Pre-training

*iPad Training Lessons
*http://www.ipadtraininglessons.com/
*One of the concerns I have about my workshop is that I will have participants who do not know the basics about the iPad device. Instead of devoting hours of valuable training time to the actual device, I hope to have users fully engaged in creating lessons with their colleagues that incorporate the iPad. Part of my training plan is to have teachers take the iPad devices home to play with for a long weekend. For those who have no knowledge about iPads, I will provide them with a list of lessons they can work with as a pre-training option. These same lessons are also found in the iTunes store and we can add them to each of the devices for the participants.
*Godwin's approach to teaching others about the iPad is very helpful. He uses plain, simple English and uses examples that all viewers can understand. Since his videos are also available for free in the iTunes store, they are more accessible. Free is also a very important aspect when looking for pre-training options for participants.

*SurveyGizmo
*http://www.surveygizmo.com
*Similar to Survey Monkey and other survey sites, Survey Gizmo allows individuals the opportunity to create needs assessment surveys for their training projects. In order to develop a better presentation, a designer should know what the audience needs to improve their practice. Survey Gizmo allows users to develop questions of multiple types and analyze the results from the responses. Users can also create polls, quizzes, and other types of forms which can allow for more assessment of knowledge. There is more to this site than just asking opinions about topics and teachers can also use the site in their classes.
*Survey Gizmo allows for questions that lead users on different paths. For example, if you have users who do not know about a topic, they will be directed to different questions. Surveys and quizzes are very easy to make and the data analysis is very easy to understand. Users can also create "fake data" to validate the instrument and see how data would be distributed through responses.

Graphic Organizer

*MindMeister
*http://www.mindmeister.com
*MindMeister allows users to create mindmaps using a wide variety of designs. These mindmaps can then be shared online with others in many different formats. The website has "thinking sessions" as a feature where individuals can invite others and collaborate in real time. There is also an integrated chat feature that users can benefit from while working on their mindmaps.
*One reason I chose this site over others is that it allows for use of mobile devices in mindmapping. Users can download an application for their iPad which allows them to create, view, and edit mindmaps without having to be at their computer. As I feel many people are turning to more mobile solutions, (and my presentation is about iPads), this feature is something other sites do not offer.

*Bubl.us
*https://bubbl.us/
*When trying to organize ideas, sometimes it is hard to piece them together with pencil and paper. This is especially true when collaborating and listening to feedback from others. A person might have a new idea later in the day or the group might agree that one topic should be moved to a different area of the brainstorming paper. With Bubbl.us, individuals can create brainstorming charts that can be easily edited and shared with others. These sessions can be printed or exported to others for sharing.
*I liked the fact that I could simply type and use very easy keyboard shortcuts to input my ideas. I did not have to use the mouse that much just to get my ideas into the brainstorm. Once all of the ideas where inside, I could easily move things around as needed to organize my ideas.

Presentation

*Prezi
*http://www.prezi.com
*If you are tired of the same bland PowerPoint presentations, Prezi is a great tool to enhance the quality of these presentations. Prezi is an online tool which allows users to edit PowerPoint type presentations and publish them for others to view. One main difference between Prezi and PowerPoint is that users can benefit from non-linear navigation. Instead of having to click from slide to slide in a traditional 1,2,3 format, Prezi allows viewers to explore ideas on their terms. That said, Prezi lacks the same printing capabilities as PowerPoint which makes it more difficult to produce handouts and notes for participants.
*Workshops are not always linear progressions from one idea to another. Sometimes you want to jump in to a topic without having to figure out from which slide to begin. By allowing users non-linear navigation, presentations are more effective and look more professional. Speakers do not bumble around "aheming" wondering where to go next, they simply click and are directly moved to the slide. The created Prezis are also iPad friendly which is an important aspect to my workshop. The pricing is economical, especially for educational users (free for all but the most expensive pro version), and allows for a lot of storage space.

*Sliderocket
*http://www.sliderocket.com
*This is another site that allows distribution of presentations through mobile devices and the internet. As LCD-projector presentations are often boring and do not capture the audience, presenters look for other ways to show off their work. Sliderocket presentations can be viewed on multiple mobile platforms including iPads and iPhones. Workshop participants can interact with the presentations instead of sitting and waiting for the presenter to go from slide to slide.
*Sliderocket allows users to import their presentations from PowerPoint or Google Docs. You can also save your work to the cloud. This is helpful when you go to rooms where you do not have your own computer. There is also a desktop presenter program that allows users to cache their presentations to a computer if the internet is not working.

Authentic assessment activity

*Rubistar
*http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
*Rubistar allows teachers to create rubrics for just about any type of activity. I would use this site to not only create my own rubrics, but have participants create their own for their classes. Our school works with authentic assessment and we often use rubrics to assess student work. One issue with rubrics is that they are time consuming to make and format. Rubistar has many premade rubrics based on different content areas. Adding this site to my presentation would allow teachers a new way to create rubrics without having to start from scratch each time. Teachers can also save their work and edit it when the need arises.
*I chose this site because of the quantity of examples and premade rubrics that are available. The ease in which a teacher can populate a rubric field also adds to the benefits of this site.

*Glogster
*http://www.glogster.com/
*On Glogster users can create multimedia "posters" that show off all of the material they have gathered from a course. Individuals can upload photos, audio, and video artifacts and arrange them on their canvass. They can also add and edit text to go along with each of the multimedia aspects. These presentations can take the place of the traditional poster boards that students have created in the past for all of their projects. In my workshop, participants can highlight their learning via these presentations without having to use traditional writing instruments.
*As students sometimes lack the means to create high quality multimedia presentations with traditional tools such as PowerPoint, Glogster steps in and fills in the gap. When you look at the presentations other users have created with Glogster, they are high quality, eye-catching items that would engage almost all learners.

My final website is a blog which reviews and discusses many of the applications that educators could benefit from in their classes. The author of the blog, Gregory Swanson, compiles a comprehensive list of important apps for various facets of the educational community. He also provides tricks and tips geared for the education community. There is also a link to another blog: http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/ which provides a video that helps teachers visualize how they could incorporate the device into their classrooms. These sites would fall into the cognitive activity realm of Mayer's (2009) theory. They are also on the low end of the cognitive activity scale. There is not as much activation of prior knowledge or structure that would enhance the learning, but they do offer information relevant to the education profession.

Located within the apple.com website, this link offers educators a variety of guides and ideas for integrating the suite of Apple products into their classrooms. One resource directly related to my workshop about the iPad device is: http://images.apple.com/education/docs/Getting_Started_with_Apple_iOS_Devices_20110912.pdf Here, users can learn about the different ways to integrate the iPad device into their lessons. There are many step by step guides for the different features of the iPad which include graphics and screen shots of the device. Similar to the first website I mentioned, this is a cognitive activity in that the users are processing how they could incorporate a device into their daily routine. After they have learned some of the procedures, they then move to behavioral activities where they manipulate the device as shown in the guides.

On this website, there are tutorials where users can learn how to use the iPad. This website goes through many of the basic features that a user would need such as setting up email accounts, downloading applications, and setting up usability functions as needed. Users contribute to the site and offer suggestions such as using the iPad with a SmartBoard in the classroom. According to Mayer (2001), this website would rely on delivery media to present the cognitive activity. The media shows users how to complete tasks using their iPad device. Users can take these tutorials and apply their new knowledge in the future, but are not actually working or completing behavioral tasks while focusing on the content.