iPad Teaching (Part 6): More Apps!

But wait...there's more...here's a selection of apps and things suggested in response to my last blog post (aka crowd-sourced):

1. Dartfish Easy Tag (iOS and Android) can be used to define actions or behaviors and then collect data during observations. Ask Heidi Bohler for more information!
2. Outsmart Invasive Species (iOS and Android) is a citizen science / crowd-sourcing app to help with invasive-species monitoring.
3. The Storehouse app (iOS only) looks great for visual storytelling with photos and videos (read a review on Co.DESIGN).
4. TouchCast (iOS or PC) allows you to create interactive videos with embedded web content - here's an example from MIT.

Finally, how about this 3-D laser scanner that mounts to your iPad - very cool!

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2463858,00.asp

iPad Teaching (Part 5): The End!

iPads (...replace iPad with your tablet of choice...) are great for teaching and learning. That being said, articles such as Making the iPad the Center of the Academic Experience or infographics such as iPad as the Teacher's Pet make the seem as though tablets (and their associated apps) are the solution for the ills of education today. Students, on the other hand, seem to view tablets as entertainment devices (according to a recent study at Ball State University). Still, there is good evidence that tablets can improve learning (here and here).

Here are a few cool things to do with a tablet (or smartphone):

1. Use your tablet as a document camera (aka Elmo).
2. Use your tablet/smartphone as a remote control for anything running inside Google Chrome, for example Google Presentations, Prezi, Slideshare, etc.) with de Mobo.
3. Screencasting with an iPad by recording your hand writing on the touchscreen.

Of course there is much for, for example 40 Android Apps for Teaching and Learning, iPad Apps for the Classroom, and Teaching with iPad (by Apple).

Finally: how about storytelling with the Connection Storymaker App (available for iOS and Android)?

iPad Teaching (Part 4): Making Connections!

This should be simple in the 21st century: How can I connect my iPad to the classroom projector? Well, there is no simple and free solution here.

1. You can place your tablet under the document camera (if available).
2. Hardware adapters work reasonably well (see picture below), but keep you tethered to the podium computer.
3. Wireless Adapter = Apple TV and AirPlay. This works great if you are will to carry around your Apple TV box.
4. Apps such as Reflector, AirServer, etc. These apps cost money and have to be installed every podium computer

More information from Tony Vincent @ Learning in Hand (including this great summary chart) or from the folks at NCS EdTech News.

iPad projected in Bates 22 using a hardware adapter

iPad Teaching (Part 3): Screencasting and Whiteboard Apps

The idea is simple: capture everything you do on the screen, plus your voice, and package it all into a format that you can use in-class or share with your students via Google Drive, a website, or a CMS like PLATO. An example of that for a PC or Mac would be Jing by TechSmith and here are four apps for the iPad:

1. Educreations is free and provides a hosting service for your creations. Here is a nice demo/tutorial video (6:15 minutes).
2. Explain Everything is $2.99, offers more capabilities, and is available for iOS, Android, and Windows. Here is a nice demo/tutorial video (5:27 minutes).
3. Doceri gets excellent reviews and is available for iOS and Windows 8 tablets.
4. Show Me is similar to Doceri and creates 'videos' that are shared online. Here is a nice demo/tutorial video (7:14 minutes).

Profhacker has a nice review and comparison of Educreations and Explain Everything.

In my experience all four apps work just fine IF you upload your finished screencasts to the cloud and use them the same way you would use any prepackaged online content. It would be much more interesting to use these apps combined with the iPad touchscreen 'live' in-class, but there is a problem: how do you connect your iPad to the classroom projector? More about that next week!

Educreations

iPad Teaching (Part 2): Attendance and Grading

Buying apps might not be something you are willing to do...but here are two apps to consider:

Attendance 2 ($4.99) is very popular and why not: if you a) take attendance and b) have an iPad then c) why not use the iPad for taking attendance! Read more about it over on Profhacker.

Going a step further is GradeBook Pro ($9.99) - a very popular classroom management app to keep track of student assessments. Read more about it over on Profhacker or here.

iPad Teaching (Part 1): Paperless Grading

You have a tablet, you have some type of cloud-based file storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and now all you need are some apps to start paperless grading while at your favorite coffee shop.

iAnnotate seems to be a popular choice for annotating PDFs (or MS Word, MS PPT, images, etc.) and syncs with Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. so you don’t have to download any files to your tablet. The Stamp feature is especially useful and you can create your own Stamps such as Example! Details!

• Using iAnnotate as a Grading Tool (ProfHacker)
• iAnnotate in a Composition Class
• Making the Most of iAnnotate on the iPad (ProfHacker)
• Mark Up PDFs on Your iPad: iAnnotate PDF (ProfHacker)

Then there is PDF Expert and GoodReader and the usual my-app-is-better-than-your-app debates. I'm still intrigued by nota bene from the folks at MIT = a tool for web-based collaborative annotations!


A Guided Tour of NB from Sacha Zyto on Vimeo.