iPad in Education

I am NOT interested in using the iPad with my students as a worksheet substitution! Kill and drill apps on the iPad are still just that… kill and drill activities. I want my students to : use apps to create, not just consume fluently pick apps that will serve their purpose fluently switch between apps, then insert, embed, share and disseminate their creations We have to expose students to a variety of apps to help them gain skills in iPad Fluency By fluency I mean the ability to: connect tasks effortless together (ex.creating and editing a video, then uploading, embedding and disseminating on several platforms) CREATE and then being able to COMMUNICATE- the ability to create and communicate your creation is one of the main characteristics of fluency record, edit and then publish a movie that automatically posts to my blog take an image…edit…then automatically post to my photo stream as well as embed into a blog post work within several apps, then remix content from each one by being able to import them from one app to another.

Story Wheel is an app for the iPad and iPhone that is designed to promote audio storytelling. Spin the Story Wheel on your device and when it lands on an image, dictate a short story based on that image. When you are finished recording, you can play your story back with animations generated by Story Wheel.

What it is:  Word Dynamo is a superb site from Dictionary.com.  Word Dynamo makes learning new words a whole lot of fun. Here is how it works: 1.  Answer 10 questions and Word Dynamo will calculate how many words a student knows. This is your word score. The word score adjusts as you learn new words, Word Dynamo helps give students study “shortcuts” to learn new words faster. 2.  Word Challenge- in word challenge students are offered a custom 20-level game designed especially for their skill level.  As students master meanings, they unlock the next threshold of difficulty. 3.  The Word Dynamo Library- here students can browse and search for things they need to learn.  Students can choose to practice by schooling level, SAT prep, subject or popular word lists. 4.  Play Games- students can practice vocabulary by matching terms and definitions, listening to the word and definition, spell a word out in a crossword puzzle, etc. New challenges are unlocked as students succeed! 5.  Create a Word List- this one is my favorite, I love that students can create their own lists based on what they need to work on.

Tips: The Quick Tour will lead you through all the Word Dynamo goodies and have you ready to use it with your students in no time!  Word Dynamo looks and works well on the iPad and iPod Touch browser…great for vocabulary practice anywhere.

Here are some possible ideas to create content: Any Unit of Study Book Report Anthology Poem Anthology Visual Quotes Collection Create your own Textbook Essay Collection about a Specific Topic Drawing/Painting Collection Portfolio

So, how do you create a collaborative CLASSROOM eBook? If you only have one iPad available, it is not such a big problem.  Each student waits for a turn to add their page(s) (or double page) to the book as the iPad gets passed around. What if you have a class set of iPads and you want all your students working on their pages at the same time? Here is our Step-by-Step procedure (we are using the BookCreator app).

Reference

Dictionary.com (iTunes link)Wikipedia (iTunes link)Qwiki (iTunes link)IMDB (iTunes link)

Find & Collect Data & Ideas

MindMash is a brainstorming & note-taking application for the iPad. It allows users to create an ideas mash-up by combining and manipulating text, images & drawings on the iPad in a visual and free-form manner. MindMash turns the iPad into a canvas of ideas for students, bloggers, writers, designers, and other creative individuals.