The Mighty Flip Video Camera

For years I have been doing video work with my students. Something that has brought me much joy and a lot of pain. Please remember I work with elementary-aged students.

In the past, working with conventional video cameras, I have had the following problems. See if you can relate:

Wires:
Cables, cables, cables, it seems that each camera comes with a different cable. Students love to lose those special cables, and better yet -- try to force the wrong cables into a camcorder.

Power Chargers:
Same basic problem of the cables above. They get lost, they get confused, and video cameras get wrecked.

Video Tape:
Ahh, the "record-over" problems, student are notorious for recording over each other's work. Then there is the weeping and wailing. Or it is the "Easter egg hunt" problem where the student knows that they recorded their Grammy-Award-Winning piece somewhere, I repeat, somewhere on the video tape. Start looking!

Buttons:
So many buttons! Let's see what this one does... oops.

With the above reasons keeping me awake at night, I was glad to see the Flip video camera when it came on the market. An answer to all my problems...

Wires:
It has none, just a flip our USB connector, nothing to get lost or confused.

Power Chargers:
Again, it has none, it charges through the USB connector.

Video Tape:
Yup, you guessed it -- none. Students just press the red button and record, no tape to rewind. No lost footage.

Buttons:
Just click the red button!

I found the Flip video camera to be one of the best pieces of school technology that I have bought in the past few years. Talk about a headache reducer. Now I can focus on making great student videos.

The Flip video camera is not perfect; no zoom, no manual controls, etc. but for the work I do with students I'll take those few limitations over the great advantages that I have listed above.

If you want to see samples of my student's work, visit our website: http://www.hightechelementaryschool.com

Happy filming!