App #9: In our effort to highlight the SAMR Model of integration of technology, we’ve been considering what activities might fit into Redefinition (technology that allows creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable). What activities might have significant impact to student outcomes? The “tell your story” concept remains one of the powerful ways we have to teach others, to increase audience,…
Category: i-Devices
App #7 of “10 Apps to Countdown Season”
App #7: How do you present information from research projects? Usually we default to PowerPoint. Another option is Haiku Deck for all platforms. I wrote about this app for the iPad before (click here). The presentation software offers a beautiful, yet simplistic way to to share information. Each slide offers options for layout, format (bullet points), images (including…
App #3 of “10 Apps to Countdown Season”
App #3: What happens when you bring together an ipad, an app, words, thoughts, and sound? Why Book Creator of course. This app for the ipad is a thing of beauty when it comes to creating ebooks. Images can be drawn or photographed and inserted along with text. As well, audio can enhance both the background environment…
Send Fast Information to Class iDevices
You’ve prepared your lesson well, details carefully thought out. While the iPad or iPod/Touches can be used as pickup-and-go device, having a workflow in mind gives a stronger experience. Imagine my “oops” after handing out 25 iPod/Touches, I forgot to set the website URL on the devices so my students could easily launch the site…
Access Raz-Kids Through iPad
Some news that I’ve been waiting for from Learning A-Z, which will offer increased flexibility – Raz-Kids has launched their app for ipad! Students can now access our Raz-Kids accounts from the ipad. You should use a headset [the speaker jack from your headset goes into the jack on the top of the ipad]. The recordings…
A Year of Discovery
It’s June and I’m really not sure what happened to this year. The ten months prior have whizzed by and here we are again. I wanted to take this moment to share some reflections of the year and try to put things into perspective. Our Writers Workshop folks grappled with ideas related not only…
It’s All in the Workflow
Maybe this post should have been called “Sanity is Everything”. You’ve decided on an inquiry project that injects elements of learning technologies. Besides knowing what software you’re going to use and booking the lab or equipment, you dive in. Not so fast! These next thinking steps will allow you to experience a successful project [aka…
Spring News
Spring is definitely in the air – the buds are on the trees and the daffodils have poked their heads above the ground. This also means that the latest newsletter is out. Check it out here!
Lightbulb Moment – Conversation in the Round
Recently an email landed in my box with a link to a voicethread. For those of you who haven’t seen VoiceThread, it’s a handy tool for collaborative communication out on the web. But let’s start at the beginning. I was involved in a planning project with a school envisioning a whole flip of their library. Aaahh, “Martha…
Choosing Meaningful Apps (iDevices)
Thousands of apps come and go in the iTunes Store. Without concerted strategic effort, searching for that “just right app” may feel like a hunt for a needle in a haystack. Even when it is identified “educational”, what does that mean? Upon closer inspection, many of these are nothing more than repetitive practice at…
Learning on a Curve – Learning Tech Inquiry Team
So much to learn – that must have been the thinking bubble of each participant in our Learning Tech Inquiry group. It was a day to use the new technologies (laptops, ipads, software) and get a bit more comfortable. This is what we explored: Start with a bit of brainstorming ideas. We used Padlet (previously known…
Time Saving iPad Sync Process
Are you one of the schools with a number of iPads at your disposal? How do you get all your iPads mirrored with the same apps without having to download every app? This process is not only time consuming but adversely affects the district-wide network. Learning Technologies has a cost effective and time-saving solution that may fit your needs….
Communicating – the Art of Presentation
Consider the many times you present an idea, or tell a story. Haiku Deck on the iPad, takes the art of presenting to a whole new level. Take an idea or a message; synthesize it to a few words that represent the deep understandings. Haiku Deck will use the words to locate images from Creative Commons that…
December – The Gift of Time
It’s December and most every hour is in high gear, trying to get those last minute projects merged in with winter festivities. And just this weekend, we got our first whiff of snow. Magic is in the air among the smell of gingerbread houses, mandarin oranges and other treats popping up in all locations. Not…
Getting Extra Mileage from Apps
One of the things I find challenging is the inability of the iPad to support multiple open softwares (like my laptop). Try using Side by Side. This allows you to split the screen up to four windows at a time. Read, research, download files and take notes can be integrated into a session. This app…
Linking Computer to iPads – Screenshare
No doubt you’ve run into many screensharing apps that connect a teacher computer to iPads. Join.me is a free screen sharing meeting site that is simple to facilitate. This can be used to enhance a lesson by sharing the teacher’s computer screen with student ipads [imagine the possibility of a student with visual challenges being…
App Support in Reading
Apps come and apps go. All of them serve a purpose. It is the teacher who makes “magic” happen through the lesson experiences. Our iDevices Blog is where you will see an ongoing vetted list of apps. (Click Apps Collection list) Please add to the list if you run across an app that you love. Here’s one you may…
Apps for Music or Other Ways to Enter Learning
These are some of the vetted apps that people have found useful. Please add to the list if you run across an app that you love. iPad Music Education Apps
So You Have All these Apps – Now What
The proliferation of ipad apps can be equally exciting and overwhelming. For the second time I’ve had an opportunity to share an “introduction to active ipad experiences” session in schools. The goal was to provide staff with collaborative fun, hands-on experience with a large number of apps that might support a variety of content curricular…
First Ever iPad Party
Get a group of administrators, teachers and district staff together – add food and boxes and more boxes of brand new iPads. What do you have? Excitement, anticipation, a bit of wonder, “eyes wide open”, tons of chatter and buzz… Last week, we spent the afternoon with a set of goals: introduce the iPad,…