Clint's Tech Integration Resources

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Howdy - I'm Clint and I am the Technology Integration Specialist for SEDC, Southwest Educational Development Center in the beautiful SW corner of Utah. Welcome to my posterous site.

Any training I do, any resource that I need to share, or anything that I stumble across that is just plain cool I'll share here. Check out the Tags below to quickly get to a topic, or do a Search for what you can remember from a training of mine.

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iPod Touch

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The Innovative Educator: Ten Ideas for Educating Innovatively with Phone Casting (aka Podcasting made easy)

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via theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com

Some great ideas here on how to use any cell phone in class for educational 'Phone-Casting' for both teachers and student projects. The highlight? Learning that creating a phonecast with iPadio of ANY recorded speech will be automatically transcribed into text!

Filed under  //  Cell Phones   Podcasts   Web 2.0   iPad   iPhone   iPod Touch  
Posted
 

AirServer - Bring AirPlay and AirTunes to your Mac

More features, better value.

AirServer is the most advanced AirPlay/AirTunes receiver app on the market. No other app will let you seamlessly stream audio, videos, photos, and photo slideshows to your Mac or iOS device. AirServer gives you more features for less money, and it keeps getting better! Android fans rejoice: we now support AirPlay streaming to Mac from Android devices running doubleTwist+AirTwist.

via airserverapp.com

Now, if this only worked with the iPad's AirPlay mirroring function.... That would be a PERFECT way for teachers to show their iPad screens to their class via the computer/projector wirelessly.

Filed under  //  iOS   iPad   iPhone   iPod Touch  
Posted
 

Best iPad Apps for Presentations in Elementary Classrooms

Here's another couple of questions that I received from one of my teachers yesterday:

I have 2 ipads in my classroom that I would like to utilize more than I am at the moment. Do you have any suggestions, a website that I can go to for educational helps with the ipad, a list of cool apps, etc.   

And, I am really wanting to get my students to use the ipad for presentations. Do you have a suggestion of an app that will allow my students to take pics and video with the ipad, add pics from the internet, write, etc in presentation or storybook format?

These are great questions. With over 500,000 apps to choose from, it's a bit daunting to try and find what you are looking for. There are several sites out there that are curating and organizing apps a little better than Apple is doing, but what you are looking for are recommended apps from other Utah educators. 

The Utah regional technology trainers (the other people from around the state that do what I do) are keeping a list of their favorite/best apps for the iPad and other iOS devices. We've tried to categorize them as best as we can, and the list includes links to the App Store so that you can quickly view more information about them and get them downloaded to your device. Here's the short URL to that list:

UEN is in the process of developing a great searchable database of educational apps for all devices. The list is a little limited right now (they are still asking for recommendations), but it's another good place to take a look. 

One other link that I'd like to share is from a series of presentations with the theme of 'Interesting Ways' from Tom Barrett, an educator in England. He comes up with a topic, and shares it out to his followers on Twitter (@tombarrett). They share their ideas, and he compiles them into collaborative, interactive, and ever growing online presentations. The "Interesting Ways to use an iPad in the Classroom" is a great way to inspire you to do more with the tool than you could have ever thought to on your own.

Now, for your second question. With the integrated camera and microphone, the iPad is an amazing tool to create presentations, podcasts, and movies. I'll point you to 5 different apps that I like for this, and you can decide which you'd like to give your students access to - it could be all of them!

Before I do, however, let's talk about how to get images on to the iPad to use for these apps. There are many ways to do this, and I'll go from the easiest to most complex:
  • Camera. With the iPad 2, you can quickly and simply use the Camera app to take photos or video. These are saved in the Photo app in the Camera Roll collection. PhotoBooth can also be used to take funny or silly photos, which are saved in the same place.
  • Internet. If you want to use an image from the web, in the Safari app you can simply do a long-press on the image you want, and the iPad will display a menu after a second or two to ask if you want to Open, Save Image or Copy it. Taping the Save Image option will save it to the Camera Roll as well.
  • Screen Capture. You can save an image of whatever is on the entire iPad screen by pressing the only two buttons on the device - the Home button on the front (the button with the square) and the On/Off button on the top/side. When you click these two at the same time, the screen will flash and you'll hear a camera shutter sound. The captured image will be saved to the Camera Roll.
  • Email or Dropbox. If an image is saved on another device or computer, it can be transferred via email to the user. I know that you are in an elementary setting, so this may not be feasible. You could also set up Dropbox on your computer and download the Dropbox app on the iPad. Drop the image (or file or video or whatever) into your Dropbox folder on your computer, and it's instantly available on the iPad through the app. It can then be saved to the Camera Roll.
Now that you know all of the ways to create and harvest images to use with these presentation apps, let's talk about those. I'll start with iMovie. This is THE best app for creating short videos and presentations on the iPad using video and images captured from the device, or any other images in the Photo app. It is very simple and intuitive to use, creates great looking videos, and these videos can be easily shared back to the Camera Roll, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, iTunes, or even the CNN iReport!

My next favorite is Strip Designer. This one can be used in conjunction with iMovie or the other apps that I'll mention because it creates comic strip like images from the photos on the iPad which you can then use in a movie or narrated story. It includes fun text styles, comic graphics, and speech bubbles that you can add to over 100 page layout options. Once the page is set, it can be saved back out the Camera Roll to share or use with other apps.

Next is Animoto. This is an app that is also an online service that takes images or video of yours, title/text slides that you create, music of your choosing or from their extensive library and creates an animated video remix that can be posted online or viewed from the app. The app guides you through the process, and they are simple and fun to create. You can get an educator account for free that will allow you to create longer videos online.

I'll lump the last two together because they work in the same way and produce a similar product. Storyrobe and SonicPics allow you to take images from the iPad, order them in your sequence, and record a voice narration over the top of the images to create a video slideshow. Storyrobe stories are only viewable on the device or on the Storyrobe Web site. SonicPics videos can be emailed, shared to a computer via WiFi, or viewed from the device. They are both iPhone apps, but work just fine on the iPad.

Filed under  //  Apps   iOS   iPad   iPhone   iPod Touch  
Posted
 

Multiple Accounts on the iPad?

A principal in my region posed this question to me:

Is there a way to manage 2 accounts on 1 iPad.  I have an iPad for each teacher, and would like to have a school account for school purchases, and a personal account for other things.  Is this doable?  

The short answer is yes, but it's a little messy. Sadly, it's not as easy as just signing into multiple accounts at one time on the iPad. You can only be signed into one at a time.

The iPad will allow you to log out and in of different iTunes accounts (in the Settings app, head to 'Store', tap the current Apple ID, and log out) without deleting or deactivating the apps on the device. So yes, if a teacher needed to get a school paid app they could log out of the personal ID, log in with the school ID and install the app.

The problem comes when you sync. From what I've read, it's possible that the apps associated with the account NOT logged into at the time of a sync would be removed from the device. I've read mixed outcomes with this, but this is the main problem. The good news is that if you log back into the account where the apps were deleted, you can go to the App Store app, head to the 'Purchased' tab and re-download the deleted apps. The bad news is that the data associated with them would be gone, even though the apps could be reinstalled.

There are some potential better ways to work around the issue. Instead of a school associated Apple ID, you could purchase iTunes Gift Cards for the amount of the apps that need to be purchased for school use. If you have $32 worth of apps for a teacher to get, you can get a $32 (or any amount from $25-$5,000) iTunes gift card from the Apple Store.

You can also 'Gift' any app to one or multiple people at a time through the iTunes App Store on your computer (see the attached image). You can use one school Apple ID to do the gifting, and each person can install the app free of charge.
Giftapp
Lastly, there is the Volume Purchasing Program where you can buy vouchers for iTunes credits and either assign a dollar amount to an Apple ID or buy the licenses that you need for an app and then pass out a code for the user to download/install the app. 

This last solution is probably the best, but the most time consuming to get going. The biggest advantage of the Volume Purchasing Program is that IF YOU CAN buy apps in volume - at least 20 at one time, you can usually get a 50% discount on EACH COPY of the app. So, if you need 12 copies you can buy 20 for the price of 10 licenses. The extra 8 licenses do not expire - you can assign them out at any time in the future, and you saved the cost of 2 off of the top.

I know that was a long answer to a short question, but those are the options as of today. Who knows... Apple may change their thinking and allow multiple ID's to be active at the same time on an iOS device, but I doubt it. Since ALL of an accounts music, videos, apps and other purchases are available to re-download now, it would be an easy route to piracy if multiple ID's were easily added.

Filed under  //  Apps   iOS   iPad   iPhone   iPod Touch  
Posted
 

How Do I Sync My iPad to More Than One Computer?

I had an interesting question this morning come through my inbox, and I think that it is probably something that a lot of educators just getting their hands on an iPad or iPod Touch for the first time have...

I am wondering how to sync my Ipad to my home computer and school computer without having it replace my apps that are currently on the iPad.  When I go to sync my apps, it wants to replace all the apps with what is on just my school computer.  Is there a way around this?

By default, you are only meant to sync your iPad (or any other iOS device) with one computer. This is Apple's way of doing it's best to prevent piracy. If you could simply plug you iPad into someone elses computer and 'give' them all of your music and purchased media, then why would anyone buy anything ever again? 

If you are using the same iTunes or Apple ID on both computers, use the 'Transfer Purchases' option on that window that pops up when you are trying to sync your iPad on a new computer. This will take any items purchased on your iPad and save it to the new computer.

There is a work-around. To sync to multiple computers, you need to set your iPad to the 'manual' syncing mode. Instead of automatically adding any new song, video and app when you plug it in, you'll have to drag-n-drop the new stuff onto your device. Here's how to do this:

There is one more option if you are only concerned about synching apps. On the iPad if you open the 'App Store' app, there is a 'Purchased' option on the bottom black menu. As long as an app was downloaded or purchased using your Apple ID, then you can head to this spot and download an app purchased on another computer (work or home) without the need to sync or re-purchase the item.

After the very first sync to get you up and running, you only REALLY need to sync your iPad once a month or so to back it up, and that should be done on the same computer all the time.

However, if you have two separate Apple or iTunes ID's (one for home purchases and a school account), then the management becomes really hard. I have always just used my own Apple ID, so I have not had to muddle through this situation. It's best to pick one, and stick with it.

Filed under  //  iOS   iPad   iPhone   iPod Touch  
Posted
 

Fun Educational Apps: Best Apps for Kids Reviews iPad / iPhone / iPod

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via funeducationalapps.com

Yet another site to help curate the overwhelmingly large number of educational iOS apps out there. Sites like this are great to help busy teachers find what they need quickly.

Filed under  //  iOS   iPad   iPhone   iPod Touch  
Posted
 

iPads for Iron County Principals

You can view the presentation here or take a look at the detailed notes for the workshop as a Google Document.

Oh, I almost forgot... You might want to check out the CommonCore App with the new math and language arts cores.

Filed under  //  ICSD   iOS   iPad   iPhone   iPod Touch  
Posted
 

iPads In The Classroom 2-Day Workshop for WCSD

View the Agenda/Outline or the detailed workshop notes here. You can also access the presentation.

Day 1 Topics:

  • Join the conversation and ask questions at TodaysMeet.
  • The Basics
    • home button - home screen, search screen
    • double tap home to access latest apps, plus iPod & brightness controls & how to kill apps
    • Creating Folders of apps - can manage this in iTunes as well
    • Moving and deleting apps (Home row holds 6!)
    • Gestures: Tap, Double tap, tap hold and drag, flip & swipe, pinch to zoom, rotate
    • Copy & Paste
    • Screen capture - press Home and Power button together to take a screen shot of whatever is on your screen.
  • Getting in Gear: Settings
    • Airplane mode
    • Connecting to a WiFi hotspot
    • Location Services?
    • Change wallpaper and lock screen image
    • Picture Frame
    • How much space do I have left? General option will tell you
    • Store - sign in to iTunes account (can use multiple accounts)
  • WCSD Teacher observation tool
  • Setting up your Google Apps Mail, Contacts & Calendars
  • Set up Find My iPad
  • Go over iPad presentation - Notes here
  • File management - Get Dropbox!
  • Great educational video content: iTunes U, eMedia & Kahn Academy - TED Online or the TED app
  • Web shortcuts - Turns a web site into a clickable app icon. Set your home page, UTIPS page, Pioneer Library, eMedia, Kahn Academy, others?
  • Clicker software - eClicker, eClicker Host - set up some quiz questions and show how to take a poll and display results
  • Take poll of what participants would still like to learn at http://pollev.com/clint

Day 2 Topics:

Please enjoy the projects created at the end of Day 2 using iMovie, Animoto, StoryRobe & Garageband!

Here's the link to the class registration form, and the class info follows:

EDUC 5155 150  Integrating the iPad and iPod into the Classroom

Click here to download:
Educational_Infomercial.pdf (58 KB)
(download)

Filed under  //  WCSD   iOS   iPad   iPod Touch  
Posted
 

iOS Apps for Math & Science - URSA 2011 Presentation

Science
  • Vernier Video Physics: Take a video of an object in motion, mark its position frame by frame, and set up the scale using a known distance. Video Physics then draws trajectory, position, and velocity graphs for the object. Perform on-the-go analysis of interesting motions. Measure the velocity of a child's swing, a roller-coaster, or a car. Free.
  • EarthObserver: Learn about our planet’s terrestrial landscapes, oceans and seas, frozen ice caps, atmosphere and clouds, geologic terrains, topography, nautical charts, natural hazards, human impacts, and many other earth and environmental science topics as you travel and explore with your finger tips. Free.
  • Wolfram Alpha: With Wolfram|Alpha on your iPad, you can explore a vast world of knowledge, whether hanging out at the local coffee shop or relaxing on your couch. Use Wolfram|Alpha to discover new information about the world and to breathe expert knowledge into any facet of your life. $1.99 Universal App
  • Emerald Observatory: Emerald Observatory displays a wealth of astronomical information all on one screen, in a unique but understandable format. Information includes: - Times of rise and set for the Sun, the Moon, and the 5 classical planets, - Times of the beginning and ending of twilight, - Heliocentric orrery (display of the planets in orbit around the Sun), - Current phase and apparent orientation and relative size of the moon and LOTS more. $0.99
  • Stellarium: Stellarium is a planetarium for your iPhone. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. Let's you identify almost any celestial body, constellation, cluster, etc. Includes: Images of nebulae, realistic Milky Way, planets and their satellites, powerful zoom and time control. Even has a point-to-identify mode using the iPad gyro! Free
  • Mythbusters HD: This is a fun honorable mention. Watch the most popular full screen MythBusters video clips and compete against other fans by busting 3 popular myths through full screen, multilevel casual games. Games are good, fun physics simulations and lead you to bust a myth on your own. If you like the show, you'll love the app. $4.99
  • Nature Human Genome Special Edition: The draft human genome sequence, announced in 2000 promised great insights into human biology, medicine and evolution. To celebrate the 10th anniversary, Nature has repackaged the Human Genome at Ten news special into a free iPad App. Free
  • Periodic Table of the Elements: This is a standard periodic table of the elements - a necessity for anyone interested in or even exposed chemistry. However, the version differs in that instead of cramming all the information for an element into one little square, you can select a chemical attribute and have the entire chart color coded to plainly show how the different elements vary with regard to the selected trait. Free
  • 3D Brain: Use your touch screen to rotate and zoom around 29 interactive structures. Discover how each brain region functions, what happens when it is injured, and how it is involved in mental illness. Each detailed structure comes with information on functions, disorders, brain damage, case studies, and links to modern research. Free
  • iLab: Timer HD: In the Science lab, sometimes you just need to keep track of time. A stop-watch is good, but what if you need to keep track of 10 different experiments or tests? iLab: Timer HD will let you track the time, to a tenth of a second, of up to 10 different events. $1.99
  • The Elements: A Visual Exploration: If you think you've seen the periodic table, think again. The Elements: A Visual Exploration lets you experience the beauty and fascination of the building blocks of our universe in a way you've never seen before. This is the US English version of The Elements. Fully translated versions are also available in French, German, Japanese, and British English. $13.99
  • Solar Walk: "This 3D Solar System model enables you to navigate through space and time, observe all the planets in close-up, learn their trajectories, inner structure, history of their exploration, points of interest and more. Use 3D mode to get a more realistic experience! And zoom out to view and spin the entire Galaxy!" $2.99
    •
    Math
  • Number Line: Number LIne is a game that helps students lean about fractions, decimals, and percents by ordering equivalent fractions, decimals, and percents on a number line. $0.99
  • My Math App: My Math Flash Card App is for mastering basic elementary math facts. Free
  • Math Drills Lite: Graphically rich and fun environment allows a single students to learn basic math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Free
  • Times Tables: Math Practice app that is engaging, fun and enriching. Multiple version available. Free
  • Flash to Pass: Flash to pass is an easy-to-use, elegant program designed to facilitate mastering the basic math facts learned in Elementary school. Free
  • Pop Math: Fun drill for practicing math facts. There is now a lite version, and an iPad version. $0.99
  • Quick Graph: Quick Graph is a powerful, high quality, graphic calculator that takes full advantage of the multitouch display and powerful graphic capibilites of the iPad. Free
  • SAT Math Testbank: Challenging simulated test questions with detailed solution to prepare for the Math Section of the SAT test. Free
  • Rocket Math: Play one of the 56 different math missions. Missions range in difficulty from even/odd numbers all the way to square roots, so kids and their parents will enjoy hours of fun while learning math. $0.99
  • MathBoard: MathBoard is appropriate for all ages from kindergarten (with simple addition and subtraction problems) to elementary school where learning multiplication and division can be a challenge. You can control the range of numbers you want to work with, the amount of questions you want to answer and even assign a time limit per quiz. $3.99
  • Math Magic: Math Magic uses a combination of your choice of vibrant colours, simple interface and a reward system of stars to encourage and teach kids between the ages of 3 and 8. It’s really easy to use. The child simply has to tap on an answer to solve the problem. Whether they get the answer right or not, a real voice expresses appreciation for the child choosing a response. $0.99
    •

    Science 360

    Leaf Snap

    Xperica

    Everyday Mathmatics from McGraw Hill

    Our World - Al Gore app

    CK-12 Text Books

     

    From Guy Durrant

    Math


    Science
    • Biology
      • Cell Imaging HD (slow load, beautiful images, large database)
      • LeafSnap electronic fieldguide. Free, but limited iPod and iPad
      • 3D Cell Simulation and Stain Tool (beautiful images, slow to download) Rotate and zoom. Free (iPad)
      • Dichot key (for use within the BYU Monte Bean museum) free
    • Phyx
      • Intellective Physics (Free)
      • Video Science (large collection of science demo videos) Free
    • Astronomy there are bucketloads of astronomy apps
      • GoSkyWatch (free or $3.99 for +
      • SkyOrb 3D Free +
      • StarWalk (2.99 iPod, 4.99 iPad)
      • Planets (free) +
      • Exoplanet (free) db of all extrasolar planets
      • pUniverse ($2.99+, 3.99 iPad), pU Express is free
    • Geology
      • Seismic (iPod) (.99) not pretty, but fast and effective
      • QuakeWatch + (.99)
      • USGSSeismic (free) RSS feed from USGS (iPod)

    Filed under  //  Apps   Math   Science   URSA   iOS   iPad   iPod Touch  
    Posted
     

    iWork for iPhone and iPod touch - Productivity Just Got Smaller

    In a surprise move, Apple has just announced that its iWork suite is now available for iPhone and iPod touch. The iWork suite, including Keynote, Pages and Numbers, were previously available on the iPad and, of course, the Mac.

    The apps are available individually for $9.99 each for new users and are free upgrades for owners of the iPad versions, making them universal apps. The Keynote Remote app is available as a separate $0.99 download.

     

    Keynote, Apple’s presentation tool, has been scaled down nicely and retains the ability to present in full screen while connected to a projector or HDTV. The Keynote Remote app allows your iPhone or iPod to control another iOS device or Mac running Keynote during presentations.

     

    Pages is Apple’s word processor for iOS. To make the iPhone version of Pages more friendly to a smaller screen size, Apple has included a Smart Zoom feature that automatically follows your cursor when you’re editing and zooms back out when you’re done.

     

    Numbers, the spreadsheet editor for iOS, has also been ported to the iPhone. Smart Zoom is also mentioned as a feature of the iPhone and iPod version of Numbers. All of the functions, charts and table options from the iPad version of Numbers are included here as well.

    You can download Pages here, Keynote here and Numbers here from the App Store.

    We will update this story with the details, please refresh.

    via thenextweb.com

    This is great for schools and classrooms that already have iPod Touch labs and want to give their students great tools for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

    When does the version for the iPod Nano come out?

    Filed under  //  iOS   iPhone   iPod Touch  
    Posted