Eclectic Technology

This is the last of a series of three posts that looked at "teaching and learning with an iPad." This post looks at if from a student perspective and discusses three lessons learned (as well as providing data from this 3-year study). The three lessons discussed are:

* Lesson 1: Organization

* Lesson 2: Timely Workflow and Communication

* Lesson 3: Information Access

Access to Part 1 and Part 2 of this series are available at the end of the post. Part 1 look at the lessons learned from the viewpoint of an administrator. The three lessons discusses in this post are:
* Lesson 1: It's About Work Flow & Connectivity, Not Apps

* Lesson 2: Staff Development and Support

* Lesson 3: Be A Model

Part 2 of the series explored the viewpoint from a teachers perspective. The three lessons in this post discussed:

* Lesson 1: Change of Habit

* Lesson 2: Success is in the Support

* Lesson 3: 1:1 iPads Changing Students Performance

For those whom may be pushing out iPads this year or for those using iPads the information in these 3 posts is valuable, esp. since it covers a 3-year period and the perspectives of the 3 key parties involved.

This infographic looks at verbs, specifically at the following verbs:

* Show

* Manage

* Assess

* Interact

* Access

* Make

* Learn

For each verb there are a number of apps listed (the majority are free) and they "can help you capture learning artifacts, plan lessons, poll students, visualize concepts, share demonstrations, and much more."

This is a very large infographic and is available to print out as a long pdf (with active links for apps) or in either 6 or 24 pages (to put together and hang up). If you are looking for more ways to use an iPad as a teacher click through to the post.

Are you looking for apps that some consider "essential" to the iPad? If so check out this article. Twenty-nine apps are listed and each has a brief description. You may also search the list through filters including productivity, writing, video, reference and more.

We often hear stories of how iPads are being used in education, but when you choose to search for studies on the use of iPads in education few are to be found. Richard Byrne shares five studies in this post. 

* "The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development for Victoria, Australia iPads for Learning – In Their Hands field trial studied the use of iPads in nine schools."

* "The iPad as a Tool for Education is a study based on iPad use at Longfield Academy, Kent, England." (This study was posted in this Scoop.it.)

* "Reading With iPads – The Difference Makes a Difference studied the impact on the reading comprehension, knowledge of content, and analysis skills of boys aged 11 to 13 who read using iPads."

* "Promoting Student Engagement by Integrating New Technology into Tertiary Education: The Role of the iPad studied the use of iPads by teachers and students in distance learning and in-person learning environments."

* "The Impact of the iPad and iPhone on Education was published in 2010 and is speculative in nature as the students surveyed had not yet been given iPads."

Change the way your learners create book reports by using your iPads! This post provides 22 suggestions on how learners may demonstrate their knowledge. The post state that "For each of the assignments students will need to make sure that their piece of work shows that:

* They have read the book

* Thought deeply and reflected on the book

* Have understood the assignment

Each suggestions also lists the app or apps that would be needed. A few of the suggestions include (quoting from the post):

* If a journey was involved, draw a map with explanatory notes of significant places. (Google Earth, Notability, Showme)

* Design and make the fronRecord a video interview with a character from your book. Ask at least ten questions that will give the character the opportunity to discuss his/her thoughts and feelings about his/her role in the story. (Reel director,  iMovie) 

Many more great ideas are found in this post!

Check out this list of 48 free apps, sorted by grade level. Each is rated and suggested grade levels are included, plus the list is hot-linked so you can quickly download them from iTunes.

If you would like to limit access to a specific app on an iPad, iPhone, iPod or iPadmini check out these step-by-step instructions that have a screen shot for each step (of which there are eight. 

This is the third post (in a series of four) by Justin Reich exploring “the future of tablets in education. The first post in this series describes a “Someday/Monday template” stating:

“For technology to make a real difference in student learning, it can’t just be an add-on. On the other hand, teachers need to start somewhere (Monday), and one of the easiest ways for teachers to get experience with emerging tools is to play and experiment in lightweight ways: to use technology as an add-on. Teachers need to imagine a new future—to build towards Someday—and teachers also need new activities and strategies to try out on Monday.” (Quoted from: http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/05/the-future-of-tablets-in-education-potential-vs-reality/.)

This third post explores creation, “examining what is possible when we empower students and teachers as innovators with their iPds and other mobile devices.
 Rather than having students use their devices as replacements for netbooks/computers/textbooks allow them to use them to create something new, or using the SAMR model, as tools that provide the ability to redefine, to think. The post shares a number of examples of what is happening in classrooms that have made the shift from Monday to Someday.

This post provides links to the first post, which explores “The Future of Tablets in Education: Potential vs. Reality of Consuming Media” (consumption) and the second which explores “To Get the Most Out of Tablets, Use Smart Curation” (curation).

This free app for the iPad will help students learn how to code! It is geared to students between the ages of 8 and 12. Using drag and drop students should be able to create games and animations. 

A ongoing debate in education is around the issue of teaching programming to students. This app may provide opportunities for students to begin to explore the concept of programming easily.

If you are looking for free apps that are divided by grade level and rated by a school district this post may be helpful. Apps are split into K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9+, and teachers, and raged from 3 to 5. A great place to begin if you are going to getting iPads into your classroom.

Are you wondering how other school districts (and colleges) are using iPads? This post provides short descriptions as well as links to a wide variety of ways iPads are being used across the world.

Below are four areas found in this post:

* Putting students in charge of the learning process

* Helping students with disabilities

* Closing the digital achievement gap

* Re-imagining how newspapers are used in class

Each area discussed provides a link for additional information. If you are about to bring iPads into your school, or have a program up and running and are interested in learning what others are doing take the time to read this post.