EdCompBlog

iPad Apps for Teachers: Note Taking

2013-06-18T00:44:00.000+01:00

I was asked recently to recommend some iPad apps fpr teachers. It was suggested I aim for five or six apps but I git a bit carried away and suggested umpteen instead. I thought it was worth reproducing in this blog to see if anyone disagreed with my choices or if they had any to add that I missed.

Teacher's Desk, a photo by mortsan on Flickr.

The list was divided into six sections, so I'll do this over six blog posts. The first category was note taking.

Note Taking

Keynote:
Both for teachers presenting but also as a great tool for pupils to communicate their knowledge and understanding using text, graphics video etc.

Notes Plus:
I would go for this rather than Pages. You can word process on the iPad with Pages but I think that is not the iPad's main strength. The iPad is an ideal tool for note taking though and Notes Plus is a package that I’ve used and find impressive. There is an in-app upgrade to add handwriting recognition but I’ve never done this so don’t know if it is any good!

uPad:
An alternative to Notes Plus. I have never used this app but I saw a friend use it to take notes at a conference and it looked impressive. Pulling in screen shots and webpages to annotate as well as adding handwritten notes to pdf documents.

PDF Expert:
Annotate on multi-page pdfs. Good synchronisation with a variety of cloud storage services means you don’t end up with one version on your iPad a a different version on your desktop.

PDF Printer:
Converts other documents to pdfs. Good companion program for PDF Expert and other similar note taking apps.

Evernote:
Syncs across multiple devices including desktops. Variety of note types supported. Limited Optical Character Recognition supported (e.g. photograph a business card and Evernote can extract the contact details so you can copy them into your contacts list).

So, what do you think? Is there anything obvious I've missed? Is there anything I've listed that doesn't deserve to be there?

Fun On Friday #163: What's cooler than Spock in an advert?

2013-06-15T21:56:00.000+01:00

...Two Spocks in an advert.

I would apologise for featuring two Star Trek related Fun on Friday's in a row but this advert was too good to put off for another week.

Fun On Friday #162: You as a Star Trek figure

2013-06-09T01:11:00.001+01:00

It's been a long time since my last Fun on Friday but I hope you agree this one has been worth the wait.

Send in a couple of photos of yourself and Cubify will print a 3D figure of you as a character from either Star Trek: The Next Generation; Voyager; or Deep Space 9. How cool is that?

For more details see the Star Trek website, which is where I stole this picture:

And it costs less than $70. Well, a bit out my justifiable price range at the moment... but I can dream!

TMTablet - Moving to 1:1

2013-06-04T19:54:00.002+01:00

Mark Cunningham - Moving to 1:1 - what we did, we learned

Moved 1:1 with android tablets for all first years in 2012-13. Rolling out to new first year next session.

What has changed? Lots of little things that in themselves don't justify the cost but put together... For example, taking a photograph with the tablet then drawing from it, or building pyramids in World of Warcraft when learning about Egyptians.

There has been a growing sense of the positive impact that it has had. Staff are using the hashtag #fhs1to1 {I think!} to share what they are doing.

Introducing to S3 because they think it will be easier to integrate - in S1 there are too many single period classes and harder to really embed goo practice.

TMTablet - Games design on the iPad

2013-06-04T19:44:00.003+01:00

Ross Gibson - Computer programming and games design on the iPad

Some great apps for introducing programming. {Missed the first couple and will add later}

Daisy The Dinosaur: Sequences and interaction.

Hopscotch: Like Scratch but for the iPad.

Sketch Nation: Computer game creator. Ross had primary 1 children creating games with this app! Create a game in three minutes. Good for talking and listening stuff too.

2013-06-04T18:50:00.000+01:00

John Cochrane - iBooks, what's all the fuss about?

Started by confessing he was a Science teacher and therefore, by definition, a "geek". But he also said that he was entirely self taught and that all he was going to show was easily achievable.

He started with a demonstration of iBooks and showed how easy it was to create interactive textbooks, how they can save a fortune on photocopying! But also how much the interactive elements (such as videos and quizzes) add.

Demonstrated

TMTablet - Introduction to iTunes U

2013-06-04T18:38:00.002+01:00

Fraser Speirs - Introduction to iTunes U

Fraser says that last year, they moved all their secondary subjects onto using iTunesU; but just private courses, as yet, they are only sharing a few things.

Talked about how you can deliver materials, such as movies, but that the key to a course is the posts feature. Posts are used to collate assignments, materials etc.

TeachMeet Tablet - Using the iPad to support Learners with Additional Support Needs

2013-06-04T18:28:00.001+01:00

Craig Mill - Using the iPad to support Learners with Additional Support Needs
{Live capture but with later edits and additions.}

Craig Mill - CALL Centre Edinburgh
CC 2013 by-nc-sa
Photo by David Muir

Seven ideas in seven minutes. A whistle-stop tour through how the iPad supports learners with additional support needs.

Talked first about CALL Centre and some of the resources they make available, for example, iPads for Communication Access Literacy and Learning, a free downloadable eBook. A new eBook for supporting children with dyslexia on its way.

Safari browser on iPad has a Reader button to make the text of a page easier to access, as Craig said, “It unclutters it all”. When using Reader, you can change the font size as well as access all the built in iPad tools such as define, copy, speak etc.

Other built in tools make the iPad a great device for pupils with Additional Support Needs. Shortcut to accessibility functions is to triple click on the home button. He demonstrated VoiceOver with a screen curtain on. VoiceOver has transformed the lives of many visually impaired people. He also demonstrated the zoom feature. Assistive Touch makes the volume controls, screenshots, and gestures such as pinch can be made accessible. There are also a growing number of accessories, such as wheelchair mounts, keyboard guards, mouth sticks, switch access tools, etc.

As he ran out of time, he switched to demonstrating, and saying a brief word about, a range of apps. These included:

Burp and Fart Piano: encourages interaction. A great tool for getting children engaged. (Also available for Android and online.)
Gravitarium: encourages children to interact.
ClaroSpeak: with word prediction and customised lexicon.
Clicker Docs and Clicker Sentences: is also available for the iPad. Word banks, text to speech, pictures...
Pocket Phonics: for young readers – encourages the sounds to sad and letter shapes to be traced.
Voice Dream and Voice Dream Lite: text to speech, highlight areas and more.

…And more that I probably missed!

Watch the unedited video of TeachMeet - Craig's section runs from about 12:00 to 22:00. (A ten minute mega presentation!)

IPad Academy

2013-03-22T13:05:00.001Z

Steve Molyneux (iPad Academy CEO)

student_ipad_school - 233, a photo
by flickingerbrad on Flickr.

Started with a history of education. Argued that the industrialised model of education was about automating rather than innovating. He says we are now in the age of the individual with mobile and personal devices. Need to move beyond just automating what has gone before.

Mobile devices are taking over. {From earlier session, Edinburgh predict there will be more mobile devices than PCs in schools by Christmas 2013.} What is preventing use of mobile devices in schools? Partly fear. We want to know we can control. We also want to know they can access and make use of appropriate content.

Do we (as teachers) need to understand the technology in order for children to use it to learn? Sugata Mitra's Hole in The Wall work suggests not necessarily.

Duality equation: ((r+c)/x)t=innovation
Means research plus collaboration when interpreted by a person over time leads to innovation.
In education, it tends not to be called "innovation" - rather. it is called "cheating".

Guttenberg 1.0 - it's just a sheet of paper. But it's what you do with it that makes a difference. Do we write music on it? Do we make an origami model? Do we write an essay...?

Guttenberg 2.0 - it's just a sheet of glass. But how do we use it? Don't look for apps to teach reading. You're a teacher - look for a game and see how you can use that. {Reminded me of Tim Ryland using Myst.}

How do we enhance learner experience and increase learner engagement at the same time? Need to do more than replace existing methods. Move from Exchange, to Enrich, to enhance, to extend and finally empower. Should aim to empower learners - allow the user to not just consume content but to create and distribute it. The tipping point, where things really change is when we change our teaching and start to extend the learning. In the SAMR model, it's at the Modification stage, when we start to do new things, things that couldn't be done before that the tipping point happens.

Examples given of using mind map to plan essay, ComicLife to storyboard. Best example was an eighty-four year old Latin teacher who found an entertainment app that allows you to take a picture and make it into a postcard. {This app perhaps? --DDM} Pupils might be told they were a soldier on Hadrian's Wall and were writing a letter home - had to find picture and create a stamp with the right emperor as well as write in Latin.

Digital story telling. For example, create an eBook after a field trip where audio and video are embedded. Web links are also easy to create. I Can Animate used to animate - example shown was the Calypso video. Or creating a trailer using iMovie - example given was where the classroom was flipped and the children researched the Great Fire and then am a film trailer about it.

GreenScreen FX lets you do chroma key in real time. Mixing technologies - using QR Codes. Every book in the library has two QR codes: one takes them to a blog where they write a review and one to a comprehension test.

Also trialled screen-recorder to highlight and comment on pupils work on the iPad. Pupils we happy for the video marking to be shared with the class. {Used Explain Everything... I think. -- DDM}

NearPod app let's you share a presentation to individual devices rather than to a screen. Software alerts teacher when pupil goes off topic. Can share pupils work/answer.

Mobile platforms are on the rise. Like a high speed train: some are on board, some a on station platforms and will board train soon but some are on the tracks and will be hit!

Need to re-engineer education. Need to give pupils the skills that will let them enhance their learning. Provide a learning environment that matches the functionality of their social environment.

Needs a paradigm shift in classroom practice.

Need to use the tool appropriately.

How do you manage the change?
Need vision to avoid confusion.
Need skills to avoid anxiety.
Need incentives to avoid resistance.
Need resources to avoid frustration.
Need planning to avoid chaos.

Guttenberg 2.0 - Just getting started!

Professional Development

2013-03-22T12:01:00.001Z

Gillian Penny - Apple Professional Development

Teacher Development in a Post PC Era

Buying the technology is the easy part. Making a difference to pupil education is tricky!

Apple are keen that good use is made of their technology so they have developed material. Hands on workshops that address school needs. Designed to enable educators to transform teaching and learning. Taught by educators not sales team.

Three pillars: pedagogy; content; and technology - the technology shouldn't be bolted on or added extra but part of the process.

Professional Development will be negotiated and personalised for schools by educators. Some money from iPad sales is given to support this education process.

CALL Centre

2013-03-22T11:17:00.001Z

Paul Nisbet described how CALL centre and SFL more generally have made use of 1:1 technology for years.

Challenge1:

A photo by nikkorsnapper on Flickr.

Pointed out that there are issues about getting access to electronic versions of Scottish text books. Gave the example of a boy who could not access textbooks and they discovered he needed 28 textbooks but none were available electronically. By approaching publishers, they were able to get electronic versions of seven. The rest they had to scan. Of the list of Scottish texts identified for English, none were available electronically.

Challenge 2: Training
What do newly qualified teachers identify as their biggest needs? Number 1 is ICT and number 3 is SFL!

Challenge 3: Accessible ICT
In general, using school equipment is made very difficult because they can't even do something as basic as adjusting the mouse speed because the control panel is locked down. Basics such as text to speech with a Scottish voice (free to schools) is missing. Getting specialist software installed is very difficult.

Challenge 4: Difference
Quality of work is clearly better but pupils may choose not to use because they don't want to be seen as different. For example, in some schools the AlphaSmart device has been re-christened the AlphaThick.

Use of 1:1 devices such as iPads help. They are considered cool. They can be personalised. They are a practical solution - small, light and easy to use. (Apparently iPhone is the most popular smartphone with the visually impaired because can be accessed using the built in tools.) Built in camera and microphone provides great opportunities - especially when we look at a broader definition of literacy.

Less difference - More inclusion.

For SLF, the iPad is a low cost solution - especially with Procurement Scotland prices. ReadWrite Gold for iPad is relatively cheap compared to PC version.

If all students are all using digital resources, more likely that the materials will become available in digital format.

The pace of technological change does cause problems. How do you recommend the best solution when that technology changes on a daily basis. Although 1:1 makes many things easier, there are still accessibility problems and so one size does not fit all and you can easily find yourself back in creating differences.

Edinburgh Digital Learning Team

2013-03-22T10:39:00.001Z

Jenni Robertson talked about what they did to support the development and deployment of 1:1 model. They set up a blog, Digital Learning Team, to support teachers in the authority. Some great videos (created with VideoScribe) for example: The getting to know the iPad series.

Promote SAMR Model to show enhancement rather than just replace old ways.

{Jenni was hugely enthusiastic, very knowledgable and the blog is a great resource! Really annoyed that I didn't take more notes because this was a really good session. Not sure why I didn't. I guess I was enjoying it too much. -- DDM}

Developing Teachers in a Post PC Era

2013-03-22T10:21:00.001Z

Anna Love - Apple

The future of books, a photo
by Johan Larsson on Flickr.

Technology and education - the technology supports and underpins, it's not the focus

2009 - 8.5 million people using mobile technology. By 2011 - 17.6 million mobile users.

Internet use on phone 44% to77% from 2010 to 2011
{May have got years wrong but think percentages are right. -- DDM}

"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow"

-- John Dewey

Enabling personalised learning. Children want instant information. Can be more self-directed. Can develop Independent learning. Students need to be able to personalise and take ownership of material. They live in a connected world.

As educators we need to consider the devices, the content and the personalisation. Devices exist and pupils are already using. ITunesU and iBooks already make vast quantities of content available for free. How do we construct courses? How do we enable learners to benefit from this content? How do we personalise it to their needs?

It is all about excellent learning and teaching.

All sorts of positive benefits can accrue. For example, device deployment can lead to closer home/school links. Schools can add content to iTunesU.

Fun On Friday #161: Awkward Family Photos

2013-02-01T22:13:00.000Z

Having just acquired a new camera (see some photos here) I hope I don't take too many like this:

Family Photo, Anchorage, AK,
a photo by djwudi on Flickr.

Find many (many, many!) more on the Awkward Family Photographs site. A quick browse through gives some excellent examples of what not to do! I think my favourite out of the recent entries is Take Me Higher 2. The chap at the back is outstanding!

What about you? Do you have a favourite?

Is there anything to learn from these photos? Attention to detail for one. Looking at the whole frame, not just the bit in the middle for another. And, most importantly, don't take yourself too seriously!

Fun On Friday #160: Diplomacy

2013-01-25T23:40:00.000Z

I like the game board Diplomacy but I don't think I've played it since I was at university. Maybe one day, when I'm not as busy or exhausted, I'll give the world of online Diplomacy a go.

Diplomacy: Game 1 - Round 1, a photo
by condredge on Flickr.

Looks like fun.

If you have never played Diplomacy, it is an interesting game. Superficially, it looks like the world domination game Risk but unlike Risk, no dice are involved. In theory, therefore, no luck is involved in the outcome. The way it works is that superior numbers always wins.

The problem is that at the start of the game, no one player has enough power on their own to go head to head with the other player. If you want to win, you have to form alliances (hence the name of the game - Diplomacy). The problem is of course that if you want to win, you will have to break the alliance at some point and strike out on your own. If you break to early, you may not have amassed enough personal power to make it on your own. If you break too late, you run the risk of someone else in your alliance stabbing you in the back and leaving you alone and vulnerable. See the Diplomacy Wikipedia entry for more details.

As I say, a fun game... for a given definition of "fun".

Computer News Week Ending 11 January 2013

2013-01-15T21:05:00.000Z

The seniors are on exam leave for prelims but I though the third years still deserved a Computer News spot. So here it is: lumpy flat-screens!

At least one girl was unimpressed with this but I thought it was a really interesting idea. I love using my iPad but would love to try entering text with a tactile, on-screen keyboard like this one from Tactus. The only problem from a teaching point-of-view is that it may make it possible to send texts while the phone is in your pocket again.

As before, there are some brief speakers notes which you can see if you click the wee cogwheel icon in the presentation.

What do you think? Better way to type on a flat screen or useless gimmick that will never take of?

Better late than never...

2013-01-09T20:21:00.001Z

Three and a half years ago, I wrote about a folding plug: Fun on Friday #36: Build a better mousetrap...

Finally, I saw it on sale, or at least the USB charger version is on sale at Firebox. Excellent! So, when do I get my jet pack?

Fun On Friday #159: Christmas Game

2012-12-23T00:10:00.000Z

Thanks to one of my fifth year pupils for introducing me to this game: Snowline

Though, it has to be said, the fifth years were powned by a second year pupil who managed to complete the game in a 40 minute period. (The fifth years only got as far as the second last puzzle!)

And if you finish Snowline, try Snowline 2.

Computer News

2012-12-21T00:43:00.000Z

My friend Mags told me ages ago that she had started a weekly computer news spot with her classes and that the pupils enjoyed it so much that they started creating their own news spots when Mags didn't have time to prepare them herself. I always liked the idea, so I stole it... and I've been delivering a weekly news spot to my senior classes all this year.

Each week, I have put together a four slide presentation on an item of news that caught my eye, and after I've shown it to my classes, I've been printing it out and posting the pages on the wall outside my classroom. I was pleased one day to overhear a second year pupils saying to his neighbour that he'd forgotten to read the computer news.

For some time though, I've been meaning to publish the presentations online... And at last, I got around to doing so:

If you click on the Options icon (looks like a little cogwheel) and choose "Open speaker notes" you will be able to see more information about the topic.

I made the mistake, at first, of starting the lesson with the computer news but I found it was getting longer and longer each week as the pupils realised they could keep me going for ages by asking questions and making comments. So now, I end the lesson with it instead!

So far, it seems to be going well. I enjoy picking the topics and putting it together and recently, the pupils have started suggesting topics themselves.

What do you think? A worthwhile exercise or a waste of time for all concerned?

Fun On Friday #158: Christmas Flash Mob

2012-12-14T23:39:00.001Z

How brave is the woman who starts this?

Brilliant!

Strathclyde Christmas Lecture

2012-12-13T01:02:00.004Z

Raspberry Pi and Aduino: Pioneers of Open Hardware
Duncan Smeed - University of Strathclyde

{Live capture of Christmas lecture}

Computers of Christmas Past

Duncan Smeed's first experience of computers was as an undergraduate using the university's mainframe computer but the Rapberry Pi is now powerful enough to emulate those mainframes. His first home computer was the Dragon 32 and he recommended looking at The Register's history of the Dragon 32.

Also talked about the first British laptop - The Liberator - which was designed for the Civil Service.

Christmas Present

It was suggested that Luxor Jr from Pixar was a major influence on current computing - inspiring and showing what was possible. For example, it inspired projects such as Lamp which is a physical computing student project:

This project is possible thanks to Open Source Software and Hardware.

CERN have adopted an Open Source Hardware approach, so that anything they develop can be built and developed by others. The Arduino Uno is another example of Open Hardware. Anyone can download the diagrams etc. and build their own. More generally, Open Design is building items, not just computer using open source philosophy See for example the RepRap 3D printer project and various cases for the Raspberry Pi.

Raspberry Pi Foundation was set up by academics who re-mortgaged their homes to set up it up. It has been hugely successful and they are on track to sell over one million Raspberry Pi devices by the end of the year. The Raspberry Pi is over 3000 times more powerful than the Dragon 32 from the 1980s and is significantly cheaper: £30 compared to approximately £800 at today's prices. The increase in power puts it on the right place on the Moore's Law curve.

An aspect of Open Source projects is the communities that support them. With the Raspberry Pi, there are: the official forums; user generated wikis; the suppliers (Farnell and RSS) provide information; user generated videos; and magazines (MagPi magazine sought funding through Kickstarter and now has more than enough backers and money to produce a print run of the magazine). There are a number of user generated SD Card images that have been developed so you can use the Rasperry Pi as a media centre.

Some examples of student projects were shown. For example: a key safe that only opens if you pass a breathalyser test; T-Shirt message display system; robot laser tag game.

Christmas Future

Chris Anderson and the Maker Movement. "Hardware is the new software!" See for example, FabLab.

Open Software, Open Hardware... Open Learner - get involved!

Example video of Raspberry Pi in the MAME cabinet. University of Manchester have a Raspberry Pi Bake Off.

Various YouTube videos can be found on Raspberry Pi projects.

Landfillharmonic

2012-12-10T23:03:00.000Z

Not my usual style of music but I felt I had to share this:

Stunning!

Cross-posted to Feedback.

Fun On Friday #157: The Tache-on

2012-12-07T22:33:00.000Z

This may be my last Tache related post of 2012. Rather than mess about with all that waiting for hair to grow nonsense, I think I might use the Tache-on next year. The results were quite impressive:

The donation page is still open, so it's not too late to give to male cancer charities.

Into Darkness

2012-12-06T22:16:00.002Z

Oooohhhh yes!

But how long until the release date!?

Fun On Friday #156: The End Of The Mo

2012-12-01T16:30:00.001Z

Thirty days... and it's time for the mo to go. Here then are the edited highlights:

It's not too late to donate to Movember. And not that I want to be grumpy... but Internet chums (with two honourable exceptions) have been conspicuous by their online giving absence, so get clicking and get giving!