Tips 2012 Professional Learning #17:Getting started with iPads?

One of the most frequently asked questions that I receive is “how do I get started using iPads in my classroom?”.
The next question I get asked is “I know the basics but what is the next step? How do I integrate this technology into my teaching to make a difference in learning outcomes?”<

 

In response to these questions I have prepared two preconference workshops that I will be offering at the ACEC conference in Perth on the 2 October. The morning workshop “Getting started with iPads” gives an overview of how to set up and begin using iPads effectively in classrooms.

 

In the afternoon workshop we will look at ways of “Integrating iPads into the curriculum”. We will discuss and create resources that teachers can use in their teaching. The designing of workflows to import and export materials from mobile devices will be one of the topics we will explore.

These workshops are also open to those who cannot attend the full conference. You can book on the conference website.

 

Thanks to all who attended the workshops we had two amazing groups of enthusiastic educators. Many thanks to the fabulous teachers Louise, Kym and Anna and Jamie and the crew from Winthrop who helped me facilitate the groups as the enrolments to these workshops kept increasing.

 

The spirit of sharing and collaboration made these workshops  a very worthwhile learning experience for  all. I am sharing the workshop resources through an edmodo site. To access the resources set up a personal edmodo account. This is free. Search for the group titled Jenny lane and join it. The code for the group is mom1q0. ( last letter is the digit 0). Please contribute by adding your comments thoughts and ideas.

Jenny

Tips 2012 Professional Learning #16:Creating and sharing learning online

One of the ways to create interactive online experiences is to use a learning management system (LMS). This is much easier than you think and is a great way to use mobile learning devices in daily classroom practice. These systems now incorporate social networking so students can create and share their learning as part of professional learning networks. There are a range of these, today I am discussing two free LMS systems designed for classroom use. Edmodo and Schoology.  I am seeing excellent use of  these systems in classrooms. Teachers can post tasks and assessments online in the password protected space they have created for their students. They can give parents access to sections of the site so parents can view the work. Students can access this work anywhere, anytime on a web enabled device. There are apps for Android and IOS devices like iphones and iPads. Students can post their responses to their teacher and work collaboratively with their peers. The facility to set up groups is very useful. The student work is all safely stored online, no need for complex server configurations.

Schoology

This video link guides you through how to set up a site in Schoology. Schoology has advanced features to set up test and assessments with self marking features.

Edmodo 

The Edmodo help site with very useful tips on everything you need to get this up and running in your classroom.

This post gives more details on how to use Edmodo in education

This post on edmodo gives lots of links to schools and blog sites with practical examples of edmodo in action
This video shows how a 5th grade student uses Edmodo

Please post a comment and share how you are using these tools in your teaching and learning

Edmodo touch app also available for android devices

Join us in Perth for ACEC 2012

Join us on 2-5 October 2012, when the national Australian Computing in Education Conference comes to our home city – Perth, Western Australia.

Over the course of 3 days, ACEC 2012 will feature an exciting range of Australian and international speakers, presentations, and workshop, exploring the conference theme of “IT’s Time” …. It’s Time to integrate, connect, collaborate, lead, enable, using ICT.

I will be convening the “It’s time to get mobile” strand, and am looking forward to seeing your papers on how you use mobile devices in teaching and learning. I will also be running a pre-conference workshop on mobile-learning with iPads.

To find out more about ACEC 2012, you can visit the website – http://acec2012.acce.edu.au/, follow @acec2012 on Twitter, and follow the #acec2012 hashtag.

We hope you can join us.

Tips2012 iPad research in beautiful Cape Town

 

I am in beautiful Cape Town meeting amazing educators from not-for-profit organizations, schools, and universities discussing my research project TPACK iPads in Schools – “tips” and opportunities for further learning and research in this area.

I had great discussions with Karen aka @ICT_Integrator on the importance of professional learning and support for teachers.

This is the core of the “tips” project to empower teachers to use technology effectively for teaching and learning. I am looking forward to doing some exciting work in schools this week, discussing iPads and learning opportunities for further study for teachers at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia.

I welcome South African educators to participate in my research and share their learning with us on this blog.

Jenny`s iPad Tip – Create your own Digital Texts

Digital textbooks are becoming a highly discussed and contentious issue. I am not a huge fan of textbooks, but where we do use them, they need to be interesting and engaging.

My flight today was delayed due to a cyclone, so I took the time to catch up on my reading. A report on the plans for wide scale introduction of digital textbooks in the USA was very interesting: “Playbook:Digital Textbook direction in the US“. It follows the plans in the USA to use digital textbooks across different states, and describes the huge financial investment by the government in textbook creation, high speed Internet provision, computers and tablets for students.

The launch of iBooks 2 showcases Apple’s new venture in digital textbook publishing. I have reviewed some of the digital textbooks and have found them very disappointing – they are just glorified PDF’s.

The challenge for textbook writers is to exploit the interactivity and engaging nature of ePubs in textbook production. They can be rich multi-modal documents with the embedded multimedia.

Many students don`t approach text in the way we have traditionally, reading pages from top to bottom and left to right. They tend to scan pages with their attention moving to the embedded hyperlinks and multi-media. It is also important that digital texts allow the reader to engage with the text through annotation and highlighting functions.

Digital textbooks can encourage student collaboration through the sharing functions. The e-book “Our Choice” by Al Gore uses some of the engaging, interactive features of digital publications that can be used in textbooks.

There are a number of apps and traditional software that allow you to create your own e-books. You can create an e-Pub in Pages, but you need the full computer version not the iPad app. Book Creator is the best ePub creator for the iPad.

ACEC2012 Conference in Perth

We are hosting the National Conference for ACEC in Perth Western Australia from the 2nd-5th October 2012. I am convening a strand “It`s time to get mobile”. We have an exciting line up with great keynotes. Come along to see what is new in integrating technology in educational settings. If you are doing interesting things with technology in your classroom or educational setting present a paper and share your journey- abstracts close 3rd March 2012.

ACEC2012 Link