For the latest details on the rollout of the Australian Curriculum, please visit: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/.
For: Australian Teachers
Cost: Free (Download Link)
Requires WiFi?: Not for general use, but requires WiFi to include the very latest content.
The Brushes app is a beautiful professional painting app for the iPad. With realistic colours, hues, saturation, and colour-mixing, and advanced editing options, this app is ideal for art teachers and students.
Brushes even records your brush strokes while painting, saving your actions as a file which you can download off the web, and view in Brushes Viewer, a free application for Mac OS X.
For more information, please visit the official site: http://www.brushesapp.com.
For: Teachers, Students (Upper Primary – Secondary)
Cost: $8.49 AUD (Download Link)
Requires Wifi?: No
Further Reading
Apple iPad art: portraits created by David Kassan using the Brushes app – The Telegraph
TeacherKit, formerly known as TeacherPal is a simple, free iPhone/iPad app for recording student attendance, behaviour, and grades across multiple grades.
Teachers can simply set up student profiles, including photos and relevant personal information (e.g. allergies, parent contact details), and import/export student assessment data (in Excel .csv format) via Dropbox.
With over 500 000+ downloads, and ranked in Apple’s Top 10 Educational Apps, TeacherPal is well worth experimenting with before purchasing paid alternatives.
For more information, we recommend the official website: http://teacherkit.net
For: Teachers (K-12)
Cost: Free (Download Link)
Requires WiFi?: Not for everyday use, but required to sync to DropBox.
Shakespeare in Bits brings Shakespeare to life on your iPhone, iTouch, and iPad through animated, narrated re-enactments of The Bard’s most popular plays.
Highly recommended by secondary English teachers, the app includes full study notes, plot summaries, character notes, and language explanations, helping students better understand and appreciate the plays.
The app itself is free; however, teachers will need to download the plays via in-app purchase at a cost of $15.99 AUD each. (There is a volume licensing option for the USA)
For: Secondary English teachers and students.
Cost: Plays available via in-app purchase (see above). Download Link
Requires WiFi?: Yes, but only for initial download of the plays
Jude the “Living Statue”: A boy who makes a difference….
This inspiring i-Story started with some emails in response to the TIPS2012 blog. Jude and his mum Tania asked questions about using iPads in schools in India and how to cope in settings with no WiFi network.
I directed them to the resources on the blog, and a while later received this email…
Dear Jenny, …
Thank you all so much for supporting Jude “The Living Statue” in raising money for an iPad for an Indian school. He raised a total £220 – which is quite amazing and inspiring, especially as it was all his own idea to do this.
The iPad caused huge amount of excitement and the children kept looking at their fingers when they were drawing/writing on the iPad, as they couldn’t understand why there wasn’t ink on them!
Here are some photos of Jude showing the kids at the school how an iPad works.
We spent hours at a rather nice hotel in the local town, using their free wifi to download some educational apps.
Thanks to the wonders of the internet, and Australian Dr Jenny Lane of iPad project in schools, we found some fantastic apps that can be used without wifi. Especially good were the animations and puppet shows with self recorded narration, which are great for story telling, imagination and those not confident in speaking English – plus they are lots of fun.
Thank you all again for your support…
Tania & Jude
Tania, Jude`s mother comments “I am amazed he had so much courage to stand on Ledbury Road, which is quite a busy street in Notting Hill. I am very proud of him and very happy for you to include on your blog – which was so helpful for us.”
Living Statutes
A frequently asked question is “How do I transfer items created on my iPad to other devices?” This leads to the issue of workflows and document management on an iPad.
In this i-Story, Doug Lauder shares his thoughts on how to share content created on iPads. Doug works in education supporting teachers as they use technology.
He will be presenting on document sharing and workflows on iPads at the M-Learning in Education@ECU Twilight events on the 5th & 6th June at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. These events are free for teachers and pre-service teachers. If you would like to join us use the booking link below:
Booking Form for the M-Learning in Education@ECU Twilight Events
iPad and sharing content in the classroom.
The most noteworthy aspect of the iPad is its’ simplicity. When providing Professional Development to teaching staff I normally ask that they forget everything they have learnt before about operating computers. I also ask that they leave behind any preconceptions of how the device works at the door. Don’t over complicate, just tap to get going.
But this is not easy, especially after many years of learning why file structure is important, how a “Home” folder works, and why “housekeeping” is not confined to just your house.
It is this file handling that is missing from the iPad, and it seems that it is Apple who are standing firm here, and for good reason. After all why do you need a music folder when you have iTunes? Pictures and video can be organised very well in the Camera Roll. Word processing now starts and finishes with Pages. But of course, there are times when we need to leave the Apple walled garden, for example; to collect, mark and return two dozen essays, animations or videos.
Email in the classroom
There are many apps which allow for content creation, notably iMovie and Garageband but also Sonic Pics, Comic Life and Photoshop Touch. How can I gather all of this media for assessment? Email is the quick solution, but this method is of no use if the iPad is a shared iPad with no email account assigned to the Mail app. As the recipient of 15-25 emails with attachments, the process is not practical either. Below I will illustrate a workflow which will work for a class set of iPads or a student personal iPad:
1. The Share Icon – to Camera Roll
This little icon is the key and there is one share destination which appears more than most and that is the Camera Roll. If we can export media to the local Camera Roll it is easy to get that to a conventional folder.
2. Dropbox
Dropbox currently have more than 50 million users, they are the cloud storage experts. App developers acknowledge this, and many are happy to allow direct export to the Dropbox app (if installed) from within their app (eg, Explain Everything). If the export to Dropbox isn’t an option from the Share icon simply choose Camera Roll (sometimes called Photo Roll).
3. Upload from Camera Roll to Dropbox
Dropbox allows you to upload content from your Camera Roll to a Dropbox folder of your choice. A good place for students to upload their work may be to a folder which is shared with the teachers personal account. That way the teacher can asses the work from iPhone, PC or Mac at his/her own leisure.
Drawbacks
Unfortunately all students who drop final projects into a shared folder can view the contents of that folder too. (and as yet it is not possible to create write only permissions to Dropbox folders). This isn’t a problem if you are using a shared class set of iPads in any case. But if each student has their own iPad, I would recommend that they open their own Dropbox account. That way you will be able to keep private folders with each student, if privacy is a must.
Conclusion
It may sound like I am on commission from Dropbox! But at this intermediate stage (between Lion – Mountain Lion and the expansion of iCloud) I don’t see a plausible workflow which replaces the file structure Dropbox allows us. Looking closely at iPhoto (for iPad) reveals a sharing option called Beam. Could this become standard for iPad communication in the future?
The workflow diagram above illustrates my favourite apps and how I transfer files around. I’m sure that I may have overlooked some “share paths” but I hope that it helps.
http://isupport.com.au
Doug Loader
DocumentsToGo is one of several file management apps which enable users to view, edit, and create Microsoft Office 2007-2010 documents, (PDFs, and iWork files) on their iPad.
DocumentsToGo comes in two formats – DocumentsToGo and DocumentsToGo Premium, with the Premium version enabling users to edit PowerPoint files, and work with online files stored in Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, iDisk, etc. Both versions work with iTunes and the new DocumentsToGo desktop application to keep your files in sync with your home / work computer.
This app works as advertised, but is really only useful for teachers and students who need to edit Microsoft Office documents on their iPads. Everyday users will be better off using the Apple iWork Pages and Keynote apps.
For: Teachers, Administrators, Students (Upper Primary to Secondary)
Cost: Documents To Go ($10.45AUD) Docs To Go Premium ($17.99AUD)
Requires Wifi?: Yes, to sync files with your home computer / cloud services
QuickGraph is simply the best graphing calculator app for the iPhone and iPad. Using a simple visual & touch interface, this app makes it easy to enter, edit, and visualise 2D and 3D algebraic equations and inequalities (optional) in all standard coordinate systems. Graphs can be copied, emailed, and saved to the iPad photo library.
Please click here for a complete technical description of QuickGraph’s capabilities. Some optional features, including the ability to project visualisations on your interactive whiteboard, are available via a $1.99 in-app purchase.
For: Secondary Teachers and Students
Cost: Free (Download Link), some advanced features available via in-app purchase
Requires WiFi?: No
Livebinders is a web application which makes it easy for teachers to curate and organise their favourite online education resources (and uploaded PDF / Word documents) in virtual 3 ringed binders, which can then be shared on virtual ‘shelves’ – accessible for free – anywhere, anytime.
The Livebinders iPad app enables users to view and edit their livebinders on their iPads using their Safari web browser. And as an added benefit, the Livebinders website hosts a public library of shared binders covering a wide range of learning areas and topics. These collections are an ideal resource for busy teachers.
For: Teachers, Administrators
Cost: Free (Download Link). Requires iOS 5.0.1 or later.
Requires WiFi?: Yes
Collate professional learning and educational resources by topics of interest, eg.:
Create convenient places for students to find important information during & outside of school (eg. homework assignments, helpful research resources, etc.
iPads open up exciting opportunities for teachers and students to self-publish and share their own books with authentic audiences. While iBooks Author (Mac) & Creative Book Builder (iPad) are good options, the most intuitive and professional app we’ve found to date remains Book Creator for iPad.
This app makes it easy for teachers, and students (Grade 1 and older) to create and publish their own storybooks, projects, textbooks, cookbooks, etc using their own photos, text, audio (included recorded speech), and video. The recent update to V 2.4 allows users to include hyperlinks, and combine books / chapters to create collaborative texts. (Requires iOS6).
Finished books can be saved to Dropbox, iBooks, and Evernote, or sent to your computer as an ePub or high quality PDF file. They can be imported back into the app for further collaborative editing, or submitted to the Apple iBooks Store, where they can be shared with the world.
For: Students (Primary to Secondary), Teachers
Cost: $5.49 AU (Download Link)
Requires WiFi?: No
Educational Applications
Further Reading
The iTunes U app gives teachers and students access to 500 000+ educational resources, including videos, course materials, and podcasts. Originally created to share content from top universities and colleges, such as Harvard, Cambridge, and Stanford, iTunes U was recently opened up to K-12 schools and educators.
This app allows teachers to integrate iTunes U learning materials into their subject areas, and even create their own learning area courses – including podcasts, quizzes, lessons, etc, and share them with the world.
We highly recommend teachers explore the possibilities of this free app, and discover what teaching materials are available for their learning areas, and year levels. There is currently a great deal of material suitable for secondary classes, and a growing body of materials for primary year levels.
For: Teachers, Students (K-12)
Cost: Free (Download Link)
Requires WiFi?: Yes.
Educational Applications
Please share your ideas for integrating iTunes U content into your classroom in the comments below!
Further Reading
An exciting new feature on the TPACK iPad Project is “Teachers’ Voices”, featuring teachers` stories and experiences with iPads in education.
Please send me your stories we can all learn from your experiences. If you would like to share your story and be featured on this blog, please email: Jenny Lane (j.lane@ecu.edu.au), and include “Tips2012: Teachers’ Voices” in the title.
Please indicate if I have permission to include your name, and the name of your school. If you would prefer to be anonymous, let me know. Your story will become part of the data collected in the research collection and will inform our work with teachers.
An iStory from Richard (@rhp123)
We are a small, independent primary school in NSW. Our school has been pursuing the idea of achieving 1:1 for several years. Our stance has been around the idea of making technology accessible to students and teachers as required. Our motivation for doing this was an evolving one, but at the core was the idea that Technology could enhance learning and create new learning opportunities.
In the dim past we had a computer room. Which consisted of fourteen Apple machines networked and connected precariously to a 28K modem. It was the late nineties and Apple was floundering so we transitioned to PC and escaped from the confines of a computer room moving into a network which threaded it’s way through the school. Small groups of PCs scattered conveniently in shared spaces. Over time the mobile banks of laptops (Windows based) have evolved into our main technological delivery system along with interactive Smartboard equipped classrooms. In 2010 we achieved 1:1 with our Year 6 classes and in 2011 we added 1:2 committed resources to our Year 5 students.
Reading and discussions with various educators had drawn us toward the idea of tablets. I had an Android phone so our first investigation was into Android tablets, which we trialled and tested. The iPad also seemed to be getting rave reviews and many educational institutions were adopting them in the US (not that that was really a compelling reason).
The iPad was by far the best device we tried.
So we committed to the idea of the iPad as a technological vehicle to help drive change and improve the learning opportunities of our students. This involved changing from a Windows environment to an Apple environment. It involved exploring management issues. It involved investigating iTunes and trialling apps. It involved the idea of moving into the cloud and away from traditional networks. It involved raising funds to achieve implementation. It involved upgrading aspects of our network. It involved extensive discussion, collaboration and research.
We launched our iPad initiative with 45 iPads which we distributed both for staff and students. A key part of our launch was to engage staff and familiarize them with the iPads. One of the greatest challenges faced is to involve teachers in change. Especially change which isn’t in the traditional repertoire.
Providing many teachers with iPads certainly moved the swing of the pendulum towards technology. The other positive about iPads from the teacher perspective was that it wasn’t too alien as many teachers were already using iPhones. At any rate teachers found the operating system easy to use and in no way daunting. This provided impetuous to our effort. We had been unable to equip all teachers with individual iPads and they all wanted them.
Students were equally eager and familiar with the iPads as many had iPod Touch, iPhones, or iPads already. They are also the most desired device in the “Must Have” category at the moment.
Our initial roll out was primitive because we didn’t commit to a management system as we were waiting to see what iOS 5 had to offer. A single profile was created and this proved to be satisfactory for our trial. Our lack of a management system created problems in terms of updating our operating system. We had to update all 45 individually. It also meant that we couldn’t manage individual devices or individualize devices to any extent.
We realized fairly early that iPads particularly for older students (upper primary) and for teachers needed to be set up as individual devices. We have now invested in a management system “Casper” which provides a reasonable degree of control at a reasonable cost.
The engagement of students and of teachers with the iPads and the possibilities that the iPad offers for the integration of technology into programs across the school provided a compelling argument for the expansion of the iPad initiative. As already observed we recognized that the needs of some students and their use of iPads would be different.
Our next faze (which is currently underway) will see the implementation of a 1:1 iPad roll out for Year 5 & 6 students. This will enable individualization of iPads for this group and this will particularly enable the integration of devices with “The Cloud”. Services such as Dropbox, Otixo, Evernote, Google Docs, and email require individualization and need to be set up for each student in order to be really effective on the iPad. We will also accommodate all full time teaching staff and provide a versatile supply for various other student user groups from Preschool to Year 4.
One of the negatives of the iPads has been that there isn’t volume licensing available to schools in Australia yet. This means that under the current Apple Licensing Agreement each device needs to purchase its own apps. We will provide the essential Apple apps to our students Pages, Keynote, Numbers, GarageBand and iMovie. The cost of these alone per device is around $40.00AUD.
We consider that if we are investing in an Apple product we should provide an understanding of the Apple platform to our students as we have done with Microsoft. Clearly we are grateful that many excellent apps are free or relatively cheap.
iPads are great, but they are just a new tool in our technological arsenal. We remain committed to providing access to a robust Windows network of laptops and peripherals for use across the school. To this end we are considering options around our mobile Windows devices. We have a good supply of Dell Netbooks which we have been using for the last two years, however new possibilities in terms of hardware are appearing. One of the great appeals of the iPad is its portability and interactivity. We are taking a look at some Windows based tablets.
I must stress that our school isn’t fixated on technology. We are fixated on our students. We are evaluating our learning environments, exploring best practice and implementing change where we perceive benefit. iPads are just an element in our journey towards achieving “success” for our students.
Thanks to Richard Prowse for sharing his inspiring i-Story.
View flash files on an iPad!!
iSwifter is a browser app that allows you to view flash files on your iPad. You open the app and enter the URL of the site you want to view. This allows you to view flash video content and play some flash based games.
It is not perfect and initially tages take a while to load but mostly it does the job. The company also makes a (Free) browser app for education called Rover.
For: Teachers, Students (Primary to Secondary)
Cost: Free for 7 days (link) but then upgrade to paid version. Alternatively, download the Rover education browser for free.
Requires WiFi?: Yes
Management Tip
Streaming can flow more smoothly than browsing.
Please help us to build these resources for teachers by supporting the research. Click here to complete a short survey and enter the draw to win an iTunes voucher.
Check the students’ understanding before, during and after a lesson.
Pinnion is an online polling and an audience response app. There are versions for iPads, iPhones and Andriod devices. You can create surveys and quizzes, and share a link via email or Twitter. There is even a WordPress plug-in for your blog.
For: Teachers, Students (Primary to Secondary)
Cost: free for launch
Requires WiFi?: Yes
Management Tip
How to use Pinnion
Explain Everything This is the screen casting app that I am using with the TIPS research project schools. It provides a way for students to create and produce their own resources and share their learning.
Many teachers use this app to deliver instructional content to students. You can capture your lesson with diagrams, demonstrations typed or drawn and annotated pictures. This is easily shared with students to view as many times as they need at home or at school.
* Note: Google Drive integration is coming in imminent release of EE v2.0 in late Jan 2013)
Suitable for primary to secondary classes, Explain Everything is integrated with Evernote, Dropbox, and Google Drive; making it very easy to import materials (e.g. pictures, slides, documents) from your computer or the internet (including your web browser!).
Explain Everything is the only screen-casting app which allows users to choose where they export and share their work. Screencast movies, and EE project files, can be emailed, or saved to the iPad Camera Roll, Evernote, and Dropbox. This allows users to collaboratively edit project files, and choose a service to host their video online (e.g. YouTube).
With advanced editing options, including the abilities to create multiple slides, feature live websites, and use visual aids (eg. arrows, laser pointer), Explain Everything remains the most versatile screen-casting app in the Apple Store, and comes highly recommended by iPad educators around the world.
In response to common complaints about the length of time required to render EE project files to movie formats, Explain Everything recently released the Explain Everything Compressor for Mac OS X (10.7 / 10.8 only). This paid app ($14.99) enables users to render EE videos on their computer – saving a considerable amount of time. (Click here for an alternative non-Mac solution – via EdTechTeacher).
For: Teachers, Students (Primary to Secondary)
Cost: $2.99 AUD (Download Link). (VPP Option)
Requires WiFi?: Yes, but only for access to full functionality and web-sharing.
Please help us to build these resources for teachers by supporting the research. Click here to complete a short survey and enter the draw to win an iTunes voucher.
