Group items tagged

With more schools opting for 1:1 student-to-iPad access, there exists a tremendous opportunity for a transformative shift in classrooms where students are empowered to navigate their own learning. While we've witnessed many effective approaches to incorporating iPads successfully in the classroom, we're struck by the common mistakes many schools are making with iPads, mistakes that are in some cases crippling the success of these initiatives. We're sharing these common challenges with you, so your school doesn't have to make them. 1) Focusing on content apps 2) Lack of Teacher Preparation in Classroom Management of iPads 3) Treating the iPad as a computer and expecting it to serve as a laptop. 4) Treating iPads like multi-user devices 5) Failure to communicate a compelling answer to "Why iPads?"

"Do NOT allow the iPads to live in mobile carts - when I see an iPad in a cart, I see money being burned. The carts should be where the iPads sleep when school is closed. This is where they re-charge. But there should be a school-wide routine that as soon as kids enter a room with an iPad cart, they each walk up to the cart and get their assigned iPad. They should keep that iPad on their desk until the end of the day and return it to the cart as they walk out of the classroom. iPads should be as essential to a student desk as pencils were 20 years ago. Teachers (and kids) will be much more likely to pick up and use the devices if they're right there, as opposed to having to plan to take them out and use them for "tech time" and then put them away. Think about how you use mobile tech in your everyday life - you pull your phone out of your pocket to look up information when it's relevant, rather than waiting until your "computer time" later in the week. Students should be able to do the same."

Over the last few years K-12 schools and districts across the country have been investing heavily in iPads for classroom use. EdTechTeacher has been leading iPad professional development at many of these schools and we've seen firsthand how they approach iPad integration. While we've witnessed many effective approaches to incorporating iPads successfully in the classroom, we're struck by the common mistakes many schools are making with iPads, mistakes that are in some cases crippling the success of these initiatives. We're sharing these common challenges with you, so your school doesn't have to make them.

iPads helping or hindering infants? http://t.co/hkiCAD9y via @canberratimes #mobilelead Dr Kaufman said the study, which had so far tested 46 children aged four to six, involved examining the attention and problem-solving capabilities of children after using an iPad compared to using real toys. For example, as part of the study, children are being asked to solve a problem using a physical wooden model. They are also asked to solve the same problem using an iPad app. After they have played, they are given a test to assess their attention. Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/digital-life/tablets/ipads-helping-or-hindering-infants-20120809-23xc9.html#ixzz2HdGhnTld

I'll go ahead and say it - I think the discussion on the iPad and Pedagogy needs to go further. Too many posts (and I am guilty of this too) focus on, "check out this cool app", or "did you know the iPad can do this"; you've all seen them. I really feel we are past the time where we should be looking at the functionality of the iPad as a device and be looking at it in a way which ensures we are looking more at how learning can be redefined and modified through the use of the iPad.

Educational Flash web sites aside, the iPad is a great device for browsing the internet. At the heart of this is Apple's flagship browser, Safari. Overall, Safari is a capable browser on the iPad but there is some functionality missing from the app when compared to its big brother on Macs. Fortunately, iOS has enough tricks available for third party apps to fill in the gaps that Safari for iPad doesn't address. Here are three alternative browsers that I use regularly to perform tasks I think are necessary for educational use and general use that I can't do using Apple's default browser.

"I was thinking recently how inconvenient it was not to have a general term for iPhones, iPads, and the corresponding things running Android. The closest to a general term seems to be "mobile devices," but that (a) applies to any mobile phone, and (b) doesn't really capture what's distinctive about the iPad. After a few seconds it struck me that what we'll end up calling these things is tablets. The only reason we even consider calling them "mobile devices" is that the iPhone preceded the iPad. If the iPad had come first, we wouldn't think of the iPhone as a phone; we'd think of it as a tablet small enough to hold up to your ear."

"We all know that we can share via iTunes over USB to any Mac/PC with a recent version of iTunes. Well would you believe the same thing works without a cable and it doesn't have to be the Mac/PC that manages the devices. It means that any teacher can access all the students files on a device that has been "Saved to iTunes".  You can even pick up the work, mark it and hand it back to the iPad whilst the iPad is still being used by the kids (unbeknown to the user!). As consumers we can sync over wifi and share files via iTunes. You can do this with a class set of iPads by attaching each device once to the teacher's computer and checking the "sync over wifi" option and "enable". Don't sync -just unplug each device. Provided you are on the same network, you can then open and close files on the class set from your computer."

"Welcome to the Holland Christian wiki supporting iPads in education. We are excited to see how this technology can improve teaching and learning. Right now our teachers are doing a pilot test of iPads at each grade level. We hope to share our experiences with iPad in this wiki. This also be a place to share resources for applications and tips for use."

With iOS 5 you can now use AirPlay to "mirror" your entire iPad screen and display or project it. All that is required is an iPad 2, the new iOS operating system and an Apple TV (which sells for around $100) that connects to any TV, monitor or projector with an HDMI interface. You can project your iPad with a couple of simple steps ... and it works wirelessly! Here's how:

The final report of the iPad Scotland Evaluation undertaken for schools and local authorities in Scotland was released by the Technology Enhanced Learning Group based in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hull in October. 8 primary and secondary schools were assigned to participate the research by local authorities, the approximate number of iPads in pilot is 365

Nice to see that we do all of these things already! As the iPad is currently the 'class leader' in education, there are many educators who have found themselves with an iPad to 'see what it can do?' The challenge is to demonstrate enhanced learning, so here are ten suggestions that may help:

article talking about both the iPad 2 (which isn't out yet) and a rumored iPad 3 in the fall (????)

iCell for iPad Gives Students 3D Views of Cells http://t.co/bB3nrGZ6

Nice, free app for students to explore cells.

Reading online content later when offline is not something new, but a new free app for the iPad gets us rethinking our daily Internet browsing.

good for PE teachers (and others).... slow motion filming on the iPad

I had the wonderful app-ortunity to make a site visit to Westlake H.S. in Eanes ISD on Wednesday February 1st. When we arrived, various campus and district officials shared some background on the student-centered learning initiative. They focused on multiple benefits of the 1:1 iPad initiative where high school seniors were issued iPads like textbooks at the beginning of the year. In a time where global communication, inquiry-based opportunities, and self-directed learning is how students manage the information revolution, it was refreshing to get to observe an iLearning Utopia.

"Below you will find links to iPad applications that target the various levels of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. I only included free apps that were "content-neutral" to make them usable across the curriculum. I also tried to include apps for the iPad only, but a few iPhone apps may have snuck in!"

great cheat sheet for imovie on the ipads