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"Over the course of the year, staff at this school will be receiving a significant amount of professional development to help them better utilize the technology that is available to them. The focus of my session was iOS Apps for professional development. I scrolled through my iPad and made a list of the Apps that I use on a regular basis to help me learn and develop as an educator. Here's what I came up with:"

"One of the classroom tasks that has been transformed the most with the introduction of the iPad is making music. The intuitive interface of many of the apps developed for music means that even a determined amateur can easily produce music of professional quality. Expensive as these apps may seem they allow you to create professional quality music for a fraction of the price of actual recording equipment. "

"Welcome to the Grant Wood AEA iPad Professional Development website. Here you will find a whole variety of training resources that are designed to help you better integrate the iPad in schools. Browse through our workshops, check out our tutorials, and feel free to email us with any suggestions you have for future additions to the site."

"Educators are beginning to see the potential of using mobile devices and apps for ongoing professional development as well as to improve literacy and cognitive development for learners. Apps are equipped with several features that motivate learners to create stories, presentations, and projects that are hands-on and use their creativity as well as their critical thinking skills. Once an app is downloaded, many features can be accessed without an Internet connection. Educators can also use various apps at conferences to connect with other educators or capture a presentation. Below are the various apps nominated by teachers for an Edublog Award so they must be worth checking out. Each has a link and a description. Make sure to check out the Edublog Awards for blogs, wikis, and web tools that teachers worldwide have recommended."

"Based on the feedback we received from our staff, we decided to officially start our professional development with 'iPad Basics' or as we called it, 'iPad Tips & Tricks.' The goal of the PD was to get teachers comfortable with their iPads so that they could become more confident and start experimenting with them in their classrooms. Because we know our teachers are not all at the same place, we created 3 levels of the training. We are offering the sessions on three consecutive Mondays and you can read more about the planning process here."

"The iPad is quickly becoming a superb tool for a whole host of different professionals, with new apps and developments improving its capacity every month. Apple has pushed hard to make the new iPad even more appealing to photographers, the gorgeous display an absurdly tempting proposition."

"Last Thursday was a great day of professional development as 30 educators from around the Northwest visited Westside's iPad Open House. This was an opportunity for IT directors, teachers and administrators to see students in action and learn about the process of deploying a 1-to-1 iPad program."

"With the end of the school year, Apple is taking the opportunity to remind schools and educators about a free professional development program that it's offering. Called the Tune In Series, the program is a series of webcast events covering the iPad and many of the technologies that Apple introduced during its education event in January. The series is running every week through the end of August."

"An iPad is a toolbox that gets filled with tools such as apps, is a portal to communication and collaboration with others, and when guided by teachers who have been appropriately trained, students become truly engaged and motivated critical thinkers. Working with Tony Vincent and our Technology Team, our teachers will receive the professional development and support to successfully carry out our goals."

"I stumbled across a great free app the other day. Haiku Deck bills itself as the alternative to Keynote and Powerpoint. After trying it out, it was very easy to use. I will be sure to use it the next time I present at a conference or professional development session. I immediately tried it out in a classroom of fourth graders who thought it was a slick app to make vocabulary cards with a little encouragement. "

"Despite it's erroneous claims to be "the first professional synthesizer designed for the iPad", a PR statement which has caused a flurry of disgruntled comments from some of the music press and a number of very fine iOS Developers, Animoog by Moog Music Inc is definitely a great sounding Synth app with a fine looking UI."

"After stumbling upon the article, "Switch to e-books was 'an unmitigated disaster,' says school principal," in my feed this past week, it occurred to me that there are increasingly predictable patterns surrounding stories of failed "innovation" in digital learning initiatives. Schools have been assigning computers to each child for some time now. And still, we continue to see stories like this in the media. In short: we can do better than this."

"The jury is still out on school iPad deployments"