4/13/2012Even though most websites have gotten with the program and "buried Flash", there are still a few out there that require that you have Flash to view certain things on their websites. Some of our educational software that resides in the cloud (on the internet) requires Flash so that makes it kind of difficult to cooperate on the iPad.
There are now several alternatives available for those sites where you absolutely have to have Flash.
 Rover - free education app that streams educational Flash content to your iPad. It already has some of the common educational sites with Flash content bookmarked - Like Discovery Education, Funbrain, BrainPop, Khan Academy (yes, Khan Academy will stream through Rover past our content filter) Photon Flash Player Browser for iPad - not Free and not incredibly fast but does the trick if you need something that requires Flash to play on your iPad. Cost $4.99.- CloudBrowse - not Free but also streams Flash content in addition, you can see java content that will not load on other browsers. Cost $2.99. Note: the app is not free and you can upgrade your se
 rvice. The "free service" that comes when you purchase the app only gives you 10 minutes of browsing time. You can subscribe and get unlimited browsing for a fee of $4.99/month or $5.99/month for premium service.
- OnLive Desktop - This is a great app because it provides you with FREE PowerPoint, Excel, and Word 2010 for your iPad (2GB online storage). It looks like a Windows 7 desktop when you open it up - and you have Internet Explorer within
 this app. However, you the free unsubscribed version of this app will only let you visit the onlive site through the app. If you purchase a monthly subscription, you get "lightning-fast speeds with full-featured Adobe Flash". The subscriptions for this start at $4.99/month and range up to $9.99/month (although I don't think that is quite ready). On a side note, get this app fast. I hear that Microsoft is suing OnLive because they have not properly licensed their software. So I'm not sure how long it will last. Since it is a cloud service, if they lose, then your app will probably stop working.
So long story short . . . if you need Flash on your iPad, there are ways to do it. I find myself spending hours and hours looking for educational apps for our teachers. Sometimes you can truly get lost in the Apple App Store because the only way to search for educational apps is through Categories (icon along the bottom of the screen), click Education, and then hope by blind chance you find something useful in the New and Noteworthy section, the Staff Favorites section, or in the select few content areas being showcased for the month.
Most of the time it's a blind search for me. A teacher or administrator will ask if I know about a good app for . . . . (you fill in the blank) and I'm off on a scavenger hunt looking for something that fits the need. Luckily I am fortunate to have a lot of colleagues who can help me find things or who have shared their knowledge with me.
I found a great site this morning by chance. The site is called AppAnnie. Mostly app developers use the site to track their app deployment, sales, and reviews - but the consumer can view information on their site too. One of the great things about AppAnnie is that you can view the top 200 Apps by country, by category, and by device. I know you're thinking - ooooh ahhh, I can do that on the App Store. Well you can't look at the top 200 education apps on the App Store. There are about 20-25 categories for you to filter by, education is just one.
This might be a way to see what others are downloading and using on their devices.
I have incluced the link to the iPad/Education top 200 list of free, paid, and top-grossing below. Notice that you can also search for iPhone and Android apps. You can filter out whether it has in-app purchases, no in-app purchases, or just show you all apps. You can also look at it by country. It might be interesting to watch what other countries are downloading in the education arena - especially those countries who are speeding past us in their education initiatives.
http://www.appannie.com/top/ipad/united-states/education/
Enjoy! One of the greatest things about the iPad is its versatility. You can use it for so many different things depending on the apps you download.
A recent find that I want to showcase is Socrative. Socrative turns your set of iPads into a set of Interactive Clickers. There are actually two apps to download - a student and a teacher edition. The teacher edition gives the instructor the ability to create interactive quizzes from his/her iPad. Once created, the teacher can activate the quizzes for their students. All the students need to know is the teacher's "room number" (that's assigned to you when you set up your account). You can create a quiz that is time sensitive, one that teacher-paced (where the teacher releases the questions as he/she is ready), one that is student-paced, a space race (run a quiz as a game), or an Exit Ticket (check the pulse of your class at the end of the period). There are many options. Teachers can also create the quizzes on their computer. There is also an option to import quizzes. I think the key to managing the data for your students is to always include as your first question, "What is your name?" The software is kind of basic but it is FREE.
The student version of the software is very straightforward. The student does not have a login. He/she just enters the teacher's room number and waits for the quiz or quizzes to be "run". When the quiz is activated, the software will immediately allow the students to begin taking the quiz.
When finished, the software compiles the information by question and the data can be analyzed and emailed.
3/15/2012Someone shared with me on a email listserv how to access NC WISE on an iPad without remoting to another computer this week. It involves an app called Cloud Browse. The app costs $2.99. It is a little clunky and takes a little patience but with some practice it works. One should note that there is no F7/F8. You have to use the query menu and the enter/execute commands from the same menu, but other than that it works pretty well. Also you need to know that it only works in ten minute intervals unless you subscribe to the monthly service.
UPDATE: you can even run reports from this app if you have the Adobe Reader free app installed. 3/14/2012I've been reflecting the past few days after returning from NCTIES, the NC Technology in Education Conference, about what I've learned and I just wanted to share a few things.
One of the biggest things we tend to do when we get new technology is get caught up in the hype. I'm guilty of it. Many of us get new hardware, software, the latest and greatest and we focus on the tool and sometimes we lose sight and focus.
I just wanted to take a few minutes to give kudos where kudos is due.
Don't forget why we are here . . . our students are our number one priority, not the tool. The tool only enhances what the teacher does best -- teaches!
 And who teaches that teacher how to use that wonderful new iPad, SmartBoard, Computer, piece of software, Document Camera, Digital Camera, Netbook, LCD projectors, Nook, Kindle Fire, etc., etc., etc.? Their Instructional Technology Specialist/Facilitator, the media coordinators, and sometimes their Technology Engineer!
Who helps keep those tools up and running? Who installs those tools? Who services those tools when then they need TLC? The technology engineers, the electronics and AV technicians . . .
Who helps you learn about the curriculum changes, the new essential standards, the common core, and how to use the new tools along side all this? Your technology facilitators/specialists, curriculum coaches . . .
You can see there is a vast array of people just listed in a few simple examples above and I
have left a ton of people out (please don't be mad if I have excluded you - I have not meant to exclude anyone). My point is this - it takes a community of people to teach our children. It is not about a tool or a piece of software. People are the key to being a success educational community. We become successful by learning new and innovative ways to use the tools we have and sharing what we learn within our community of teaching and learning.
It's not about the stuff - it's about the people. 2/28/2012http://www.qrstuff.com/index.html
Fantastic site for QR history, information, software links, examples, readers and create your own. All free! Create your QR based on data type, key the data, pick your color and watch your code 'evolve'. Download, print or email the file when you pleased with your QR code.
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
Another great free resource. Fewer data type options and no color choices but you can alter the code size. Click Generate under the size options to generate the code. To save the file (it does not have download listed) click on the picture and choose Save Picture As to get the file. Icon in upper right hand corner lets you download the reader if you need one.
Both are super easy, lots of fun, and offer endless possibilities for classroom application!
Darlene Epley 2/15/2012I'll be the first to admit that when I was a child I really wasn't an avid reader. It wasn't until much later in life that I really learned to love to read. But I'll let you in on a little secret to what really made the biggest difference in the sudden increase in my reading habits over the last years: eReading.
Three years ago I received a Kindle - one of the very first versions of the eReading devices and I was amazed by the ease of access to books, both free and paid, that I had access to through the Amazon store. I found that I was reading more and more books in a shorter amount of time. At first I dismissed all this new-found reading as the novelty of having a new device. However, even though the "newness" did wear off somewhat, my reading habits did stay at this heightened level.
So why did I read more? I guess it had to do with the ease of finding and accessing more reading material. Yes, I could have easily driven to Barnes and Noble or any other bookstore - but look at how easy it was to pick up my new Kindle, turn it on, search for that new book, click purchase, and voila, in a matter of seconds, I had it in my hands. No sweat. And some of the books cost me nothing!
Within a few months (well years), I upgraded to an iPad (3G) and downloaded several eReader apps, including Kindle, Nook, and iBooks - to capitalize on each of the major vendors' software for reading eBooks.
Overall, eBooks made a huge impact on how much I read and continue to read simply due to access and availability, portability, and ease of use. I really see the potential for eBooks and eReaders in the hands of our students.
In BCPS, we are actively looking at ways to fund eBooks and eReaders for our schools. The first step is looking at what it is we want to accomplish - what is our instructional plan? The tool is secondary. Once we decide what our instructional goal is for our students and our schools, we can choose the most appropriate 21st century tool for the goal.
******
Article about how Reading Habits are Changing:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575448093175758872.html 2/7/2012North Carolina is in the process of moving toward a more unified curriculum that focuses on the integrations of all curriculum areas across a common core. This overall reform is called the Accountability and Curriculum Reform Effort (or ACRE for short).
As a part of this reform effort, new curriculum standards are being developed across common core areas (math and ELA) and in the essential standard areas. These new curriculum standards are written using the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy (RBT) because of the unified and consistent use of well-defined verbs across all curriculum areas, and most importantly because of its basis on modern cognitive research.
More on Common Core Standards
This particular post focuses on what technology has to do with the ACRE project. Technology in particular has its own set of essential standards. The standards can be found at:
Essential Standards (all) - scroll down to find Technology for each grade level
Be careful! These are NOT to be taught in isolation! The purpose of the essential standards for technology is to assist all teachers in every core area so that they can become master teachers. The essential standards for technology are for every teacher. Fortunately, these skills will complement any teacher's curriculum. Don't be fooled by the fact that they are listed separately like math, science, social studies, and English. The technology essential standards are meant to be taught alongside each of these subjects like a familiar friend :-)
To learn more about these standards or for assistance in integration into your instruction, work with your instructional technology specialist or facilitator and instructional coach. Everyone has probably seen these things around but you may not know what they are . . . QR codes. First of all, QR stands for Quick Response Code. This is an example of one below - this one, if scanned by a QR reader, will take you to this very site (not too helpful since you are already here - LOL).
To use a QR code, you must have a QR Reader (a scanner of some sort).
Here is another sample of a QR code that takes you to a site outside of our website (this QR code is actually a URL related to QR codes):
So why are these things so popular and exactly how are they helpful to you as an educator? Well, first of all, these codes are basically 2 dimensional barcodes - similar to what you are accustomed to seeing on most commercial packages in one dimension. You can get more information on these coded, scannable images than the typical UPC codes. The next time you are at the grocery store or your favorite big box store, pick up a few items and you'll see that most of your major brands have replaced their traditional UPCs with these codes. If you have a smartphone, download a QR Reader app (you can find a free one listed below) and see what information pops up on the item that you scan.
Not only can product information be stored in a QR code, other information can be linked here. QR codes can be used to take you to a URL (website), provide a service (like download a newsletter, a resume, a business card, instructions for something, etc.) - applications are widespread!
Now what does this have to do with education and instruction? Well . . . there are lots of resources out there for QR codes and instruction. I'm going to give a few websites at the end of this blog post for you to explore. I'm just going to give you the 20,000 ft view of things so that you can understand how this all fits in with instruction.
Most educators who have harnessed the power of QR codes in their classrooms have used QR codes in ways similar to that of a scavenger hunt - a quick way to get students to places on the web without the trouble of typing in URLs. They've also used QR codes to get instructions out to students regarding activities and assignments. Some educators have taken some great ideas of the past, such as webquests, and transformed them into newer more exciting activities using QR codes by replacing the components of the webquest with QR codes that function much in the same way. Students can use their phones or mobile devices to interact and get involved in the lesson in different ways than before.
Other innovative ways to user QR codes might include taking surveys/polls, assigning homework assignments, flashcards, forms, feedback, and digital portfolios.
Anyone can make a QR code. Just do your own Google-search for QR code creator and you can create your own in about 20 seconds for a URL. If you need to make one for a text file, it's not too difficult. You can download an app for you smartphone or mobile device/tablet (free apps are available).
Here are some great resources if you are interested in exploring some things that other folks are doing:
Mr. Alexander at HES shared this site with teachers: http://goqr.me/ - he suggested that teachers type in math problems and use the site to make the corresponding QR code. Then students can use a QR scanner to read the problem.
iPad Apps for QR codes:
- QR Reader for iPhone (works on both iPhone and iPad) - there is a free version
- Easy QR (Free Version) - available for both iPhone and iPad
Also, check out on iTunes U the video library Teacher Technology Tools (4 episodes) by Craig Van Ham:
- QR Codes for use in the Classrooms
1/28/2012We've been working with many teachers over the past few weeks and have discovered quite a few new "must have" apps that are absolutely great for new users to the iPad. I wanted to share three apps with you that I think are great tools for teachers.
One that is unbelieveable - and I can't believe it's free - is OnLive Desktop. You'll need to go their website and set up an account first (http://desktop.onlive.com) and then search the Appstore for this app. Brace yourself! This app looks like a Windows 7 desktop, comes with 2 GB of storage, and best of all includes a FREE copy of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2010. To use it, you must have a persistent wi-fi connection.
iTunes U is the second app I want to share with you this week. iTunes U has been out for a long time but the app was just recently released for the iPad/iPhone/iPod. With this app, you can search for COMPLETE courses, books, videos, and other educational content from major universities, schools, and educational institutions (like NCDPI) - FREE. You have access to courses at Stanford, Yale, MIT, Oxford, Duke, etc. and can take these courses - you can see the notes, assignments, updates from instructors. There are more than 500,000 free lectures, videos, books, etc. available.
You will spend hours just looking through iTunes U.
The third app is iBooks. iBooks was just recently retooled (and now called iBooks2) to compete with the Nook and Kindle apps. The reason I wanted to spotlight this app is because of the great FREE book call iPad User Guide for iOS5. For those of you new to the iPad, this is a great book to help you get aquainted with your new device. It covers just about everything you can think of regarding the functionality of your device. Once you download iBooks2, click Store, then Top Charts, and this book should appear on the right under the "Top Free Books". If you don't see it, scroll down and click "Show more". When I posted this, it was listed at #3 but depending on the popularity of the day's rating, it may change in its ranking.
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