Below are links to websites and blogs I look at regularly to update apps and other information on the iPads:
iPad News Updates
http://www.ipadnewsupdates.com/
Contains the latest information about the iPads. Includes tips and tricks as well as updates for the iPad.
iTunes Store: Top Free Apps
http://www.itunes.com
Recommends an app for education daily.
Mobile iEducator
http://mobileieducator.com/
Not all posts have to do with the iPad, but lots of app reviews and uses for different apps.
App Sites for Schools
Apps categorized by function:
http://ipadschools.wikispaces.com/
Apps for high schools:
http://palmbeachschooltalk.com/groups/ipadpilot/wiki/70925/High_School_iPad_Apps.html
Apps categorized by subject area:
http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/Grade+9-12+Apps
Applying apps to activities in your classroom:
http://www.apptivities.org/
Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Spring Break March 14-18
Our Spring Break was March 14-18, I will continue posting when we come back.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Our first Paid Apps!!!
So excited, last week we were able to purchase apps from the app store for the first time. After going through the painfully excruciating process of being a part of the volume purchasing program for education, it has finally paid off!
The Process
The process could not be easier. I send a list of apps we would like to our tech director.
He purchases them through our district volume account.
He sends me the link for the purchased app.
I click the link.
It opens up a window in iTunes.
I enter my account password.
The app is downloaded into my iTunes Library.
For more about the volume purchasing program check out this link
http://www.apple.com/itunes/education/
AND THE BEST PART IS...
All apps purchased through this program (if you buy 20 or more copies of each) are 50% off!!!
To read more about this check out this link or go to the Apple website
http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2011/02/volume-purchase-program-50-off-apps-for.html
The Process
The process could not be easier. I send a list of apps we would like to our tech director.
He purchases them through our district volume account.
He sends me the link for the purchased app.
I click the link.
It opens up a window in iTunes.
I enter my account password.
The app is downloaded into my iTunes Library.
For more about the volume purchasing program check out this link
http://www.apple.com/itunes/education/
AND THE BEST PART IS...
All apps purchased through this program (if you buy 20 or more copies of each) are 50% off!!!
To read more about this check out this link or go to the Apple website
http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2011/02/volume-purchase-program-50-off-apps-for.html
My Top Ten Apps
So as I promised, here are a list of the Top Ten Apps for our uses. Some are subject specific and some are reference tools.
Idea Sketch
A mindmapping tool. You can email final products to yourself for viewing and printing. A great way to organize your thoughts for any assignment.
A mindmapping tool. You can email final products to yourself for viewing and printing. A great way to organize your thoughts for any assignment.
Google Earth
What more can I say, great for Geography, Google Lit Trips in English, and even math when measuring distances.The Constitution for iPad
We use this in debate for researching Supreme Court cases as well as in Government.
Lit Charts: To Kill a Mockingbird
These are great and available for many other books as well. Provides themes, summaries, character sketches, entire book by chapter, and lots of other things all in one place.
Flashcardlet
Uses Quizlet flashcards you create or that are already created to study particular subject areas.Collins Math: Algebra
Provides an overview of every topic covered in Algebra I. Includes practice problems, video solutions and tutorials, as well as step by step instructions.
Shakespeare in Bits: Romeo in Juliet
Also available in other Shakespeare plays. My absolute favorite!!! Provides entire text, modern translation, video of the play, one tap conversion of phrases to modern english, themes, quotes, summaries, and lots more!
Also available in other Shakespeare plays. My absolute favorite!!! Provides entire text, modern translation, video of the play, one tap conversion of phrases to modern english, themes, quotes, summaries, and lots more!Google
Provides easy access to all the Google applications you use daily, such as Google searches, Docs, Blogger, Reader, etc
Access My School Library
Amazing, access to all the Gale databases in one spot. Login in with your school information once, and it is always remembered. Great resource for "reliable" sources.Animoto
Just like the website only the app version. Make great, professional looking movies from your iPad anytime for free, just login to your account.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Response to Blog (What tools are essential)
On the Educational Origami Blog, there is a post discussing iPad, iPod, iPhone, and iEducation. In this post the writer discusses what he would place on his class set of iPads.
Once big difference here is that he has a class set of iPads. What I have, is a rotating set. That means each student does not have one iPad assigned just for him/her. I think this makes a big difference when purcahasing. You have to realize there will be 350 students using these 30 iPads. They cannot save their work, because the next user could easily erase it.
With that being said, here is the list he reported and what I have to say about it:
Pages, Keynotes, and Numbers -- these are the comparable pieces to Word, Excel, and Power Point. Because we have 3 other computer labs, I don't see these as a necessity (plus at $9.99 a pop per iPad, it can really add up!) When students need to do these tasks teachers just sign up to use the computer labs instead. I think the iPads are fairly hard to key on anyway and they encourage bad typing habits, so for these types of activities I think we will stick to computers!
iThoughts HD (mindmapping tool) -- while this may be awesome, I have never used it, again it is $9.99 per app. There are plenty of other ind mapping tools out there that can be used that are less expensive, and in some cases, free. The one we use with our iPads is Idea Sketch , and it is free.
Adobe Photoshop Express (image editor) -- This is a free app. I have not looked into a photo editing app, but with a reputation like Adobe has, I am sure it is the best of the best. We don't do a ton of photo editing, so I had not gotten this far in looking at apps, but I am putting it on my add list as we speak.
Good Reader (file management tool) -- THis app looks awesome, and would be great if each students had thier own iPad and could save and keep what they did. However this is not the case for us. That being said, I am going to look into this app, becuase I am sure you can email work to yourself, this may be a way around that problem.
Comic Strip CS -- This is a pretty cool app and would be nice to have, but not a necessity. It is only$0.99, so it would not be a huge monetary investment. The only thing I see about this is taht there are so many free comic strip makers online that you can use. However students definitely prefer to use the iPads, so it may be worth looking into.
Video Editor -- We do not have a video editor yet, again, we don't do a lot of video, but when we do we use Flip Cams. Since the iPads haev no USB port, it is easier to import the video onto a laptop. I am sure it would be great to edit video using the iPads though, just not feasible for us right now.
iTranslate -- This is one we do have and use frequently. It is an easy to use translator, that translates into or from whatever language you choose.
Google Earth -- FANTASTIC!!! We use this all the time for Geography class, as well as other classes. Great FREE app.
Audio Notes -- Again since everyone does not have their own iPad, we don't have a huge need for a note taking tool.
Projector -- not really sure what it does or how we would use it, plus it is$29.99 per app!
Skype -- This is a great tool. Would be even better if the iPad had a camera, if only we could have waited! (iPad 2 coming out in April is supposed to have 2 cameras!)
Extras:
Definitely agree with the need for headphones for each iPad. We have 30 and could not survive without them.
Would be nice to have USB adaptors for importing video, will look into this, wouldn't need 30, we only have 7 cameras.
SD card adaptor, we have one, but I haven't needed to use it yet, it is sometimes easier just to email.
While I don't have a need for a lot oft he tools mentioned, I am sure if we had classroom sets, or a 1 to 1 initiative I would feel differently about this. We would be using them everyday for every task; note taking, sharing files, typing, creating presentations, etc. Right now we are just using them as a tool to enhance what we are already doing. Every teacher probably gets the set about once every 2 weeks:(
I will follow up with a list of my own, what I feel are the most essential apps for our purposes.
Once big difference here is that he has a class set of iPads. What I have, is a rotating set. That means each student does not have one iPad assigned just for him/her. I think this makes a big difference when purcahasing. You have to realize there will be 350 students using these 30 iPads. They cannot save their work, because the next user could easily erase it.
With that being said, here is the list he reported and what I have to say about it:
Pages, Keynotes, and Numbers -- these are the comparable pieces to Word, Excel, and Power Point. Because we have 3 other computer labs, I don't see these as a necessity (plus at $9.99 a pop per iPad, it can really add up!) When students need to do these tasks teachers just sign up to use the computer labs instead. I think the iPads are fairly hard to key on anyway and they encourage bad typing habits, so for these types of activities I think we will stick to computers!
iThoughts HD (mindmapping tool) -- while this may be awesome, I have never used it, again it is $9.99 per app. There are plenty of other ind mapping tools out there that can be used that are less expensive, and in some cases, free. The one we use with our iPads is Idea Sketch , and it is free.
Adobe Photoshop Express (image editor) -- This is a free app. I have not looked into a photo editing app, but with a reputation like Adobe has, I am sure it is the best of the best. We don't do a ton of photo editing, so I had not gotten this far in looking at apps, but I am putting it on my add list as we speak.
Good Reader (file management tool) -- THis app looks awesome, and would be great if each students had thier own iPad and could save and keep what they did. However this is not the case for us. That being said, I am going to look into this app, becuase I am sure you can email work to yourself, this may be a way around that problem.
Comic Strip CS -- This is a pretty cool app and would be nice to have, but not a necessity. It is only$0.99, so it would not be a huge monetary investment. The only thing I see about this is taht there are so many free comic strip makers online that you can use. However students definitely prefer to use the iPads, so it may be worth looking into.
Video Editor -- We do not have a video editor yet, again, we don't do a lot of video, but when we do we use Flip Cams. Since the iPads haev no USB port, it is easier to import the video onto a laptop. I am sure it would be great to edit video using the iPads though, just not feasible for us right now.
iTranslate -- This is one we do have and use frequently. It is an easy to use translator, that translates into or from whatever language you choose.
Google Earth -- FANTASTIC!!! We use this all the time for Geography class, as well as other classes. Great FREE app.
Audio Notes -- Again since everyone does not have their own iPad, we don't have a huge need for a note taking tool.
Projector -- not really sure what it does or how we would use it, plus it is$29.99 per app!
Skype -- This is a great tool. Would be even better if the iPad had a camera, if only we could have waited! (iPad 2 coming out in April is supposed to have 2 cameras!)
Extras:
Definitely agree with the need for headphones for each iPad. We have 30 and could not survive without them.
Would be nice to have USB adaptors for importing video, will look into this, wouldn't need 30, we only have 7 cameras.
SD card adaptor, we have one, but I haven't needed to use it yet, it is sometimes easier just to email.
While I don't have a need for a lot oft he tools mentioned, I am sure if we had classroom sets, or a 1 to 1 initiative I would feel differently about this. We would be using them everyday for every task; note taking, sharing files, typing, creating presentations, etc. Right now we are just using them as a tool to enhance what we are already doing. Every teacher probably gets the set about once every 2 weeks:(
I will follow up with a list of my own, what I feel are the most essential apps for our purposes.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Draw Cast Activity
So, my art teacher was looking for an activity to use the iPads with his students. He is beginning contour drawing. He took an iPad home every night for the last week looking for a way to do this. He came up with, what I think, is an awesome activity!Contour drawing is focusing on the lines in an object and drawing from that. The idea is that you can draw the object with one line, without picking up your pencil. As an intro activity to this he took a picture of a shoe and a hand.
In this program you can choose an image to be your background. The students go in and set the first picture to their background. They then choose their writing ustensil, its thickness and color, and begin to trace around the picture. They are only to draw the lines that they are seeing.
Here is an example:
You then take away the background and you should be left with a great contour drawing of a shoe.
For example (not sure how great it is!)
I thought this was really cool (I can't draw at all, but it really looks like a shoe!)
Students email their pictures to the teacher and that is their grade for the day.
Lesson with student teacher follow-up
This activity went pretty well. I was in and out of the room all day, because of other things going on in the building, but for the most part this lesson was a success. The biggest snag we had when doing this was students getting logged onto the internet (through the internet filters) so that they could use the program.
One thing that she did, that was different than when other teachers have used them, was that students who had not completed their homework were not allowed to use the iPad. I like this and I don't.
Should using the iPads be a priveledge or should it be something that all kids are expected to be able to use as a resource. I have trouble with both sides of this. I agree if you can't get your work done you should have to do it, but should we give them class time to do it? And are we letting them out of another assignment because they didn't get a chance to do the iPad activity? Therefore are we requiring more work of students who stay up to date with their work?
I am not sure the answers to these questions, but I think it is something to think about if we are planning on expanding our iPad curriculum in the future.
One thing that she did, that was different than when other teachers have used them, was that students who had not completed their homework were not allowed to use the iPad. I like this and I don't.
Should using the iPads be a priveledge or should it be something that all kids are expected to be able to use as a resource. I have trouble with both sides of this. I agree if you can't get your work done you should have to do it, but should we give them class time to do it? And are we letting them out of another assignment because they didn't get a chance to do the iPad activity? Therefore are we requiring more work of students who stay up to date with their work?
I am not sure the answers to these questions, but I think it is something to think about if we are planning on expanding our iPad curriculum in the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)