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"Not long ago, a teacher had nothing more to rely on than knowledge, textbooks and a few markers. Technology has slowly changed that in the past few years, with the Internet, multimedia programs and computers increasing their presence in the classroom. But with the rise of tablet tech, the student-teacher experience is facing a subtle revolution: joining the trend makes students feel as if they're part of an environment that's desirable because people speak their native languages. As the iPad becomes a teaching tool, classrooms are transformed into contemporary settings."

"When Apple announced Airdrop this past June, I knew it would be a great feature for teachers with iPads. A common complaint about iPads in the classroom was that it wasn't necessarily easy to transfer student work in the Camera Roll to the teacher. With no USB connection and no SD card slot, how was a teacher supposed to collect student work? Email would work for small files, but videos were much too large to send. Dropbox could be a solution, but that would require students to set up their own accounts, problematic if they are under a certain age. Enter AirDrop, a seamless and very quick way to transfer files via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections between "nearby" devices. "

"I enjoy discussing iPad and other edtech resources with my colleague and friend Sylvia Duckworth almost every week through Twitter. Sylvia is a leader in the French teaching community in Canada, and has created an enormous amount of resources for language teachers to use. I asked her if she wanted to collaborate on this post, and she quickly agreed to do so. Below is a list of iPad apps that we both use in our language classrooms. The ones marked with an * are the essential, must-have ones. We have divided the list into two categories: Content consumption apps and content creation apps."

"Although I have already written about most of these apps before, I thought I would summarize and show you some of the ways I use my iPad as a traveling language teacher. I teach in several different classrooms throughout the day, so having an iPad is extremely important and almost necessary. As I previously mentioned, I almost never have to bring any binders of any sort with me to the classrooms. I see it as an integral part of my teaching."

"Apple announced some great new features in iOS8 last week. iCloud Drive will be an excellent addition to file structure implentation for iPads. Users will be able to take advantage of these features in the fall. Until then, this new tip will come in very handy if you are still using Microsoft office on other computers. Currently, iCloud storage of files has somewhat been "hit and miss" for consumers in terms of reliability and ease of use."

"Do you see that microphone button at the bottom left of the iPad screen when the keyboard appears? I always knew about the dictation feature, but I never really used it before a couple weeks ago. I'm actually writing this post by speaking it, all while in the car! The accuracy is quite good, there are rarely any mistakes if you speak clearly. I've been using it recently for a lot of things: text messages, emails, and blogging. "

"MS Office was finally made available for the iPad this past week. This is a long-awaited release, almost four years after the release of Apple's tablet. While the apps are all free to download, you are only able to view documents, and will need to pay a rather large subscription fee of $99 every year to be able to use it. Granted, this subscription does include the latest versions Microsoft Office for your home PCs as well. "

"I had the opportunity to interview a Freshman student, Nick Boone (@2050TGOD) that I coincidentally met on Twitter. He saw a conversation that I was having with a popular YouTube personality, and gave his opinion on iPads in the classroom. I took this chance to contact him and ask if he would answer a few questions. He almost immediately agreed to the interview, which we completed via Google Docs just a matter of a couple hours. Nick had the opportunity to participate in a 1:1 iPad program at his high school in San Diego."

"In a somewhat surprising move this week, it was announced that Microsoft will be partnering up with cloud storage company Dropbox to make Office on the iPad much more convenient for everyone. I say surprising, because Microsoft already owns Dropbox competitor OneDrive, which boasts a lot of the same features. Is Microsoft realizing the vast popularity of Dropbox, despite recently giving unlimited storage just a week ago to its subscribers?"

"Most app-addicted teens (and younger) have no concept of leaving home early on a Saturday morning to meet friends for bike riding, pick-up ball games or just hanging out. With a world that is hyper vigilant about their children's safety (and for good reason), reaching for an electronic device has taken over the former scenario. Most parents are perplexed by this addiction when in reality we are the ones that perpetuate it. Therefore, the statistics are being tallied as a template to determine just where our children stand within this growing digital world."

"This is a must for those teachers use the great benefits that the AppleTV can bring to the classroom. Do you see this intro screen when the Apple TV turns on? Those movies on the top? While a lot of these are the most popular movies playing though it is, they may not be the most appropriate for our students. This happened just today as I was teaching in another classroom, and it was a small distraction during my lesson. Kids were excited to see their favorite movie, in this instance, Big Hero 6. They cheered and became excited. Wild this case was harmless, I can only imagine other cases where movies that are rated PG-13 or higher can cause some concern for teachers of younger students. These can even be a distraction for high schoolers, who will likely veer off topic if they see a movie that they like or dislike."

"In the ongoing quest to promote Content-Creation on the iPad, I am going to write a short series of posts focusing on writing with the iPad. I will explore a few different apps to use when you want to write. "

"My good friend, fellow French teacher and colleague Sylvia Duckworth and I brainstormed the following. Sylvia has been a huge advocate for using technology in the classroom, and has actively used iPads in her classes for the past couple years. Check out her excellent website, which contains a multitude of teaching ideas using technology as a tool."

"These days, the world is at your fingertips wherever you are. Anyone with a data connection and a smartphone has literally the entire Internet in his/her pocket. However, not all apps are created equally, in terms of the amount of data that they use in order to run. This is a quick tip on how to save your data usage (and potentially quite a bit of money). The following will be especially helpful if you do not have a large data plan (more than 1Gb per month)."

"I had the pleasure once again to work together with Richard Wells from New Zealand. He recently reworked his website from iPadwells.com to eduwells.com. Give it a look if you haven't checked it out lately! 2016 has arrived and iPad pedagogy has moved a long way in 6 years. Having iPads in your classroom is no longer about which exciting apps you can all use but more about empowering your students to discover and share their own iPad solutions for every situation. This requires collaboration between peers and a flexible mindset held by all in the room, including the teacher. It's about building on new habits held by young people to connect, create and share their learning. It's also about keeping in-touch with new developments to ensure our young people are ready for a rapidly changing world. Think less about teaching delivery or a "one-app-fits-all" model, and more about 21st century habits, and the development of an innovative mindset. (See this book for more details on this) We hope these help! Richard & Steve"