Periscope is a recently-released app from Twitter that allows you to live broadcast. What’s different about it in comparison to other digital tools for live broadcasting is that it lets you have a conversation with others viewing the live broadcast via ‘tweets’ (I don’t know the official name but when you watch a live broadcast on Periscope, you can type text in the ‘say something’ box and the text appears over the broadcast).

I’m currently playing around with Periscope for personal and professional use. Periscope has so many opportunities for schools. Here are some ideas:

Live broadcast major school events

Schools can live broadcast events like awards and carnivals. Parents, families and the community can watch these events live wherever they are.

Professional learning

This is where I think it’s the most exciting potential for Periscope for education. Learning from observing other teachers is one of the most valuable professional learning for teachers. However, a lot of the times it is restricted to observing colleagues at your own school. With Periscope, lessons can be live broadcasted. Multiple teachers can observe live online and ‘chat’ about the lesson via the text conversation feature of the app. The teacher being observed can then watch the saved video of this with the text conversation as feedback. This can also be used for pre-service teachers at university. They can watch a number of lessons back-to-back and have online conversations that is overlayed on the video.

There’s so much potential for Periscope in education. I can’t wait to see how teachers and schools use it. How are you and your school using Periscope?

Note: If you’re a teacher, please consult your Principal or education authority before using Periscope