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"With a 1:1 iPad initiative in full swing, I encounter many questions each day from classroom and file management to queries for the best apps for mind-mapping and annotating PDF's. As an ed tech group (aptly named the iVengers by our fearless leader Carl Hooker), we band together to address these issues and provide solutions."

"I love it when I find a new app or extension that does something cool. Whether it's a new function, a more efficient workflow, or it will block spoilers for Star Wars, a good extension is a powerful tool. As I often write about, there's not enough time in education to waste, so I'm particularly fond of the tools that help save clicks and make our work more effective, both for students and teachers. Lately, I've been exploring new online tools to add functionality to Google Chrome and improve the way we are using presentation tools. I wanted to explore better ways to screen shot (RIP, Snagit), annotate, and work smarter within the G Suite ecosystem. Here are three extensions that are new to me that have had a big impact on my practice, along with some practical ideas of how I use them in my classroom and coaching. The images are courtesy of the Chrome Web Store, and each link will take you directly to the extension for more information"

"For my series of instructional videos I have a green screen as my background. I then use software to replace the green color with different backgrounds. This chromakey effect allows me to place objects behind and in front of me. I think it helps my videos look slick and puts the focus on my content. I'm often asked about the set up I use to film my videos. Here's a 360 spherical photo that I've annotated. Feel free to scroll and zoom around to check out my setup."

"Procedural crime dramas are very popular and for good reason. They use evidence and science to analyze a mystery and uncover answers - a great metaphor for what a classroom learning experience can be. In this apptivity, we will learn about fingerprints, create digital images of our own, and then use annotation tools to help us identify the cheesecake thief!"

"With 'software in the cloud' service 'Dot ePub' you can convert any web page into an eBook making research on the iPad a snap. After you setup a 'magic bookmark' using the directions on the Dot ePub web site you can automatically convert any web page into a format that you can open in iBooks or any other eReader. From there you can group sources together onto a bookshelf, annotate, underline, and highlight. Dot ePub also automatically copies source citation information into the back of the book."

"Every athlete knows what they should be doing in order to excel… at least in theory. For serious athletes, capturing their own personal fast-paced sports action for later analysis can be a very valuable training tool. Using Ubersense Coach, athletes or their coaches can record high-quality slow-motion video and "give feedback using the app's annotation tools.""

"So many classroom activities are only fully realised when your students add their sketches to embellish their work, or to annotate a concept. Sometimes they just need to describe an object. Here are a series of apps that allow the creative little Picasso or Frida in your class to express themselves. Most of these are so intuitive that your students will be drawing before you know it."

"For students to discuss a Google Presentation that was created on a computer/Chromebook, we used Explain Everything to annotate and/or record audio notes to enhance the presentation."

"It's no longer just about creating content. We are living in an era of content abundance. It's now about finding and putting content into a context, in a meaningful and organised way, around specific topics. Using tools like Scoop.it, Pinterest, Diigo and Livebinders educators collect the best resources to put them into context with organisation, annotation and presentation."

"We take for granted that we can interact with text, but up until recently it's been a challenge to interact (read/write/talk) with media.  I last looked at tools for annotating and interacting with video more than a year ago.  The field has changed a bit. Why interact with video? Being able to interact with video allows us to personalize video-based instruction, by leading learners to the segment of video we like them to watch, by adding voice-overs, notes, pop-ups, screenshots, maps, references, pauses.   It also allows learners to create video with even more depth and features and can the interaction can be used to support media literacy learning."

"ust as there are many models for Close Reading, there are a multitude of apps that will support your students in digging deeper into a text. I am sharing my 5 favorite free apps for annotating and note taking on the iPad. These apps will work with any book or reading passage and can be used for each step of the close reading process."

"Narrated Slideshows include still images with accompanying audio narration, and may also include annotations which make the videos into screencasts. In this workshop, participants will learn to use the free iPad app EduCreations to create narrated slideshows/screencasts, as well as the commercial (and much more flexible/powerful) iPad app Explain Everything. Participants will also learn to use the free YouTube Capture app for iPad to upload videos to a professional YouTube channel."

"What it is: Book Writer is a great app for the iPad (and iPhone or iPod Touch). This app makes it a snap for kids to create books that can be read directly in iBooks. With Book Writer, students can create their own ebooks with photos, video, audio and links. Images and video can be annotated over in the book. Finished books can be shared using iTunes and E-mail. One of the best features of Book Writer is the huge number of applications that books can be shared through including: iBooks, Nook, Instashare, Bump, Evernote, Dropbox, and Send Anywhere. This makes Book Writer wonderfully flexible no matter what apps your school uses regularly."

"appoLearning Collections enable teachers to create, annotate and share lists of hand picked digital resources, including YouTube videos, iOS and Android apps, and websites, around specific subjects, topics or lessons. Collection creators can easily: select from thousands of expert-vetted, standards-aligned resources from appoLearning search and/or add their own resources (including anything that is URL-addressable including videos, apps, websites, assessments, Dropbox links, Google Drive links, Evernote links) and upload their own files (Photos, Lesson Plans, Videos, PowerPoints, PDFs, etc.).  "

"No mess.  No danger.  No smelly fumes. BBC Brit's Biggest Bangs is a fun, interactive video experience that allows users to channel their inner mad scientists, mixing dangerous chemicals with sometimes explosive results without a proper laboratory. The secret behind the interactivity is a central choose-your-own-adventure video around which annotations lead to separate videos that respond to your chemical selections. Choose your first chemical and then select another from among eight on the laboratory table.  You'll see the team scientist take each chemical from the table.  Then pause to consider-will it explode or won't it?"

"There are two ways to use iPad as a document camera. The first easy way is to use the camera app on your iPad. The second way is through using third party apps which will also enable you to do more with your docs such as annotating, highlighting and many more. Below are some of the best document camera apps to try:"