Accessories

We have purchased a couple of accessories for the iPads that go with the past couple of blogs.  We now have a mic that will plug into the iPads.  Although the iPads have a built in mic, the hand-held mic is supposed to cut out some of the background noise.  If you are trying ShowMe or Voice Thread in your classes you may want to borrow the mic as well.

We have also purchased 3 camera connection kits.  There are 2 connectors in each box, so we have enough for all 6 of the original iPads.  One connector is for the USB cord from the camera to the iPad, the other connector is for the SD card.  If you are having students take pictures with the department cameras, you can put the images onto the iPads using one of the connectors.

Once the images are on the iPad, they automatically go to the Photos app.  Images there can be shared via twitter, email, iMessage (although we are currently trying to avoid use of this), and copied.  Any of the apps that allow you to post a picture, also automatically access your photos on the iPad.  For example, if you choose add an image in ShowMe, voice thread, or Evernote it will take you to the photos saved on the iPad.

There is another iPad brainstorming/concept mapping app that I’m playing with called Popplet.    It allows pictures which Idea Sketch doesn’t, and it is collaborative (more than one person can work on it at the same time on different devices) which is also nice.  More on this next week.

Voice Thread

Voice Thread is a web based program that you can run on any computer through your browser (ie: Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox), but there is also now an app.  According to the Voice Thread website: “VoiceThread … allows you to place collections of media like images, videos, documents, and presentations at the center of an asynchronous conversation. A VoiceThread allows people to have conversations and to make comments using any mix of text, a microphone, a web cam, a telephone, or uploaded audio file.”  Does that sound like a lot of mumbo-jumbo?  Sorry.  Maybe I could show you one easier than I can describe it...  Here’s my first try:

http://voicethread.com/?#u2210871.b2483951.i13152664

I created the above voice thread using my pictures of concentration camps, then asked 2 students in my Aventures in World History class to comment on a few of the images.  They came up with the idea of making it “like a radio show” - their words, not mine.  It wasn’t my intention to have them do it that way, but they were excited about it and were willing to spend more time with it than they have wanted to spend on any one thing all semester.

You can see that there are various options for posting comments - text, audio record, webcam record.  Just like the Show Me app, you can write on the images as well.  If you use video in your voice thread (instead of a still image or text), people commenting on the video can pause it to comment, or to draw on the still image to point something out.  Very cool.

Here is a voice thread example of video commenting use a road runner cartoon:  http://voicethread.com/?#q+voice+thread.b21651.i122786

So, what could you do with this in class?  These are just brainstormed ideas.  
1) You could post a power point and talk about the slides on voice thread if you were going to be away from class for a day.  You could pose critical thinking questions that students would respond to through Voice Thread.  I believe there is a way to fairly easily convert ppt to voice thread (at least the images), then you just add your audio/comments for each slide.
2) You could post a series of images and ask students to respond to the images.  How does each image relate to the course/unit big idea for the course?  What does the image demonstrate about the big idea?
3) You could have students submit images or quotations that they’ve found that best represent a given topic/idea.  Post those in the voice thread and require students to respond to each others’ ideas.
4) You could put debate topics or arguments on slides and have student argue each side through the voice thread.

You can choose to moderate the comments that people put on the Voice Thread if you are concerned about student putting appropriate things up.

 
Here are the draw backs I’ve seen so far.  You have to create an account. When you create a free account, it is just good for you.  Then, to comment, all your students need to create a free account as well.  Not the end of the world, but I would prefer not to ask all my students to have to create accounts for things.  You can create an educator’s account that gives you 50 student accounts attached to your account, but you have to pay for it.  I’m not into that.  (May be able to create a department one, and pay for it with the p-card?) It is possible with your 50 student accounts to use them with more than 50 students if you create, then assign generic ids to students.

Image & Voice Recordings

This post is inspired in part by another blog I read this week by Sam Gliksman.  You can read it here.  It discusses three different apps that allow students to add a voice over to a picture, as well as draw over top of the image to help explain it.  I can see a ton of uses for this, but haven’t yet used any of them in class yet.  (In fact, as I write this, these apps are only on my iPad, and not on the department ones yet at all.)

Here’s my first attempt at ShowMe:  http://www.showme.com/sh/?i=99016

Ela and I did one based on her favourite science song (she wouldn’t sing it for you though):
http://www.showme.com/sh/?i=99272   

As you can see, you can both upload your own photos, or draw right in the program (or draw the picture in another program, like DoodleBuddy and import it).  Gilksman also suggests ScreenChomp, but we couldn’t get it to work as easily as ShowMe.  In ScreenChomp the  picture part was easy, and it looked like the recording worked, but when we went back to it, there was no audio.

I think students could use ShowMe to record their understanding of the carbon system that has become the touchstone example in CGC1D.  They could be used in CHC2D/P to analyze a propaganda poster, or battlefield map.  In the greenhouse courses, students could demonstrate their understanding of various cycles or soil types.  This is an excellent way of getting students to demonstrate their understanding of something in a way other than through writing.  

I was planning on discussing Voice Thread, but I haven’t had a chance to play with it on the iPad yet.  Voice Thread is different than ScreenChomp or ShowMe in a few ways.  The first is that you can make more like a slide show, with a variety of images or video that the speaker can comment on.  The second major difference is that other people can also comment on the images, and comments can be recorded orally, through typed text, or video comment.  In this way it is a little more like a conversation.  Voice Thread is also a web based program so you can work on it on the iPads, or computers. More hopefully on this next week...

I’ve asked for a mic, which should cut down on background noise and make it easier to record at school.  There is a built in microphone in the iPads if you want to try it before the mic comes.

I will try to spend some time with Voice Thread this week and write about it next.

Can you see uses for ShowMe in your classes?  How quickly do I need to add this app?  How would you use t?

Mindmapping on the iPad

Idea sketch



This is a mindmapping tool.  Student can create mindmaps to demonstrate understanding of a big idea, or relationship between concepts taught in class.  You could have them use a mind map to organize their research, or review for a test/summative assignment.  I’m sure I don’t have to go into all the ways mindmaps can be used.

Here is a mindmap I made at (copied from) Garfield Gini-Newman’s PD session Nov 2 at Monora Park.

I am still playing with this tool, and there is a mistake in the hierarchy (the way I drew the lines), but you get the idea.  You can also display the image as text - see below (in this layout, you can better see where I made the mistake drawing lines):


You could have students share their mindmaps using the document camera the department has.  I also have a toggle to hook the iPads up to the data projector if you would like to play with that.  The app also allows the user to email either the mind map or the text version, but as we have not set the iPads up with individual email addresses, I’m uncertain as to how that would work.  Students may know how themselves - it may be possible for students to set up their own email address in iPad settings, email the file, then make sure they log out.  We need to be careful, we don’t want students having access to each others’ email accounts.  There is also an option to share via facebook (I haven’t tried this).

Granted, this is an example of using the iPads to do something that can be done with paper and pens - in this case it is more about the gadget (contrary to my first blog about best uses for technology in the classroom).  I think though that the possibility of easily switching from mindmap to list view is not something that can be as easily achieved with paper/pens.

There are other mindmapping apps that are available as well.  If you’ve used or seen others that you think might be better, let me know.  I’ve also used popplet, which is nice because there is an online version that you can also use with an account, but I think it limits how many you can do with the free account on the iPad.  Popplet’s other advantage is it is more collaborative.  You can share popplets with others and everyone can edit it (I think).  The other one I’ve heard of is sling note, but I haven’t used it at all.

Your thoughts? Would you use iPads for a mind mapping activity? Have you?

Qwiki app for iPad

Our department has a set of iPads and we are investing in more.  It seems that at this point, the iPads are being used mostly as a connection to the internet. A big part of this, I think, is that people don’t feel they have the time to figure out what apps are out there that might be helpful.  Or that people think you can only get gaming apps and Angry Birds is only applicable to studying parabolas in math. (Other life lessons from Angry Birds may be a future blog.)
But, back on topic... I would like to help out by choosing one app per week that I’ve put on the iPads to tell you about.



This week’s app is Qwiki.

Qwiki is also available on the computer at www.qwiki.com  For those without an iPad of your own, you can search available Qwikis at home if you want to prepare a lesson around this.
According to Wikipedia, “Qwiki is a platform that creates interactive, on-the-fly, multimedia presentations of information. Its co-founders are entrepreneur Doug Imbruce and Louis Monier, founder of the AltaVista search engine.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwiki, October 31, 2011)
Qwiki takes information (I believe from wikipedia) and provides a short (2-3 minute) multi-media presentation on the topic of your choice.  There are historical topics as well as current events, news, sports, and entertainment.
After you watch a qwiki on the iPad there is a list of recommended, related qwikis for you to watch.  I’ve used it in a few of my classes with mixed results.  I like that it focuses the research into manageable clips - rather than students scrolling through (not reading) really long Wikipedia entries.  Some students find the computer voice a little annoying (the voice can be turned off, and students can read the scrolling text), but for reluctant readers, it can be helpful.  I used it to introduce students to various aspects of Roman life before starting the Gladiator unit in Adventures in World History (CHM4E). Students were given a list of topics that could be found on Qwiki in chart format and told to write down one thing they learned about the Roman society for each Qwiki topic.
Because of the audio aspect of the app, it is useful to encourage students to use their headphones.

Try it out.  See what’s available on Qwiki for one of your courses.

Please use the comment space to share your experiences with Qwiki (positive or negative).  Or suggest other apps that could be used in our courses.

My take on technology in education

• I believe that as educators we need to help students learn how to access information and develop skills that will be useful to them in their future.  
• I think that learning is more a 24/7 thing now than it has ever been before.
• I believe that memorizing facts does not equal learning.
• I don’t believe that we need to ‘dumb down’ our curriculum or our expectations in order to inspire students to learn in our classes - we do need to challenge them differently.  Deep engagement in learning goes beyond fun.
• I believe that technology can be used to inspire students to learn, but it is the pedagogy behind the use of technology that is important, not the gadget/app/site/game itself.
• I don’t believe that using technology to do the same things that teachers have done forever without electronic devices is a good use of the technology.  (But it may be a start...)

Feel free to share one or more of your beliefs about technology's place in education in the comment section.