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Sarah Margeson has been Coordinator of Connected Learning at Tippecanoe School Corporation for nearly six years. In her role, she is responsible for professional development across the district and introducing innovative new technologies and best practices with teachers.
Before her current role, however, Sarah herself was an educator, teaching math for six years. That’s when she learned how valuable simple creative tools like Screencastify can be for educators.
With that experience in mind, Sarah continues to prioritize tools that have simple yet powerful features that allow creators to focus on their creations. And in her current role, she continues to turn to Screencastify to provide teachers with the best video creation tools that can be used for in-person as well as blended and remote learning models.
Related: Hear Sarah discuss her district more in-depth on EdTech Heroes!
💡‘We Already Have the Thing You Need'
Tippecanoe School Corporation has been using Screencastify as a tool for in-person learning for multiple years. So, when schools around the world began to shut down in March 2020, the district was able to ensure students wouldn't miss a beat and teachers would be able to create successful learning outcomes under the most challenging circumstances.
“We had been planting the seeds with Screencastify for a few years,” Sarah said. “And then when everything happened in March, we already had the golden ticket that we needed. We told our teachers, 'You don't need to learn anything new, because we already have the thing you need.' ”
During her time as a math teacher, Sarah used the flipped classroom model, utilizing video as part of her homework assignments. This background gave her an understanding of how Tippecanoe teachers and students could specifically use and benefit from creating videos. And with Screencastify Record and Edit, students and teachers had the ability to easily create professional looking videos — both before March 2020 and right out of the gate during the pandemic.
However, Tippecanoe School Corporation consists of 19 schools, about 13,500 students and 1,600 staff members, so any tool used district-wide must be simple to implement for a large number of users and also simple to use for students of all ages and teachers of all skill levels.
“I didn't want it to just be our fifth graders that can use this, I want it to be everybody. And I want the teacher and student experience to either work well together or be the same. I want them to be able to use the tool however they see fit.”
🏫 Screencastify for In-Person Learning
Tippecanoe School Corporation already has used Screencastify Record and Edit for years. And the district will continue using the tools as it moves back to an in-person learning environment.
“I have said multiple times that I don't know how we would have gotten through the year without Screencastify. If somebody asked the one thing that I feel, across the board, was instrumental in the success of the year — it was 100 percent Screencastify.”
The district is now focused on continuing the momentum that it had created with Screencastify, and continuing to innovate with new ways that they can use video creation for in-person learning, including:
- Giving students a platform to demonstrate their learning.
- Creating lessons for students that might need extended absences or even who missed just a single day of instruction.
- Providing videos for students who were in the classroom but still would benefit from additional reviews of lessons.
- Creating video “newsletters” to send to students’ families and more.
And with the success Tippecanoe has had the past several years, Sarah continues to recommend the video creation tool to other districts.
“We didn't use anything else, because what else could you possibly need that you don't already have in Screencastify?”
See how your district can benefit from Screencastify!
Learn more: 9 Technology Tools Every Flipped Classroom Needs
