On my first page of the iPad - these are the apps that are the most used for production.
Notability - taking audio and written notes, can add photos, uses a built in whiteboard, can upload to Dropbox
Dropbox - files storage in the clouds somewhere that holds lots of files. Free and you can pay for more storage space or send invites to others and when they download the app, you get more free space. Excellent for students to save their Notabilty files to.
Evernote and Evernote Peek - great note taking apps and test review (Peek), has audio and internet access but is a bit more involved than Dropbox for storage. Limit on space and cuts you off if you go over it.
TypeDrawing - lets you type in words and lets you draw with those words. Can be saved to your photo album or emailed. Awesome app for those who need to see it to learn it.
Comic Life - allows students to create a comic strip for their projects. Great app for those who do not like to write but still want to do the project.
Pages - awesome app that have many formats for student written work. I showed you the brochure for our Experimental Science glass class.
Keynote, Keynote Remote - great presentation app (think PowerPoint on steroids). One key difference is that audio and video can be embedded so that you don't lose it when you migrate to another computer or flash drive. Remote lets your iPhone, touch or pad become a clicker or remote to advance your presentation.
Numbers - Apple's Excel only better
GarageBand - create, compose, and edit podcasts, original music, audio files, lessons and lectures. Awesome app!
iMovie - create original movies or import in from cameras or video.
Productivity box - I have a bunch under here that students sometimes use but I might use more than they do. Because they are not an every-day goto- I lump them into the box.
Whiteboard, Stickies, TouchDraw, Stopwatch, Dragon Dictation, Flipboard, Splashtop HD, Splashtop Whiteboard, Splashtop Browser.
Splashtop HD, Splashtop Whiteboard, Splashtop Browser. There was no time to show you these. Splashtop allows your iPad2 (won't work with iPad1) to access your laptop and become a slate. You can move around the room and manipulate your computer using your iPad2. The whiteboard allows you to write on your iPad2 and have it display on the projected image. Browser allows your iPad2 to annotate over whatever is displayed on your desktop's projected image. These are incredible!
2nd page of the iPad2 is for the learning games. Before I will download a game, it has to fit the needs of my students: help with reading, math, science or writing, be easy to play and educational, engage in critical thinking, not be too awful in the destruction area, and multi-curricular if possible. I have the following games: Pocket Frogs, Angry Birds, WordCrasher, BrainPop, Spore Creatures, Dino Rush, Scoops, Cut the Rope, Slice it!.
Also on the 2nd page: Dictionary, SketchBook Pro, iTunes, Videolicious, i-nigma, DocScan, Edmodo, Pocket Drums and Steelpan.
The 3rd page is more of my reference page. The following apps are on it: GoSkyWatchPro, Star Walk, NASA HD, Google Earth, EasyBib, RSA Vision, Today History, Math Ref, Kobo, nook, Kindle, iBooks, PeriodicTable, Memorix Periodic Table, Chemisty textbook, Dinosaurs (Smithsonian), Photo booth, Science@VL, TCT Lite, Elements, Molecules, Sparkvue, SMART Bridgit.
Most of these work on the interactive whiteboards. A few do not. The display is a product of how the developer wrote the app and most were written without thinking about how educators would use them. The developers are getting better and most are only an email away. We worked with TypeDrawing on a few items and several others were great to do update when needed. Just email them from the App store.
To get the apps on your computer - Mac's anyway - you will need to upgrade to 10.6 or better or to Lion. There is an App store app that will download and you can purchase computer versions for some of the items listed above. We have asked for others and the developers are working on them.
My thinking was that the iPad and Touch units would be in the hands of the students as long as school is in session. I have handed the unit to children of all ages, abilities, and temperment. All have treated the unit with respect - even if they did not show that respect to me! To watch students take an active part in their learning with the tool makes every penny worth it. Both of my units were purchased with grant money. I am trying to write more this year to get more. We have learned that the Touch units will do just as well as the iPad units but for students with fine and gross motor controls, find the unit that fits them. My eyes are OLD so I prefer the iPad - it's bigger!
We - our teaching team - had a major learning curve as none of us owned these devices and couldn't afford them. We got to play with them for about 2 weeks before we put them into the hands of the students. We learned that the students know way more than we do but they will help us learn. We did not lose or damage any units. The headphones with the microphones were stolen - at $25.00 a pop. So we had to put some strict requirements on those. We lost 5 over the course of the year.
In retrospect and looking forward, we learned from our mistakes and capitalized on the successes of both students and staff. All parties moved forward along the learning path. I watched students deemed incapable of learning run the rest of us ragged on WordCrasher. Who knew! The visual vocal produced the largest learning gains as students became successful for the first time in their high school math classes. From students with profound disabilities to those with mild learning disabilities, all students can learn if we put the right tools forward and teach to the students' preferred learning styles.
I hope that I have given you some tools that your students and staff can make work in your schools. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment