same thing once the Experiment gets rollings. I reached out to IPEVO to see if I could demo their awesome devices and they agreed! Here is what I saw with the two different devices. 

Point 2 View USB Document Camera retails at $69.00 and it is a great bargain. I was able to take it out of the box, load the CD and start looking at things with the camera in under 5 minutes. The Point 2 View is extremely portable and the arm attachment bends to all for different angels. What I like best is that the camera can detach from the arm and be clipped to the computer as a webcam or moved around to show different aspects of an object. I have seen document cameras that cost hundreds of dollars and have tons of bells and whistles, but the average teacher does not need all of those things. The Point 2 View is perfect for the classroom setting and exactly what I need for the Experiment. The program that I installed allowed me to take pictures, zoom up to 3X and review the pictures that I took. I could choose to flip the horizontal or vertical to get the picture correct that I was trying to display. I can set a timer to 3 or 10 seconds if I wanted to get class pictures. All of the controls were very simple to adjust and did not require an extensive manual. The camera has an autofocus button that can be set to Auto if desired. The picture was crisp and clear allowing me to change the resolution if needed. I'm very happy with the Point 2 View and would recommend to to teachers looking for a nice way to integrated a document camera into their classroom at an affordable price. 

Here are the specs for the Point 2 View USB Document Camera from the IPEVO website. 

• True 2.0-megapixel CMOS sensor
• Full autofocus lens
• Up to 2" (5cm) macro focus
• 3x digital zoom
• Up to 30 fps live video capture (at 640 x 480)
• USB 2.0 Video Class (UVC) interface
• Mac & Windows PC compatible
• Max shooting area: 9.4" x 7.2" (240mm x 182mm)
• Max shooting area with extension stand: 17.17" x 13.4" (450 x 340mm)
• L x W x H: 3.8" x 0.9" x 1.1" (96 x 24 x 30 mm)
• USB cable length: 4.9ft (150cm)
• Color: Silver camera, white stand

Ziggi USB Document Camera retails at $89.00 and is a nice upgrade. Since I had already installed the software for the Point 2 View, I did not need the CD that came in the package. I took it out of the box, plugged it in and opened the P2V software. You can see the specs below, but I will mention some of the differences you are getting for the extra $20. The max shooting areas is up from 9.4" x 7.2" to 12.2" x 9.1". A nice larger capture area is always a plus when working with larger objects. This comes is hand or odd sized projects or items that a teacher wants to display. The arm is much taller on the Ziggi as well. This is nice if the teacher really wants to pull back for an better perspective. I love the fact that the Ziggi is compatible with other applications. The need for hardware and software to play nice is very important in the educational field because we generally are putting together networks piecemeal so they more compatibility the better. I really like the Anti-Glare Shield for the Ziggi as well. If I'm trying to project something from a tablet, the glare protection is huge when I'm trying to display something quickly for the class. These reasons are more than enough to spend the extra $20. 

Here are the specs on the Ziggi USB Document Camera from the IPEVO website.

• True 2.0-megapixel CMOS sensor
• Full autofocus lens
• Up to 2" (5cm) macro focus
• 3x digital zoom
• Up to 30 fps live video capture (at 640 x 480)
• USB 2.0 Video Class (UVC) interface
• Mac & Windows PC compatible
• Max shooting area: 12.2" x 9.1" (310 x 230mm)
• LxWxH: 4.92" x 3.15" x 10.63" (125 x 80 x 270 mm)
• USB cable length: 4.8ft (146cm)
• Color: black
• Compatible with popular image/video capturing and internet calling applications, including Apple's PhotoBooth, Google Picasa, Skype, Window Live, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, GoogleTalk, etc.

I was thinking about how I'm going to use this as part of my class and I was really excited about the possibilities. When the ability to send pictures to Evernote is available, I can quickly snap shots of things i have been working on in class and upload them to the shared Class Notes folders. Another thought was to use the Livescribe pen in conjunction with the Document Camera. If I took notes and talked using the Livescribe Pen and the Document Camera, I could create pencast that can be saved to Evernote and instruct the class at the same time. I could take care of two issues at once. Since the upload of pencasts to Evernote is seamless, it will not take extra time out of my day to create, upload and share the information. 

This is a perfect example of what this Experiment is about. I want to try and see how the different combinations of products can enhance the instruction and learning of the students and teacher (me). There will be things I will try that are awesome and things that will not work as well as planned. I'm excited that people are interested to see how this works and that there are companies wiling to have me pilot their products in class. Please share your thoughts on how you would use an IPEVO Document Camera in your class. 

I look forward to sharing more exciting updates on the Epic Evernote Experiment. 

-Nick