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iPad Educator Professional Development – The Three R’s
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- This is my note on this page. It really is a very nice page. And I would be talking about the page.
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Saturday, December 21, 2013
Weekly post (weekly)
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Weekly post (weekly)
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Web Highlighter for iPad Safari | Diigo
- Option 2: Create a bookmark on iPad Safari's bookmark bar using the following as web address
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Option 2: Create a bookmark on iPad Safari's bookmark bar using the following as web address
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Saturday, October 12, 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013
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Did you know the original Google storage was housed in Lego bricks? #HappyBirthdayGoogle http://t.co/q33kt0CywW
tags: HappyBirthdayGoogle
Saturday, September 21, 2013
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QR Codes in School - Pinterest board by @lherr: http://t.co/JvdYOWyRyf #mobile2013
tags: mobile2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
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Picadilo - Photo editing at its best
Excellent photo editing site.
tags: photo_editing
Saturday, June 29, 2013
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iPads(Chambersburg): Our Challenge Pros and Cons
- Cloudon pros
Looks like Microsoft office suite
Can tie in to google docs for storage, etc
Cloudon cons
Slow, sluggish, small, difficult to work with
Requires Internet
Pages pros
Very easy to use
Lots of editing options
Easy access to camera roll
Easy to copy and paste
Does not require Internet
Easy hyperlinks.
Pages cons
No comments for markups
Cannot have multiple editors
Cannot access docs from home without iPad
Skydrive pros
Easy to insert pics, links, charts
Looks like ms office
Has excel
Has PowerPoint
Nice photo editing/formatting
Workflow very nice
Skydrive cons
Can't paste
Cumbersome, clunky
Requires Internet
Google drive pros
Easy to share
Google drive cons
Not user friendly
No pictures, no tables, no hyperlinks
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Saturday, June 01, 2013
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Change This - Innovation Begins Here: How to Become the Hero in the Hero’s Journey
"Innovation Begins Here" free ebook from @briansolis http://t.co/GkWITVqkLa Excellent! HT @sai_iowa #iaedfuture #plaea
tags: iaedfuture plaea
Saturday, March 23, 2013
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Mirror iPad, iPhone, iPod to Your Screen for Free — Tony Vincent - Learning in Hand
Mirror iPad, iPhone, iPod to Your Screen for Free — Tony Vincent #edchat #edtech #ipadchat #ipaded http://t.co/3tlIO5mCN2
Saturday, March 09, 2013
An "Office" challenge on the ipads
I'm very lucky to be able to teach a graduate level course on iPads in Education. I'm currently working with a wonderful group of teachers in the central PA area (IU8).
Today we had a showdown between some "Office" apps. Now, before you start, I know that it's not fair to compare the ipad to a laptop. It's different. It's not about how it's the same as a laptop. It's the very difference that's important. I get it. But, at the middle and high school levels, at SOME point, the students will have to write something, turn it in to the teacher to be 'corrected/graded' and have it returned to them. In a one to one setting, there is no escaping this - or shame on us if that's NOT the case.
So, in today's class we broke out in groups of 4, with each person in the group taking one of the main contenders: Pages, CloudOn, Google Drive, and Skydrive. (skydrive.com via Safari). They were asked to perform the following tasks, which I felt were very basic tasks and not an unreasonable expectation of a word processor.
The Challenge:
- Type some text - How does it handle spelling errors?
- What formatting options do you have? Can you add a comment?
- How do you control margins?
- Make a hyperlink - Can it be done easily? (Take a phrase, like 'Go here', and link it to Google.com)
- Paste some text from another app (From a webpage or even a Note)
- Add a photo
- What formatting options do you have?
- How easy is it to add an image?
- Can you add an image from the camera?
- Can you add a table?
- How easy is it to modify the table?
- Share it with yourself (as the teacher)
- Must it be shared via email?
- Can the document be shared with another potential editor?
- Does it have dropbox support? What other options does it have? (What formats are supported?)
- Can you "correct" it and get it back to the student?
- What annotation options do you have?
- Is this method satisfactory to you - if you have 100 students doing the same thing?
- How would this app work in a shared ipad environment vs 1:1?
- Which app does more to advance teaching and learning?
- Share your findings with the group.
So, first of all, are those unreasonable feature requests? If you say yes, please tell me in the comments WHY you think those are unreasonable. Format options, hyperlinks, adding photos (from the built in camera, too), and a table. Surely those can't be asking too much.
And the challenge to continue the experiment from 'student to teacher and back.' Isn't that a fair test? Isn't it important to know that the workflow is manageable? And, isn't it also fair to ask them to consider how it would work in a shared cart environment? This is a grad course, after all. We're exploring the options.
I'll post the rough draft of the pros and cons from our followup discussion in a moment, but let me say up front, that these results are NOT uncommon. I've taught this course seven times before this, and it's been the same each time. Granted, the apps have improved, but only in one case did it improve enough to make a difference in the standing.
First, the results as I wrote them down as they offered them, then a couple comments.
Results of the Office Challenge
Pages pros
Familiar feel (very ipad friendly)
Easily adjusted margins
Great spell check
Text wrap around images
Easy bar graphs
Access to camera roll
No internet connection needed (important for some students)
Can save in multiple formats
Pages cons
Cost
Must Email to teacher (can't share)
No comments, making markups difficult
No collaborators. Very unfortunate in 2013
Meant for one person. Won't function well in a cart situation
Cloudon cons
Must reload when switching apps- very slow!
Poor image handling
No collaborators - meant for one person
Requires Internet
Pixelated and hard on the eyes
Cloudon pros
Annotations are available making markups easier
Looks like ms word, so familiar to many
Nice interface with Dropbox
Can open and create ppts
Google drive pros
Collaborative editing.
Simply share with another person.
Real-time editing. Ie: no email needed
Streamlines workflow
Can see, in real time, edits of other authors
Google drive cons
No camera roll access
Very limited formatting options.
Requires Internet - problem for some students
Very limited functionality
No images
no tables
No hyperlinks
Skydrive.com pros
Has powerpoint
Has Excel
Has One note - excellent for note taking
Access to camera roll
Sharing via email or collaborators allowing synchronous editing
Can insert comments
Many options for sharing - privacy
Nice formatting options - especially with images
Tables
Skydrive cons
Requires Internet - problem for some students
Not as good as using laptop
Can't move images -at least, not that we could see
Can't modify tables - or not that we could find
We also talked about using Dropbox to submit documents to the teacher. While it's possible for students to read the reports submitted buy others and the paraphrase to get credit, one person thought that at least that person was reading -something that might not be done otherwise.
And, we talked about not being able to return graded papers via dropbox. We really worked through the workflow issue.
So - The final vote?
Well, those who worked with Pages really liked it. But - we felt that it was really meant for an individual and therefore would have problems in a shared cart setting. Plus, in today's world, what a shame it is to have a word processor that does not allow for multiple editors.
NOBODY liked Google drive. NOT ONE. It's lack of formatting options, and lack of access to the camera roll (and the camera) were non-starters. Do you mean that we can't take a picture of our lab experiment and add it to our writeup about it? #fail
CloudOn was just FAR too slow. That, coupled with the lack of multiple editors, also made it a loser. In fact, in all the (now eight) sections I've had, a scant hand full have chosen it. But, that was before the changes to Skydrive.
Skydrive won. (Accessing it via safari at skydrive.com) Prior to this latest revision, skydrive would finish BELOW last place. It was awful. Folks would stop testing it. Now, it seems to be the winner. It seemed to allow us to do more, format more, AND it managed the workflow by allowing the student to share the documents with the teacher. No dropbox issues. No email issues.
I will admit that I guided the conversation, asking questions like, "Yes, but in today's world, is it OK to have a word processor that doesn't allow for multiple, synchronous editors?" And, "But, requiring an internet connection means that some students won't be able to use it at home." Or, "Are we sacrificing features (especially in the case of Google Drive) just so we can have an ipad?" Or, "Do you mean that I can't use this ipad to write up a report and expect it to access the camera?"
Yes, I did pose questions that had them thinking about the pros and cons. And, I'll have to wait and see how they report back on which app they would choose. But, from the discussion, Skydrive (maybe tied with Pages) won. Google Drive finished dead last!
Surprised? I'd LOVE to hear your comments.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Weekly post (weekly)
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The History 2.0 Classroom: TimelineJS X Google Drive = Collaborative Timelines with iPads
"TimelineJS is a web based timeline creator, that in my opinion is the best timeline creation tool on the web. What I like most about this platform is that the creation process takes place in a google form. There is a template that can be downloaded from the TimelineJS site that is automatically pulled into a users Google Drive account. With the recent update to the Google Drive app for the iPad, this document can now be edited collaboratively. "
tags: timelines
Saturday, February 09, 2013
Weekly post (weekly)
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Syria confirms Israeli jets bombed military site
Beirut: Israel conducted a rare airstrike on a military target inside Syria, foreign officials and Syrian state TV said on Wednesday, amid fears President Bashar Assad's regime is providing weapons to the Islamic militant group Hezbollah.
tags: Syria