No WiFi Required

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Tips2012:iPad App Guide #27: Tools 4 Students

Tools 4 Students is an incredibly useful iPod Touch / iPad app, providing teachers and students with 25 editable graphic organisers to organise their thinking and comprehend new information.

Students can save their work on their iPad, export to Dropbox, or email completed organisers to their teacher, who can share them via Google Docs or print them off. The app can also be projected onto an whiteboard for whole-class demonstrations and activities.

For: Teachers, Students

Cost: $0.99 – Worth every cent! (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: No.

Screenshots

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #25: Strip Designer

Strip Designer is a comic-strip creation app for the iPad which transforms your own photos (or Creative Commons Internet images) into comic-book style images through the use of strip styles, speech bubbles, stickers, and frames. Finished products can be saved to the iPad photo library, emailed, or shared on Flickr and other social networks.

For: Teachers, Students (Grades 6-12)

Cost: $2.99 (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: No

Digital Storytelling with Strip Design for iPad/iPod

Educational Applications

  • Create time-lines for historical events
  • Multimedia storytelling, novel study
  • Present research findings, or ideas  in comic-strip format
  • Showcase student photography
  • For more ideas and resources, please see the links at the end of our Comic Life post.

Further Reading

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #24: iBooks

The iBooks iPad app is so much more than a glossy bookcase. It is a place where you can share ePub e-books, PDF files, and student (and teacher) created resources; enabling users to curate & create a library of digital reading material on their iPad.

For: Teachers, Students, Administrators

Cost: Free

Requires WiFi?: No for reading. Yes for uploading and sharing content

Educational Applications

  • Share student work (in PDF or ePub format) with parents and classmates as digital portfolios or yearbooks
  • Use the Book Creator app, or iBooks Author (Mac), to create collaborative class books and teaching resources
  • Store levelled readers (e.g. www.readinga-z.com) for use in reading centres
  • Use the built-in highlighter and sticknotes to practice reading comprehension skills
  • Share digital textbooks (requires iTunes 10.5.3 or later)

Teacher Tips: How do I add material to iBooks?

To add PDF and ePub materials to iBooks on your iPad, you can import files via iTunes, import from Dropbox or GoodReader, or save files directly from Safari. It is possible to save and share students’ work in ePub format from other applications, such as Pages for Mac.

You can purchase quality eBooks from the Apple iBooks Store, or find free eBooks on Google, which may be a better option for educators.

Teachers may also like the dotePUB browser bookmarklet (available for Safari), which enables users to save ANY website as an ePub file, which can be added to iBooks via iTunes. (Tip via iPads@Burley).

Recommended Reading

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #22: “Toddler Sandbox”

Toddler Sandbox, formerly  known as “Wipe and Learn”, is an early-learning iPad app for K-2 children, which is also highly recommended for children with special needs.

“Sandbox” involves children swiping their finger across the screen to reveal a hidden picture. The word for the background picture is then spoken aloud. It requires close attention, accuracy and fine motor skills to complete successfully, making it a useful app for developing fine motor skills and word recognition.

For: Early Childhood Students, Students with Special Needs

Cost: $0.99 (Download)

Requires WiFi?: No.

Further Reading

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #21: Puppet Pals HD

Puppet Pals HD is a highly regarded animation / storytelling app for iPad, which is suitable for K-10 students, and has a variety of educational applications.

To use Puppet Pals, students select characters, settings, and a title; and then narrate a story while animating the characters and props using their fingers. You can create your own backdrops and characters using pictures from your Camera Roll, and export the finished video files to iMovie, YouTube, etc.

The app itself is free, but we highly recommend purchasing the Director’s Pass (about $3 via in-app purchase), which allows you to download and use a wider choice of characters and backdrops, including any future content. 

For: Students (Early Childhood – Secondary), English Language Learners

Cost: Free, but (recommended) Director’s Pass costs $2.99.

Dec 2012 Release – Puppet Pals 2 – $5.49 (Introductory Price)

Requires WiFi?: No.

Educational Applications

  • Create short instructional videos (in different learning areas)
  • Storytelling, News Reports, Historic Retells
  • Help reluctant public speakers present to the class
  • Help ESL students practice their fluency & language skills
  • Check out this website for some great literacy ideas!

Classroom Examples

Further Reading

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #20: Comic Life

Comics and cartoons have a HUGE range of educational applications across the primary and secondary curriculum, and can be easily integrated into a range of subject or topic areas.

Comic Life for iPad is an easy-to-use comic / cartoon creation app for students from Grades 1-12. It provides a range of templates, and enables users to import pictures (from their Camera Roll, or Creative Commons sources on the Internet), captions, and special effects (thought balloons, onomatopoeia).

This app mirrors the Windows / Mac version of Comic LIfe, and allows users to print, email, or share their comics on Facebook. Comic Life for iPad also features an “in-tray” option, which allows users to share comics with other iPad users nearby).

For: Teachers, Students (Grades 1-12)

Cost: $5.49 (Download Link)

Requires WiFi: No (only for sharing comics)

Comic Life Tutorial for iPad from Jessica Pack on Vimeo.

Educational Applications

  • Social Studies – Timelines, history retells
  • Literacy – instructions, grammar practices, story retells, information brochures
  • Science- instructions, reports on learning, explanations of concepts
  • Cartoon Tutorials for students and teachers (e.g. The Daring Librarian)
  • Food Technology – illustrated cookbooks
  • Inspiring Examples from Porchester Junior School (UK)
  • Click here for more ideas, or check out the links below!

Tutorials and Lesson Ideas

Recommended Reading

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #19: The Elements

The Elements: A Visual Exploration, by Theodore Gray, is a simply stunning iPad app with mesmerising high-definition graphics, videos, and detailed information for every element in the Periodic Table. While users can’t copy information out of the app, it is possible to save screenshots.

This app is available in American and British English versions, and is translated into French, German, and Japanese (check the description).

For: Secondary Science Teachers and Students, invaluable in Chemistry

Cost: $16 (Worth every cent, but be warned – it’s a 1.7GB download)  (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: Yes , but only to access online features)

Further Reading

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #17: Numbers

Numbers for iPad is the Apple mobile version of Excel spreadsheet, enabling users to create and edit spreadsheets and data-entry forms (similar to Google Forms) on the iPad. This app will be useful for teachers and students, particularly in business and economics; but is probably best used for editing existing spreadsheets.

Files can be exported (via email) to Numbers for Mac, Microsoft Excel, or PDF; but can only be removed from the iPad via iTunes or WebDAV. SendToDropbox is useful too (via @samgliksman).

For: Teachers, Secondary Students, Administrators

Cost: $10.49AUD (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: No

Educational Applications

  • Business, Economics class
  • Financial Records
  • Data Entry Forms (eg. Attendence, surveys)

 Tutorials

Numbers for iPad (Alternative Tutorial)
Creating Forms in Numbers on the iPad – Video

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #13: Keynote

Keynote for iPad, part of the iWork app suite, is a beautiful and powerful presentation tool, which is almost as good as the Mac desktop version. Users can create slideshows for projects, professional presentations, etc using the built-in templates, graphics, and animations.

Presentations can be shared on external displays or projectors using a VGA adaptor and Keynote Remote ($0.99). Presentation files can be synced to your computer via iTunes, or sent via Email.

For: Teachers, Students, Administrators

Cost: $10.49 AUD (Download)

Requires Wifi?: No

Educational Applications

  • Presentations for projects, school assemblies, PD workshops
  • Animate slides to share thinking, research, science experiment results, and persuasive writing presentations (@MsMagiera)

Recommended Reading

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #12: GarageBand

GarageBand turns your iPad (iPhone, iPod) into a full-featured (touch-screen) recording studio, where you can play instruments, record music, and share songs / podcasts via iTunes or email. It includes a music library (including sound effects, instrumental loops); and was recently updated to allow up to four players play or jam together.

With the iPad Camera Connection Kit (around $10 on eBay) you can even connect and play your own instruments (guitar, keyboard) through USB in GarageBand, or record audio using a USB microphone headset. Garageband is suitable for beginning to advanced users, although it takes time to learn its full potential.

GarageBand for iPad is ideal for music, songwriting, podcasting, or simply jamming with your own (virtual) band! It truly is a must-have app!

For: Teachers, Students

Cost: $4.99 (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: No

 Educational Applications

  • Create alternative movie soundtracks
  • Broadcast radio “news reports”
  • Create educational raps & play music
  • Click here for more great ideas & lessons
BHS iPad Band

Further Reading


Excellent GarageBand Video Tutorial (40 mins)

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #11: Pages

Pages is a feature-rich word processing app for iPad. Users can select from a range of pre-formatted templates, or create a document from scratch. Best used with an external keyboard, Pages is quick and easy to use, and is ideal for typing up notes, creating new documents, etc.

It offers options to export documents (via email) in Pages format (for Mac), Microsoft Word, or PDF, ensuring that they can be read on different platforms. A recent (2013) update finally enables users to open Pages documents in other apps, including Dropbox.  

For: Teachers, Students, Administrators

Cost: $10.49 AUD (Download Link)

Requires Wifi?: No

Educational Applications

  • A useful replacement for Microsoft Word – which negates the need to leave class to go to the computer lab.
  • Word processing applications (handouts, notes)
  • Useful templates for posters, letters, etc.
  • Create ePubs, or eBooks – to share on the iPad

Further Reading

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #8: Toontastic

Toontastic is a play-based storytelling / animation / cartoon creation iPad app for young children (K-3). It enables children to create stories using their own voice and drawings; and provides them with a safe online environment to share their cartoons with authentic global audiences on ToonTube.

To find out more about Toontastic’s learning goals, please visit their website.

For: Students, particularly (but not restricted to) Early Childhood

Cost: FREE! (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: No

Educational Applications

  • Reader’s Theatre
  • Cartooning
  • Story Writing (teaches storytelling elements)
  • Develop oral language skills & vocabulary (helpful for ESL)
  • Tell number stories in Maths
  • See the “Toontastic for Teachers” website for more ideas!

Video Tutorial: Toontastic

Further Reading

How do you use Toontastic in your classroom? 

We’d love to hear your thoughts! 

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #6: iMovie

iMovie is an easy to use, touch based, video editing app for iPad. It enables students and teachers to create professional looking movies, incorporating video, photos, music, and sound effects. It was recently updated to enable users to create incredibly realistic movie trailers!

To get started, we highly recommend iMovie Basics, which gives teachers a great starting point for learning how to use iMovie in class.

For: Teachers and Students

Price: $4.99    Download Link

Requires WiFi?: No

Educational Applications

  • Digital Storytelling (Scriptwriting, storyboarding)
  • Recording special educational events
  • Greenscreen presentations (advanced users)
  • Create short documentaries / tutorials (e.g. in Science)
  • The possibilities are endless!

Classroom Examples

Further Reading

How do YOU use iMovie in the classroom?

We’d love to hear your thoughts!