We're back!

It has been a while, but after a lot of amazing changes, we are back and already into a new and exciting year! This year we have gone 1:1 iPads in grade 2 (about 100 devices). The iPads stay at school, and live in the grade 2 classrooms. Teachers are already using them to record and show student learning in a variety of ways. We are hoping to start some digital creations with them soon!

Yesterday, Apple announced a further commitment to investing its products in education. Apple would like to get a cut out of the multi-million dollar textbook industry.  Its vision is to make textbooks more interactive, easier to create and more accessible to teachers and students. The three big changes are that they have created a new free app called iBooks Author, revamped iTunes U along with updating iBooks to iBooks2.

Educators who use iPads in the classroom have been collectively holding their breath for an announcement like this as there have been a share of frustrations using iPads in the classroom.  Firstly, there is no easy way to download and manage apps on a large number of devices. Although Apple is slowly changing the volume purchasing program, it only seems to be rolled out in the US, leaving many international schools hanging out to dry.  It has also been frustrating for synching updates and managing large number of apps. The problem is that the iPad is made to be a personal content device rather than a shared device which is how many schools use them.

So with the news that Apple does want to commit to helping education, this is certainly a step in the right direction. So what does this mean for educators?

1. iBooks 2-This is really just an update to iBooks rather than a separate app. The idea behind is that textbooks can be downloaded for subjects which has movies, images and interactive content. This is great as an educator as content needs to be engaging to students in order to be effective in today's age. You can downloadLife on Earth for free to see what it looks like.

2. iTunes U-Now educators can now customize content for students so that they have assignments and videos related to the course they are taking. I have yet to see this in practice but it sounds great.

3. iBooks Author- This is probably one of the most exciting changes for me. This app allows for students to actually create their own interactive book. Although this was technically possible before using the share e-pub feature in Pages, this app does it all for you. Keep in mind that this is an app from the Mac App store and not a mobile app.

I am going to begin exploring these features and see how well they actually work practically. What are your thoughts on these new changes? Please share you comments.

Rocket Math-Fun way to learn Math Facts

We explored a new Math app today called Rocket Math with Grade 5. They were practicing their division facts and this provided a fun and engaging ways for students to practice the facts. I'm not always the biggest fans of Drill and Skill apps as they usually only incorporate lower level thinking skills, however it is still needed and an important part of the Math curriculum.

There was a constant buzz of excitement over this app and it had some nice features. Students were able to earn money from correctly answering questions. There were different levels for different abilities. Rocket Math also has a fun little scratch pad where students can work out more difficult questions. If they launch their rocket high enough, they are able to go into a bonus stage (mission) where they have further questions to answer.  The fun part of it is that students can then buy parts to their space ship including rocket boosters, engines and other parts which affects how high it launches. So a little physics involved as well.

I would recommend this app at only $0.99 for the paid app and a free version as well. It is money well spent! 

iPads: A new tool for writing and digital storytelling

We recently got a class set of iPads after writing a grant to the PTA. We have been trying to use them in different grades and subject areas to maximize learning across the school. They have been used in a Grade 1 class for digital storytelling. Many students love the camera app where they can take photos and videos of different books they read and using another app called Sonic Pics, weave them together into a story.

I also have decided to use iPads as a tool to help struggling writers as my Master's thesis this year. I am measuring the impact on students' attitudes, achievement and engagement in Grade 5.

We have been using them in Grade 5 most recently as a tool for writing. Students had already finished writing their memoirs and using an app called StoryKit, they are turning them into digital stories. They use text, photos, drawings and audio. Students were incredibly engaged and very excited to be using these cutting edge tools. They will publish their stories and put them on their digital portfolios when they are finished. Below are some photos and videos from the class.

Edit: Of course we gave them 10 minutes to play with the app before we actually used it in an authentic learning context. They made up their own mini-stories. I didn't know if using text would appeal to them or not but many of them found it easier than a keyboard!

iPads, Reading and Grade 1

Today was my first day using the iPads with the Grade 1 students. I was absolutely amazed at the level of engagement of the students and how interactive the apps were.

We decided to show them 2 new reading apps we got called Pop Out Peter Rabbit and iReading Stories Collection. Both were free and of course had lots of in-app purchases which can get expensive quickly if you are not careful. The books both had characters that you could touch and move around and made fun noises. The books had options to read it by themselves or have it read to them.

Overall, I thought it was a fabulous way to get students interested in reading. I am curious to find out if there is a better comprehension with all the interaction compared to just reading it. This will be a research question and some action research we'll hopefully investigate this year.

Here are couple of photos and videos from the class.

New School Year-iPads!

We are back up and running with a new school year. Our iPod Touch pilot program has been extended to iPads. We got 25 iPads (iPad2) to use in elementary as well as another set to use in Middle School. We are all very excited about it as there are plenty of amazing apps that are especially geared towards the iPad. With the increase in screen size, resolution, battery life as well as camera, there are loads of possibilities.

We are hoping this continues with a gradual move to a 1:1 environment (at least I hope!). We will continue with iPods of course but we'll have to change the name of our blog now. Yay!

Stay tuned for some posts from our success in Grade 1 so far.

Using Keynote remote for Student Led Conferences

A great little app to have on the ipod touch/ipad is Keynote Remote. This app allows you to take control of keynote presentations by pairing your device with the computer that has the presentation. By simply putting in a 4 digit code, it uses blue tooth to pair the device with the computer.

For the recent Student Led conferences, students prepared Keynote presentations about their learning. Students added presenter notes to their slide show (which could be visible on their ipod touch but not the actual presentation) to help guide their presentation. This made for really smooth and natural deliveries of their presentation rather than have students read every word on their Keynotes.

Here's a quick video of it in action (sorry for poor sound quality)