Not Always My Favorite

I think it's very important that students create stuff. Having to transfer what you know into a new product it's extremely valuable for really understanding a concept. What tool is used to make that stuff can vary greatly and is largely irrelevant to the bigger goal of increased knowledge. Just like students, teachers have their own favorite tools for creating stuff for students. Like everyone else, I have my favorite apps for different tasks on my iPad or iPhone. As apps change, my preference changes. I used to be a HUGE Penultimate fan (see why here) until they "improved" their app. I was one of many who couldn't stand the new update. While they've made some changes (shameless plug that I was once quoted on TechCrunch), it's never been the same and, although it was once a staple of my iPad dock, it's no longer anywhere on my iPad.
On the other hand, there are some tasks that have two apps that switch back and forth between being my favorites. Screencasting on an iPad is a great example. For a long time, I was in the ShowMe "camp" because of how much I liked their online community. Then Educreations added multiple pages. I sway back and forth depending on their most recent update. I generally tell people to try out both and pick one you like.
Another one is book creation. My two favorites, in alphabetical order, are Book Creator and My Story. Unlike the screencasting apps, these two go back and forth of my "favorite" depending on the situation I'm in. If I'm creating a book for myself, it's definitely Book Creator. It's layout is hands down more "sophisticated" looking. It also allows you to add video within your book, something My Story doesn't do. However, for younger students, the My Story layout is much more friendly. Just recently they introduced the ability to share My Story books between iPads.

1st graders creating books on how to make no bake pies.

We used this to make a template for 1st graders and then Air Drop the template to their iPads. Students could then edit their own book and resend it back to me as a movie. They have the option of making it an ePub that you can read in the Safari browser, an option that is fantastic for class presentations or sharing with parents, but I noticed that when students sent the link back to me, all of the ePubs had the same short URL. I've reached out to My Story, so hopefully that'll get cleaned up. You can see the student videos below.

So which app is best for each task? Depends on the audience, the day, and the most recent update. The apps will always change, but the purpose of the learning will not.

Learning and Sharing with Flipboard Magazines

Updated (June 2014) - Flipboard mentioned this blog post in their own article about educators and magazines! Thanks Flipboard! 

This spring, I was tasked with learning more about blended learning for my district. I set up a Flipboard magazine for myself to read based off the #blendedlearning hashtag on Twitter, but I wanted a way to save and share the great articles I was reading. I had heard about creating your own magazines in Flipboard, but hadn't ever tried one. They are very simple to create and easy to add to from any device, not just the app! Check out the video below on how to do it (or click here for Flipboard's "how to" page).

Recently I accepted a new position in a district that uses Google Apps for Education (GAFE), something my previous district hadn't used. So I set up another magazine! But this time I knew I needed some help with curating good articles. When you create your magazines, you are also allowed to add "contributors" to help you curate. I had added my friend Kristina to my blended learning magazine because of some work she's doing at our state department of education. This time, I decided to add a larger number of people who were already familiar with GAFE (Stacy, Mickie, and Jim), knowing they would have different perspectives and information streams that I might not be familiar with.
During a recent Dads in Ed podcast, a show I host with Devin Schoening and Brent Catlett, I mentioned Flipboard as my "app/site of the week." One of our listeners, Patrick, shared an article he had found on embedding Flipboard into Google Sites. Even better! I had just created a new Google Site for my upcoming job, so I added the GAFE magazine to the site. It's great because it automatically updates, meaning content will always be new! 
Magazines would be a great way for secondary teachers to create textbook supplements for their students, especially around current events. One idea mentioned in the video above was to save recipes into a magazine to create a cookbook. What a great idea for a family and consumer science classroom! They'd also be great for building leaders who are researching a new curricular or behavior philosophy. You literally can put ANYTHING into magazine form. I may need to share this with my soon-to-be-four-year-old as she works on plans for her birthday cake!

Below I've linked the three magazines I have created. While demonstrating Flipboard magazines for teachers in my iPad graduate course last week, I created one for iPad Ed as well. I'm open to having more people contribute, so drop me a line in the comments or on Twitter if you're interested! 
Blended Learning Magazine
Google Apps for Education #GAFE Magazine
iPad in Education Magazine

Bringing Poetry Objects to Life

I started my day working with 3rd graders on publishing their poetry. Because we only had a short amount of time, I knew we needed a quick and easy app. We chose to use the app ChatterPix Kids to bring the object of their poetry to life. In planning with the teacher, we decided students would come ready that day with their poem and an idea for what to find or take a picture of, related to their poem. Then we would make the object say the poem! What I didn't know walking in was that students were writing a poem about "what's in my desk." Perfect! Because they obviously had the object, the picture hunting went nice and smooth! I did a quick, five minute demo of the app, we talked about putting their object on a contrasting (dark/light) background, and how voice levels should be while we were recording audio. Then students were turned loose! 
We ran into a couple issues with the app not being on the iPad and students clicking "Don't Allow" for pictures and microphone, which we fixed in Settings-->Privacy, but those are pretty common occurrences for Day 1 with a new app. We had a couple students who, when they went to save to their Camera Roll, it took longer than normal. I did a "force close" by double-clicking the home button and swiping up on the app. We then re-opened the app, clicked on Gallery to find the project (auto save, for the win!), and the second time we exported it worked. I've had to do this process with a couple different apps when they get "stuck" in a task. It's not a big deal, but it's pretty obvious when you are used to the export being rocket fast.

Apps like ChatterPix are very simple to use. Take a picture, draw a line for a mouth, record 30 seconds of audio, then dress up your picture. ChatterPix walks students through the creation steps in a very easy-to-understand manner. Your final project becomes a QuickTime video file. The regular ChatterPix lets you publish to social media and email. Because we were using ChatterPix Kids, which doesn't have those social media sharing options, students saved/exported their final video to the Camera Roll, then opened up the Photos app and emailed their creation to the teacher. We didn't publish ours to YouTube, but as I was looking for a quick "how to" video to share, I found lots of other examples (click here to see).
Two alternatives I've played around with are Morfo & Yakit. Morfo (which also has a paid version that contains all of the "extras") is a little more advanced in terms of function and content. The eyes move in a little more life-like fashion than the others (click here for teacher example). Morfo also has a more detailed eye & mouth placement, which may be better suited for older kids. Yakit has some pretty cool animated objects, but is limited to fifteen seconds of audio recording. In working with my grad class, they also found getting Yakit to save properly without a Facebook account was not as intuitive as we'd hoped. The app crashed a couple times and did not save the work. Like ChatterPix, there is also a Yakit Kids alternative, which may fix our Facebook account issues. Yakit is an iPhone app, so if you search for it in the App Store, you may need to switch your search from iPad only to iPhone only.
ChatterPix worked perfectly for these single poem activities. They would also work very well as a simple app smash with something like Book Creator that allows you to import videos from your iPad. The Morfo teacher example linked above was supposed to be just that - students write a book about a famous person, use Morfo to record a famous quote, and then put that video in the book. Unfortunately, we used a book making app that didn't support video import. We know better now! 

Our ePortfolio Discussion

This morning I tweeted out that we were looking for ways to create electronic portfolios on the iPad. I got some great feedback from Colleen Greene, Marcello Mongardi, Jason Schmidt, and Jeremy McDonald, along with a couple of requests for our thoughts. One other thing that we looked at during this time was how students would save and share documents. You'll see more of that discussion below. While we haven't made a definite conclusion, I did want to jot down some of our discussion notes for those of you who asked and, selfishly, to try get a summary of a three hour discussion.


Background:


Our District has 13 academy programs that run through both high schools. Some academies are in the high schools, while two are located offsite (Zoo and Health Systems). We would like students to have an electronic portfolio to document their learning and to take with them after they finish high school. We started last year with the Zoo and Health Systems Academies by using Wikispaces. So far, that seems to be working well. Next fall we will start a Leadership Academy which will have sections at both high schools. Wikispaces isn't as attractive of an option because all of the students in the Leadership Academy will have an iPad. So began our discussion...


Ideal Parameters:

• Works well on an iPad, either via the web or an app
• We would like to have some control over the content that is added.
• The less passwords the better.
• Options for creativity by the students.

Picture credit nickrate

Portfolio options:

• Wordpress
• Pros - customizable features, iOS app already made
• Cons - how do students upload Word/PDF files from their iPad? Separate accounts for each student or lots of blogs under one teacher account and giving students the ability to contribute?
• Posterous
• Pros - easy to use 
• Cons - currently no iPad specific app
• Google Sites
• Pros - may be able to set up an Active Directory link to automatically update accounts
• Cons - currently lack of editing on iPad
• Wikispaces 
• Pros - student accounts, easy to use
• Cons - no formatted editing on the iPad, time to create accounts & separate sites
• Evernote 
• Pros - ease of use from a variety of devices into one spot
• Cons - limited design functionality
• Mac Server
• Pros - easy to use content, hosted in house
• Cons - no plan for 3 years out
• Voicethread
• Pros - great possibilities for feedback from others
• Cons - app isn't out yet, so it's hard to plan for it

Sharing Documents:

• WebDAV
• Pros - free, already a built-in piece of the iPad
• Cons - open access for all students to all folders, but no access to WebDAV at home
• Dropbox 
• Pros - many plugins available to upload content to a blog/website
• Cons - Each student would need their own account, no free way to save from Pages (would need $5 DropDAV account)
• Save to iTunes 
• Pros - free
• Cons - required wired connection to a computer
• Email
• Pros - free with our Exchange server
• Cons - not ideal for continued editing

Where we are at today:

I think right now, at 12:11 pm CST on Wednesday, June 1st, we are leaning towards Wordpress and WebDAV. I will stress it's not a final decision, but if we had to decide today, it's what I would recommend for our situation. We posed the question about how to upload files from the iPad to Wordpress...right now we are thinking that students will have to save to the WebDAV and upload on a computer. It was also suggested to the instructors to look at assignments to see which could be done as a blog post vs. a Pages document. 

Dropbox is nice, and was the original plan, until DropDAV started charging money. The Google route would be nice, especially if the Active Directory sync works, but it's just not very smooth from a user point right now, especially with the lack of Google Site editing capabilities. Yes, students could do their portfolio on a computer, but they have an iPad - lets give them the opportunity to use it as much as possible. Evernote is a great idea, but if this is going to be something they use for colleges and employers, we want to give them some opportunities to make an appealing site. We'd really like to use the Mac Servers we have, but there isn't currently a plan in place as those get phased out and we don't want to have to switch later if possible. 

Having said all of that, everything could change as Apple releases Lion and iOS 5. We know this, which is why we are stepping back for a week or two to see what comes up and rehash some of our thinking from today. There will be a point where we'll have to make a decision and jump in ready to go, but that's still a couple months away. A lot happens in tech world in a couple months.

I'd love any comments, critiques, or experiences that anyone has to share. This is definitely new to us. We realize we can't solve every problem today, but we'd like to be prepared.

Reflections and Moving Forward with iPads

This year we had 9 iPads and 9 iPod Touches scattered throughout our district because of an Autism Grant (Read the past posts here). I think it was a very successful program and I'm excited to see it move forward next fall. I learned a whole lot about management of the devices that will be applied as we bring more of these devices into the district. We are currently gathering survey information from the staff involved. Many of the teachers have decided to go ahead and purchase devices so they can just have them to use them with a variety of students (all teachers have to re-apply in the fall and use must be tied to an autistic student, per grant rules). We are also going to be using them with Jump Start, a new summer program geared toward qualifying students starting kindergarten next fall. I'll try and get a blog post about that out later this fall.

We are also at a very exciting time in our elementary buildings. They are all getting brand new computers next year, thanks to our lease purchase cycle. They've put up with a lot the last few years with dying machines and no one wanting to pay much (understandably) to keep them up and running. One of the options for student computers at the elementary buildings was iPads. We have a building tech at each elementary, so our wonderful tech department paid for one iPad for each of them. Because of the timing of when they came in and our state conference, we asked them all to come down for a "mandatory meeting." None of them had any idea. Very fun :) What that means for the kids is all schools will at least have one iPad. Some of the iPads are going to be available for check out while others will be used as classroom computers. This was a building decision. We are going to have a summer workshop so that the devices can be used the first day kids come back. That summer workshop is voluntary and open to all of our K-6 staff. You can see a draft of the agenda here.The goal of the workshop is similar to training you do with any technology - give them training to use it effectively within their curriculum.
Another recent development is an iPad 1:1 pilot we are doing with our newly-created Leadership Academy. We have a 1:1 Hospital Academy, but with netbooks and off site (which creates whole new issues). The Leadership Academy students are going to also be participating in an online class using Moodle, so it's going to be interesting to gather feedback on their experiences. We will also have four iPads in two different AP classes at both high schools. At least at one high school will be giving them to a student full time for a quarter and gather before and after data. Those teachers will be putting their documents online as ePubs or PDFs for students to access.
A great resource for implementing and managing iOS devices is Lisa Pospishil at Norfolk Public Schools. Her iOS School website has tons of great ideas. We aren't deploying nearly as many as she has, but it's still a great place to start for tips and tricks.
I'm excited to see how this works. I agree with Dean Shareski - the iPad is different. And honestly, right now, I don't see a competitor for education. 

New #iear Post - iWriteWords

Check out my new app review on the IEAR website. We love the iWriteWords app for both iPods and iPads. 
Click here to read it!

IEAR Post: My Pictures Talk app

This was originally posted (my first!) at IEAR, a great place to find iOS (iPad, iPod, etc.) apps.

App Title: My Pictures Talk

Grade Level: Any

Purpose: A - Think "Photo Story 3 meets the iOS." A simple to use slideshow creation tool. 

Program Functionality: B+ - I really like how easy it ease to create a new slideshow. It's simple to pull in pics or video synched to your device or use your devices camera (hopefully iPad2's also?) to add. It's also incredibly easy to add text and audio directly on to slides. The only drawback is, once you finish a slide, you are directed back to the slideshow home page to create a new page. I would love to see a "save and make new slide" button. Files are also shared as a zip file, not as a movie.

Overall Educational Value: A - The app bills itself as a "video modeling tool." Our original purpose for this app was exactly that - using it with special education students to work on video modeling. But the app is so flexible, I could see it being used for a LOT of different purposes in the elementary classroom.

Cost: $9.99 ($4.99 if you buy 20 in Apple's VPP)

Classroom Use/Ideas: Again, the flexibility of this tool is amazing and really only limits you to your imagination. Combining real pictures or video with the text and audio can be huge for the special education student needing extra guidance or any student wanting to share what they know. And all of the creation can be done on the iOS device.

iTunes link: My Pictures Talk

Reviewer: Josh Allen

Blog: The Tech Fridge

Moving Mobile: Month 3

You learn very early in your life that January in Nebraska holds many opportunities for snow days! Since coming back from Winter Break, we still haven't had a full week of classes. That can make rescheduling meetings just as long as the meeting would've been.
However, our Special Education staff is continuing to implement their iPads and iPod Touches (previous posts here and here). One thing that we are excited to see is that the search for apps is moving from reinforcement to skill development. Reinforcement is great, and it's a continual part of engaging the students, but the device isn't being fully leveraged if that's the only thing you are using it for. One app that we are very excited about are iWriteWords (there is a free version). iWriteWords lines up fairly well with our Handwriting Without Tears curriculum and "forces" students to practice writing letters correctly before moving on to the next task. 
Our next big step is going to be creating our own videos for students. These videos will be focused on telling a story or cues that a student would normally use paper for (On a somewhat separate thought, we have discussed creating movies to demonstrate math processes...something that could be put on these devices as well). Our February monthly meeting will be a hands on training on using power point slides to create movies. I'm very excited about this because of the customization it will bring to each device for students. I'm hoping that we can jointly create a library of videos for teachers to access both on the device and on their computers. 

Our First Month of Becoming More Mobile

This week we (virtually) brought our SPED teachers back together to see how things are going with their iPads and iPods (read here for the back story). As with anything new, there are still a couple people who haven't coordinated the schedules of students and paras, but the majority of the teachers have taken off. Most of the use we are seeing is for concept reinforcement, which wasn't surprising. One thing that has helped me tremendously is the building visits we've been taking. I've learned a lot more about what teachers (and students) want from the device by being able to watch. And I've tried to take those visits with one of our Inclusion Facilitators. We both are very comfortable with our area of expertise, so it's been a great partnership.

As we told the teachers, we won't know what you want the iPad or iPod to do unless you ask. For example, many of our teachers use Boardmaker to create social stories for our students. One teacher we were with had a large binder with many social stories and other documents. Through their observation, I threw out the suggestion to use Boardmaker to create social stories on PowerPoint slides and export as pictures. We haven't tried it yet, but it's on the table for January. Another idea that one of our inclusion facilitators had was to use Voice Memos to create "switches" (new terminology for me - audio to help students transition to a new activity). Through some brainstorming, we talked about using PowerPoint to create a picture with text or picture examples, narrate over the picture in iMovie, then create a movie that could be on the iPod/iPad. We talk so much about find this app, find that app, but we also need to think about how we can quickly and easily create our own material, especially for these students who have so much individualized for them.

So that's where we are at. We are currently evaluating apps to purchase. We don't want to buy a bunch of apps that do the same thing, but that's easier said then done when teachers all come with their own ideas and backgrounds. We'll meet again in mid-January and keep doing some building visits.

Here's a link to the PowerPoint we used for Adobe Connect that has our questions and free app recommendations on it.

Becoming More Mobile

Next week we will hand out 9 iPads and 8 iPod Touches to some of our district's Special Education staff. The devices were purchased through a grant received by the SPED department. These aren't the first devices of their kind in our district, but they are the first that will be supported with specific training (both face to face and online) and will be exclusively in the hands of students. iPod use has always been sporadic and we've never offered training specific to them. We have only a few iPads in the district, mainly concentrated at one high school with their administrators. We see this group of SPED teachers as our "guinea pigs" in many senses - from the management with students to how Apple's Volume Purchasing Program works. We are very fortunate that they've been able to contain their excitement while the SPED, Curriculum, and Technology departments get their ducks in a row.

We definitely see a future for these devices, and other similar ones, in our district. We feel that devices like the iPad could replace a cart (or two) of laptops in our elementary buildings. Through our lease purchasing process, all elementary computers will be replaced by next fall, so it's been good timing for all of this. We still have lots of questions, but many won't be answered until we start moving forward.

One mistake I've already made (in my opinion), is that our resources are stored on our Intranet. It takes an extra step for us to share with the rest of the world. I'm always more than welcome to share, it just isn't as convenient because you have to ask :)

On our Intranet, we've created a FAQ section (from what the buttons do to purchase process), an editable spreadsheet of all of our purchased apps in the district, and a page with links to a variety of resources.

Here are some links that we are starting our teachers out with (thanks to Richard Byrne for sharing bit.ly bundles yesterday!):

• For both the iPad and iPod Touch
• iPad Resources
• iPod Touch Resources