iPurpose before iPad, from Mr G Online

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May 022013
 

iPurpose before iPad from Mr G Online

The post above is a great project in process. He is curating a list of great iPad apps for education, but he’s looking deeper at what sorts of skills students can develop from using these apps.

He references resources really worth investigating, such as iPad As… by edtechteacher.org and the iPad Pedagogy Wheel, but he is attempting to go beyond what these resources offer. They are both valuable, but follow a simple ‘If this… then that’ approach.

Mr G is attempting to showcase apps that have a dual, tripple or multiple ‘threat’ or purpose capability, instead of pigeonholing apps as ‘One Trick Ponies.’ He is also detailing the pedagogy behind each type of app - why would I want to use an iPad app to create a video or publish an eBook? “Pedagogy Before Technology” is stated motivation, and I think that he has a great approach and is off to a really good start

 

I Have an iPad AND an Apple TV… Now What???

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Apr 112013
 

More and more teachers have an iPad, and I’d say 99% of them would LOVE to be able to engage students by showing what is on their iPad screen to their class via the classroom projector. There are a few other ways to do this (direct with a VGA Connector, AirServer or Reflector), but the most convenient and reliable (albeit expensive) way is to incorporate an Apple TV into your classroom technology toolkit.

You might think that once you get your Apple TV up and running (described below), that you need to ‘connect’ your iPad to the Apple TV in some way – Bluetooth, an additional app, something – but that is not the case.

Here’s the deal… The iPad and the Apple TV do not communicate with Bluetooth for mirroring – there is WAY too much data going back and forth for that. Nor does it require the installation of any other apps on the iPad or Apple TV. It’s all built in! These devices communicate with each other through the wireless network. These are consumer devices, and work seamlessly on a home wireless network. At school however, things may be different…

PLEASE NOTE that in MANY school networks this screen sharing (and wireless printing) will simply not work unless your school or district has a Bonjour Gateway configured for the network. This is no trivial task – it’s not simply a ‘switch’ that someone can flip. Proceed cautiously  if you are in this situation with the knowledge that it may not work, ever, without the support of your district/school IT folks.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is no additional software needed to get the iPads and Apple TV to ‘talk’ to each other and to do the screen mirroring from the iPad, once they are connected to the network. It’s all built in, but it’s not instantly apparent as to how to start sharing or mirroring your iPad screen to the Apple TV & projector.

This YouTube video (from itseconomics) does a pretty good job of showing what you need to do. I’ll make some annotations below with the time code to point out other things to know.

  • 0:00-1:05 – Connection: You need to connect your projector to the Apple TV.
    • If your projector is new enough, you may be able to connect it directly with an HDMI cable.
    • If your projector is older, you’ll need a HDMI to VGA Adapter.
    • If you have your computer AND the Apple TV connected to your projector with separate cables, you’ll need to use the projector remote to select the source. Look for an ‘Input’, ‘Source’ or ‘Source Select’ button and click it until you see HDMI as an option. When you see the Apple TV screen, then you are on the right one.
    • You’ll need to switch between this input and VGA (probably) to get back to your computer screen.
  • 1:05-2:05 – Connect to Network
    • In order to work without the Bonjour Gateway, your iPad and Apple TV must be on the same wireless network.
    • If the Bonjour Gateway is set up, you should try to connect your Apple TV with an Ethernet cable. This will eliminate the need to configure the wireless and will improve the streaming performance and response time to your actions on the iPad.
  • 2:05-2:27 – Settings/AirPlay
    • Follow his steps and double check this to ensure that AirPlay is set to On.
    • He’s showing an older version of the Apple TV, so you’ll have a few more options here…
      • You may want to turn the ‘Onscreen Code’ which will require people attempting to connect to your Apple TV to have a 4-digit code to connect. The code is displayed on the screen so that only people in the room can connect to it.
      • If the onscreen code is not enough and you find that other teachers or students are connecting to your Apple TV, you can set a password to connect.
      • This article explains these settings in more detail.
  • 2:27-4:07 – Setup or start AirPlay Mirroring
    • Double-tapping the home button works (2:34) , but you can also use the 5-finger vertical swipe gesture (swipe up the screen) to bring up the multitasking bar, if you have multitasking gestures turned on.
    • At 2:42, he shows you the AirPlay icon. Look for this icon in other apps to send the audio or video to your Apple TV!

He didn’t cover how to end AirPlay Mirroring. You basically do what you did to start mirroring to end it. Bring up the multitasking bar, swipe from left to right, and tap the AirPlay icon. Select ‘iPad’ to end screen mirroring.

I hope this helps some of you out there. I tried to explain it as simply as I could, but in a school setting this is not as simple of a solution as it seems. Leave your comments below if you have any questions or if I’ve left anything out!

Economical iPad Case I Like

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Apr 082013
 

 

iPad case

Accessorise (TM) 5-in-1 Slim Leather Case Folio with built-in Stand for Apple iPad 2 2nd Generation Tablet (Black)

This case, available for $9.99 at Amazon right now, is one that I would recommend to anyone out there looking for a nice quality case who does not want to spend a fortune. It does not have an integrated keyboard, probably does not protect as well as an Otterbox, but it does include the magnets that will turn the iPad on/off when you open or close the front flap and has different stand positions that will allow either a good viewing or a good typing positon. I have a nice Scosche case that is almost identical to this, but I put out $50 for mine…

Student Project Examples from SEDC TEAM Grant

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Apr 052013
 

I’ve been asked to present what students are doing with technology at the K-16 Alliance Meeting in St. George this week. With my co-presenter, Dr. Deb Hill from SUU, we’ll be discussing what technologies and apps are being used effectively in the classroom these days, and show some example projects that ANY student could create.

The examples that I’ll be showing have come from the work we’ve done on the TEAM Grant. This grant has provided 5 iPads to Special Needs teachers in 8 schools from the SEDC region. You can learn more about the grant here, and you can see all of the examples that we’ve posted here. The projects that I’ll be highlighting are shown in the Google Presentation below.

Awesomeness Quick Share

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Apr 042013
 

Below are some great things in EdTech that I’ve come across in the last few weeks – lots of great resources for those of you looking for options with Project Based Learning (PBL) and student response systems:

  • iPad uPad wePad; Going 1-1 at St Oliver Plunkett – This article details the iPad 1 to 1 rollout ‘Bootcamp’ at this school. Don’t miss the posters on Core Teacher Apps, Core Student Apps, and Inquiry Learning with iPads as well as the iPad Boot Camp Summary. 
  • Nick Vujicic Anti-Bullying Assembly: Utah Simulcast Recording - Hour-long assembly from an internationally known speaker engages and inspires Utah students to be more respectful and supportive of each other.
  • InfuseLearning – A web-based student response system like Socrative, but brings so many more assessment and instructional options – sort of a fusion between Socrative and Nearpod (described below) with the sorts of questions you can ask students. Web based means that you are not tied to a specific device, or even a device at all – anything with a web browser will work! Here’s what it can do.
  • Haiku Deck iPad presentation app – An alternative to Keynote & Prezi on the iPad for presentation creation. Simple to create a presentation, and the interface forces you to focus on keeping the message simple and to the point. Also allows to easily insert stunning copyright-free images, as well as charts and graphs with a few taps. Oh, yeah… it’s FREE. Learn more at HaikuDeck.com.
  • Symbaloo – great bookmarking site that works really well on the iPad. Easy to create your own groups or themes of links – check out my Symbaloo collection of the apps I cover in my 60 Educational Apps in 60 Minutes Prezi as well as the Symbaloo collection from EduTeacher.
  • Nearpod – Lucky enough to have a set of iPads or iPod Touches in your classroom? Then you’ll love Nearpod. Nearpod allows you to take control of what your students are viewing during a presentation. You can create or import presentations and then add videos, web sites, quiz questions – even add the ability for students to draw or write their answers. It’s tough to explain how great this app is – check it out!
  • Mural.ly – Self tagged as ‘Google Docs for visual people’, Mural.ly allows groups to collaborate on a giant whitespace (sort of like Prezi) where you can drag pictures, text, sound and videos from any Web site or your computer and map your ideas in a visual way. Check out their intro video below.

iPad Skill Stations for Teachers &/or Students

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Mar 262013
 

This PDF of different essential iPad skills in education is a great tool for helping teachers and students alike to know how to perform these different skills (annotate a screenshot, recording short videos, QR Codes, screencasts, etc). More importantly, it describes WHY these skills are important and how these skills could be integration into instruction.

This activity was created by Lisa Thomas (lisa.thomas@byu.edu) and was presented at the March meeting of the Utah C-Forum of Technology Trainers from around the state. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but I’m very glad that they sent out a link to this from the group Wiki.

I Have an iPad… Now What??? UCET 2013

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Mar 082013
 

Permalink: http://goo.gl/9fsBQ

Thanks for attending my session at the UCET 2013 Conference today! We have much ground to cover, and I’ll move quickly, but PLEASE feel free to ask questions at any time.

Attached below is a PDF and PowerPoint version of the workshop for today – the links are active! Just click on the app or service that I’ve linked with the underlined words, and you’ll be taken to that resource immediately.

iPad Now What for UCET 2013 PDF

iPad Now What for UCET 2013 PPT

Quicklinks to the apps and services in the presentation:

UCET 2013 – Links to My Presentation Resources

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Mar 062013
 

Welcome to UCET 2013! Below are the links to all of my presentation resources – just click on the session you have attended, and you’ll be able to download PDF’s of my presentations (or access them directly), see all of the session notes and links to the apps and resources that I have presented.

If you’d like to be informed when I post new resources and information, you can follow me on Twitter @sedcclint, or on my Facebook Page. Thanks for your attendance and interest!

Friday, March 8

Saturday, March 9

Prezi on the iPad

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Jan 242013
 

QR Code for this page

Permalink: http://goo.gl/9u8Ey

First things first… Sign up for a free EduEnjoy Prezi account (a $59/year value for educators). Now that you have an account, you’ll need the free Prezi iPad app (link opens App Store). Check out how to get started with Prezi on the iPad, as well as the manual/FAQ’s page.

Prezi is a little different than other presentation software that you may have seen before. Instead of titles and bullet points to get your information across, you use space and scale to show your main and supporting ideas. Take a look at this example to get an idea of just what you can do with Prezi.

I really love using Prezi, and I was excited to see the iPad version add the ability to create and edit Prezi presentations. These are still new features (added about 2 months ago), so there are some things that the web version of Prezi can do that the iPad version is not (yet) able to do.

With Prezi on the iPad, you can:

  • Create new prezis
  • View and edit your existing prezis
  • Download prezis to your iPad ready to view off-line
  • Add images and photos
  • Share your prezis
  • Open hyperlinks
  • Hide navigation buttons (particularly useful if you are presenting from your iPad)
  • Set your prezi to autoplay
  • View embedded prezis on an iPad via the Prezi for iPad app (as long as they were embedded after the technology to do this was created)

Currently the iPad version cannot:

  • Create a path for a newly created prezi on your iPad.
  • Add elements other than text or images (such as videos, frames, & shapes)
  • Apply preset themes or customize the color of the text or background

Need some inspiration? Take a look at “How To Create a Great Prezi” from Adam Somlai-Fischer. Also, check out my “60 Educational Apps in 60 Minutes” prezi on my favorite apps for education and productivity on the iPad.

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