What I've Been Using Lately - ProPrompter

Awhile back, I wrote about a very handy web tool called CuePrompter that allowed you to type or paste text into a screen, and it would work just like a teleprompter on your computer screen, allowing the user to adjust the color, size, and speed of the text as it scrolled.  This handy tool transformed our classroom-produced videos and took us to a whole new level of "polished".

Last year, when we switched our 1:1 program to iPads, we would still use CuePrompter on the one spare laptop I had.  Students filmed with their iPads, but could still copy, paste, and read script from the laptop.  However, our laptops are getting pretty thin around these parts - the few spares we have are often in use elsewhere, and the fleet is not working too well.  But what we have coming out of our ears is iPads!  I have written before about how the iPads are posing new and interesting challenges to us to be able to find work-arounds to be able to do the same things we used to do on laptops.

The newest workaround is a great app we purchased called ProPrompter.  It works a lot like CuePrompter, but is NOT free.  ProPrompter is one of the more expensive apps we have purchased, but if you are at all like us, and create videos and multimedia frequently with your iPads, it is worth it! ProPrompter was developed by Bodelin Technologies, which is a professional teleprompter manufacturer.

ProPrompter is really simple to use.  In the Scripts menu, just push the plus button and paste in your script (one you wrote on the iPad, or one you emailed to yourself).  The settings button offers easy options for setting countdown, orientation, type of script, speed, colors, etc. It also has a handy remote feature - if someone nearby has a script in their ProPrompter app on their iPad, you can share scripts remotely.  This is handy if two students are working on a project together.

ProPrompter marks yet another successful workaround for our iPads - this time in the form of an app!

A real teleprompter - just like they use on the news!

How much do you hate to have students do quick skits, role plays, mock interviews, etc. (live or filmed) when your only options are to have them memorize the script, or read it from a piece of paper? I hate it A LOT! It takes all the hard work that has gone into the research and creativity and made it look chintzy, not well thought out, and unprepared.

Cue Prompter is a nice little web application where students can quite easily type scripts into the prompter (no registration necessary, just go and start using). They can set the size of the script, the speed at which it scrolls, and even the color - white print, black background or vice versa. It turns their computer into a professional teleprompter machine! It is great for programs and presentations, but I have been using the heck out of it for all things we video.

My geography class recently filmed some mock interviews about social issues in Canada. A lot of research and planning had to go into these, as well as careful script writing. Piling on a requirement to memorize the interview would have added an unnecessary difficulty. The students used Cue Prompter and had some very smooth looking interviews! They are starting to post these on their class blogs - check out some of the 8th grade blogs (right side of the page, scroll down a little) to see these "professional" interviews.

Any time you are having students present short monologues, presentations, mock interviews, or any other video projects, Cue Prompter erases a lot of speaking stress for students!