iConstruction - Building a Science based apptivity #tatc12

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10588069@N00/432859554/

Resources for my iConstruction session today:

Applist
This is a list of all the apps that we will use today.

Apptivity Document: The Tipping Tower
This is a document that outlines our apptivity for the session.  You will want to open this document in iBooks on your iPad.

Apptivity Template
This is the template document that was used to build the above Apptivity document.  It is in Word format, but you can open it in Pages.

Live Stream: http://moodle.tcea.org/area7conference/course/view.php?id=27

Area 7 Conference Information: http://moodle.tcea.org/area7conference/

Results from the workshop

http://instagr.am/p/Ln2L-pKvH5

The winners: @laceydelle and @dkuropatwa:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanpdoyle/7373744990/

The problem children: @computerexplore and @iPadSammy

Apple Education Event Summary

Here are my notes from the Apple Event (from twitter/liveblogs):

New Book Experience

• iBooks 2 App - awesome new reading/interactivity options
• iBook Author App (for the Mac) - easy to use tool for creating these new books (comes with templates)
• Both of these are free

Textbooks

• Textbook Store now in the iBooks Store (broken down by grade and subject)
• Books will be $14.99, owned forever, and continuously updated (may be re-downloaded from the cloud at any time)
• Pearson has two books available today
• McGraw Hill has five books available today

iTunes U

• iTunes U has a new app
• Features include the ability to create online courses
• Hundreds of online courses already available from Duke, Yale, Stanford, MIT and others
• K-12 Institutions can sign up as an institution for free starting today

Lots to think about!

The iBooks 2 App is an update to the existing iBooks app.  All three new apps iBooks 2, iBook Author, and iTunes U are all available now!

'Appy' Hour! #edtech

I recently got a great idea from Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) to have an 'Appy' Hour in my district.  Carl has been doing these in his district this semester, and his implementation was influenced by the ideas of Lisa Johnson (@computerexplore).

The idea is to get a group of iDevice users together and facilitate the sharing of their favorite Apps.  One of Carl's great ideas was to create an App menu.  I love this idea as it fits in so well with the happy hour theme, and then it gives the group some specific Apps to explore/discuss.  The App menu is created as a PDF with embedded links to the provided apps.  When you open this PDF in either your iPad browser or iBooks the links are clickable, and the users can easily navigate the App Store to research and install the apps.  This really makes it simple, AND FUN!

My first Appy Hour will be for our Principals.  The apps I pulled together for them focus mostly on note taking and audio recording/translation.  I added in a few creative Apps (like puppetpals) for when they might need a laugh at a staff meeting!  Here is the App menu I have created for them:

I used the open source Scribus software to create this App menu.  It was my first try at using Scribus, but I was impressed.  It took a little getting used to at first, but then it started to go pretty smoothly.  If you are looking for an open source desktop publishing package, I recommend it.

What Apps would you include on your App menu for Principals/Administrators?

iOS Management Webinar #edtech

Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) and I did a presentation on iOS management at our Fall TECSIG meeting a couple of weeks ago. Tim Holt (@timholt2007) talked us into doing this same presentation as a webinar using Adobe Connect.

Tim was kind of enough to archive this webinar for us and you can find it here:

http://connect.episd.org/p58955314/

You need flash in order to view the archive, but as long as you use a flash enabled browser (like Photon) you can still view the archive on an iPad. :)

Carl does the first half of the webinar and talks about how his district managed their processes and decision making while embarking on their 1:1 initiative with iPads. In the second half of the webinar I talk about how we have managed our shared cart model with iPads. I also cover the details of the VPP program and how App licensing works.

You can also find some detailed notes that Sandy Kendell (@edtechsandyk) took during our TECSIG presentation here.

Apple Purist or....

Recently we had quite a discussion (argument is probably a better term) about Windows vs. Mac (and the hardware underneath) on our tecsig listserv. It started out a simple question of what to load on an Apple in terms of an office productivity suite (among a few other things). As I read the initial question I saw a few similarities in some of our district's recent experiences. Our district had gone through some similar discussions last year when we decided to move from a nearly complete Windows 'shop' to recommending MacBooks and iPads as the student devices in our new high school. I decided to reply to the question and to lay out some of the rationale behind the decisions that we made, and how we ended up feeling comfortable with this move. Initially, I only had the writer of the question listed in my response, but ultimately I decided to include the listserv thinking that others might be interested as well. I ended up opening quite a can of worms, which I wasn't really expecting.

My intention was to just lay out our experiences, and conversations, which helped lead us to our decisions. I was not recommending that anyone follow in our foot steps, or that our way is the only way. I was simply just hoping to share what we went through. Some how the fact that I recommended Apple devices turned into me being an Apple Purist. Huh? Seriously?

Ultimately, this 'conversation' reinforced my belief that we must continue to build more open systems. We must continue to become more platform agnostic. We must do this for our students. If we don't, we risk allowing them to venture out into the world with a closed mind towards new and different systems. Aren't we failing them by not allowing them to find the system that makes them the most efficient? Aren't we failing them if we only provide them with one option? Isn't it our purpose to teach them? To empower them to become life long learners? Aren't we supposed to be creating individualized instruction? How does only offering access to one type of system help facilitate that? By offering access to multiple systems we allow the learning to determine the technology. The learning is the focus! The technology should be transparent.

The focus should always be what is best for all of our students, and what will best prepare them to be successful in our global economy. That is what I hope to stay focused on. I have no intention of becoming an 'Apple Purist' or creating a 'shop' of any one specific brand. I hope to further embrace a more open system that facilitates creativity, exploration, and spontaneous learning.

Using quicktime to create screencasts

Screencasts can be such a great way to provide training. You can't beat showing a user what their screen should actually look like.

I was recently shown that you can easily create screencasts using Quicktime. You can do this in both OS X and Windows (in Windows you need the pro version of Quicktime though). In either environment you have the ability to easily record audio along with your screen which is quite handy.

To get started you go to the file menu and select 'new screen recording'. You can also use the built in webcam (on your mac) to create a video or just the microphone to create an audio recording.

I've been using this tool to create screencasts of my prezis that I can then sync up to the audio recording of an actual presentation.

It is so easy! And free (on the Apple side)!

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Jailbreak your #iPad and use DisplayOut

Do you wish you could show more than just the Keynote or Photos app through your projector cable on your iPad? I did!

We recently had an iPad training session and I really wanted to be able to show the live iPad screen on the projector instead of just showing them screen shots. I heard you could show the live screen if you jailbroke your iPad. So a couple of weeks ago I started looking into the possibility.

I started by talking to a few of the iPhone fans I know. They suggested trying this jailbreak:

http://jailbreakme.com

A quick note: This jailbreak will only work on iOS 3.2.1 and older. The iOS 3.2.2 update patches the PDF flaw that this jailbreak uses.

If you go to the above link from your iPad browser, it will give you the option to jailbreak it right over the web. No fancy tricks, or downloading software and messing with iTunes. It just asks you to swipe on the screen and then it starts the jailbreak. It took me about 2 minutes while it downloaded and ran the jailbreak. Then it asked me to restart my iPad. I got the little Apple logo, and some rainbow colored dots on one edge of the screen. When it restarted everything looked normal but now the Cydia app was installed. Cydia is an app store that you can download (and buy) apps from for your jailbroken device. Don't worry, you can still download/buy them from iTunes as well!

In order to get your live iPad screen to show over the projector you will also need to install an app that will make it possible. We know that iTunes doesn't have an app for that. So you have to look in Cydia. I tried three different apps. The one that worked was $1.99 and is called DisplayOut. You don't actually get an app on your home screen, it just puts a new section into your settings. You can turn the display out on or off, and change a few basic settings. You can see an image of what it looks like here: http://bit.ly/dg8g1n

This worked out great for me, and our training session was awesome! Have Fun!

iPad: Is it a 1:1 device? #ebc10

We made it to the final session of EduBloggerCon2010 yesterday and sat in on a discussion about whether or not the iPad is a good fit for 1:1 initiatives. It was a great discussion with most of the group commenting on reasons why it was not a good fit. Some of the reasons:
No enterprise management
Consumption only (no way to create)
Closed system

I have to agree There are many reasons why it isn't a good fit if it is the only device available to students. However, I don't think this was necessarily the right discussion. In this day and age with all the devices that are available, should we still be looking for one device that can do everything? Is that cost effective? Shouldn't we be looking for ways to give our students experience on as many different devices as possible? Shouldn't we be teaching them to pick the right tool for the job?

I think we must begin to support many devices and many platforms. We need to give our students the opportunity to experience as much as possible and not lock them into one platform, or one device. This will enable them to be better prepared for whatever is thrown at them when they get into their chosen industry.