Before coming to Owl Labs, I worked as a high school science teacher and an instructional technology coach. I got to see first-hand how students in the classroom happily named and interacted with their teacher’s Owl device like it was a real being. 

The Meeting Owl Pro brought smiles to high schoolers when it hooted during boot-up at the start of the day. Elementary students referred to their teacher’s Owls with endearing names like “Fred” and “Mr. Hoots-a-lot” and would even place a decorative name tag on their Owl to make sure everyone knew its name. Middle schoolers pretended to be too cool to care about the Owl, but their true feelings were exposed if the teacher dared to forget to connect their Owl at the start of class. 

In uncertain times during the pandemic, the Owl brought levity to classrooms, as well as giving at-home students a more inviting atmosphere for their remote learning experience. As the 2020-2021 school year came to a close, one item on the to-do list was saying goodbye to our Owl friends. They were boxed up, inventoried, and placed in their designated spot in the technology closet.

Although Owls may continue to be used to connect students who can’t be in the classroom, there are so many additional untapped opportunities to leverage the Meeting Owl Pro in the day-to-day activities of schools. Whether your school bought 45 Owls that are languishing un-utilized, or whether you want to invest in a device that takes collaboration to the next level, here are some additional ideas for using the Owl in a post-pandemic K-12 classroom.

Lectures

Perhaps you are teaching a lesson about genetics and you want to invite a guest speaker to check off that real-world application requirement. Even though you are a small school in Ohio, with the Meeting Owl Pro, you can easily bring in a genetic counselor from California to speak with your class. When they enter your virtual classroom, the Owl can provide a much more immersive experience to all participants. It gives your guest a view of the whole room through its 360-degree panoramic strip. When a student has a question, the Owl’s camera will do the work to find and focus on that student in the room.

Clubs + Activities

Perhaps you are the advisor of the debate club and you want to practice with a local rival. Or maybe your art history club is quite small and would benefit from combining with the art history club at another school. Instead of bussing a whole team or a couple of students to another location, you can connect them with the Owl. You could even turn on the Presenter Enhance feature so that if one of the members is presenting, the Owl’s camera will follow them around the room.

Classroom Collaboration

Perhaps your middle school class is writing children’s books and at the end of the unit, you’d like your students to read their creations aloud to an elementary classroom. With Meeting Owls in both rooms, your students can take turns reading their books aloud to their younger peers. Even if the reader is a bit more soft-spoken, the Meeting Owl’s sensitive microphones will be able to pick them up!

Meetings

Perhaps you are sitting in on an IEP (Individualized Education Program) meeting for one of your students and some stakeholders for the meeting cannot be there in person. The Owl will ensure that the remote participant has a figurative seat at the table and that their voice is valued and heard. The Owl works with whatever video conferencing platform that you and your school are already familiar with, so there is no time spent with confusing new setup procedures.  

Study Groups

Perhaps you have a group of self-motivated students who have formed their own after-school study group and want to collaborate with others outside their school. With the Owl’s plug-and-play nature, any student can easily plug it into their own laptop and take advantage of the Owl’s unique features. Just make the Owl available to borrow, and these ambitious students can find even more ways to collaborate without additional assistance. 

These ideas are only the beginning of how the Owl can fit into the day-to-day life of your school. Teachers have had to endure so much over the past couple of years and hopefully, these suggestions help to refuel your creativity. May your Owls take flight and be so much more than just cute paperweights!