Latest iPad in education news:

Rise of the iKids: Schools test iPads in classrooms
This article discusses how some California districts are using the iPads for student learning. Many consider the iPad to be a "game changer" and are launching programs to put them in students' hands. The article also talk with other educators who question the iPad's usefulness.

IPads replace textbooks in some Va. classrooms

4 school districts in Virginia are taking part in an experiment to replace textbooks with interactive lessons via the iPad.

10 Terrific iPhone and iPad Musical performances
An entire album to be realsed on the iPad and links to a collection of top 10 musical performance videos showing music created vai an iPhone or iPad.

Software update for your iPads

Apple has just released a free iOS 4.2 Software Update for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Just connect your device to your computer to download the update. It brings a range of new features and functionality to your iPad.

For example functionality has changed for the rotation lock. With the upgrade your rotation lock is now used as a mute button and rotation is accessed via the dock of the iPad by double clicking the home button to view a multitasking bar. Flick from left to right and then tap to lock the screen orientation.

Another new feature is the ability to use a Braille Display with the VoiceOver accessibility function.

A summary of the upgraded features on the iPad are pictured above. For some brief information on the features see Apple iOS 4.2 software upgrade site.

For more detailed information download the Apple iPad user guide for iOS4.2 software.

Marian College English Class Using the iPad

Marian College Teacher Perspective on using iPads in the Classroom

Teacher Comments on using the iPads at Marian College

One of the biggest assets is that the kids engage with it so easily. Also the advantages are that it is portable, light and colourful. For those lower ability classes – it’s absolutely instant; you can flick from one thing to the other. I actually think the book application is the least interesting things about the IPAD. I have a couple of bottom classes; they are not engaged in the written word on the IPAD. They are much more engaged in the doing/interactive things on the IPAD. Putting interactivity books such as images that move will engage students.

I’ve tried putting a science textbook on PDF, it was interesting to zoom in diagrams but i would like to see interactive experiments on the screen. We’ve also used the IPAD through Google Earth for Geography, I think the potential is unlimited and for publishers to come onboard. In Australia, I think publishers haven’t figured out how to market it and how to make money from an app compared to a $50 textbook. Sure there will be some issues around copyright and licencing problems, my discussions with publishers haven’t been very helpful in this context.

I have found my Year 9 Students who really struggle with English, get excited about Scrabble and even boys who really are difficult to engage in anything were having alternate turns in doing Scrabble against the computer. It helps with their spelling and it was fascinating that an old fashioned thing such as Scrabble but those kids are rediscovering this through this format. To be perfectly honest if I had a twenty minute period of a lesson and everyone was engaged on the IPADs on scrabble, academically I would think it was fantastic. This is because of the words the computer comes up with are words the kids haven’t come up with, so this has lots of application and is very exciting.

I would agree some modifications need to be made but their potential to hold so much and the applications there is out there and with more to come out means that it’s a tool that we’ll be definitely be using. They are fabulous, lighter and portable than a laptop.

I must admit that Joan is going to have a hard battle getting the IPAD off me! I have really enjoyed it, and if I’m feeling that way at my age, my kids are going to really benefit.

(Part of an interview with Lancelot Yu Masters student ACU)

St Agnes Student's Using the Ipad

The following videos ashow our students using the ipad in their classes.

Opinions from Kindy at J23

A great app we have discovered is the book of Hairy Maclary. The children have looked at the repetitive language and patterns throughout the story. The children can listen to the story, read alone or record their own readings. Illustrations can be kept as originals or wiped and coloured in by the reader. This is quite an expensive app compared to some, but definitely worth the money.

Puppet Pals remains very popular and we were happy to hear of some other applications that the children find very exciting.

The pros and cons of the iPad in the classroom

In the Transforming Education through Technology THE journal is an article "Ushering iPads into the Classroom" that discusses the benefits of the iPad in education. Sandra Sutton Andrews, research director in the Applied Learning Technologies Institute at Arizona State University feels the prognosis for iPad's use in the classroom is good, "The concept is perfect for education--a lightweight computer, relatively inexpensive, capable of being used almost anywhere: in your hands, on a table, attached to a wall, built into a tabletop," she said. Read the article in full for more discussion.

Penrith press article on St Finbars iPad trial

Please see attached article on our iPad trial. Kind regards, tim
http://penrith-press.whereilive.com.au/news/story/ipads-used-to-increase-knowledge-at-st-finbars-primary-school-glenbrook/

Ipad Trial at Delany in the Music Department

Learning with iPad's at OLOL:

We have had a busy term learning with the iPad's in our Stage 3 learning environment. The students have thoroughly enjoyed exploring new ways to extend their learning and approach tasks. The children found the iPad's very easy to navigate as it is quite visual. Those that have difficulties with reading were able to find the App they wanted to use by clicking on the corresponding App's picture. Children learn by experiencing, and even those with no knowledge of how an iPod or iPad works were able to use them independently very quickly.

We feel the use of the iPad's are a very valuable motivational tool for the students' learning. We have had to create rosters to allow all 100 Stage 3 students time to use it in either Maths, English or Integrated studies. In these lessons we have observed the extensive opportunities the iPads have given to the students to allow them to explore different ways to express their learning. Students have been quite eager to ensure they have had their share of use with the iPad, with many choosing to use it when given free reward time in class.

On asking the children on why they feel the iPad’s are a valuable classroom-learning tool, many answered that it was a fun, different, entertaining and educational way to learn with a large variety of options that are easy to use. The children also felt it helped teach them the skill of sharing and interacting with others. We have thoroughly enjoyed using the iPad’s at OLOL and hope to continue to do so in the future.

iPad to get printing capability

iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch to Get Wireless Printing with iOS 4.2

Apple has announced that the latest beta of its iOS 4.2 software comes with printer support. The AirPrint feature allows users of the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to print wirelessly over Wi-Fi, without needing to install drivers or software.

Although the software is currently only available through Apple’s iOS developer program, Apple says iOS 4.2 will be ready for the masses in November. The first devices to support AirPrint will be HP’s line of ePrint enabled printers.
AirPrint is said to support a full range of print functions through iOS, including page range selection as well as single-sided and double-sided printing. It will also feature a Print Center that coordinates your print queue, so you can keep track of the progress from across the office if you’re so inclined.

Comics Come to Life at Marian College

What fun Year 9 had reading the Marvel Comics, www.marvel.com, on their iPads. Little did they realise that their English Teacher, Trish Sewell, was actually teaching them about backgrounds and foregrounding, frames, and salient images. This vocabulary of visual language could be so easily integrated with the iPads that it made the lesson come alive. The next stage is to have the students use POW an iPad app that will allow the students to create their own comics. Students, often not motivated, to read said using the iPads to read the comics was so much better than a paper copy. The graphics on the iPad are excellent quality and the comics really do come alive.

iPad replaces uni textbooks at University of Adelaide science faculty

Traditional textbooks will be put on the endangered list next year as the University of Adelaide's Faculty of Science becomes the first tertiary institution to embrace a new approach to online learning.
The pilot initiative involves all first-year undergraduate science students next year receiving a free Apple iPad to use with online curriculum, eliminating up to $1000 in annual textbook costs within three years. More of this article can be found at iPad replaces uni textbooks at University of Adelaide science faculty

St Agnes - Student Response

Using the I-pad may sound complicated, but once held, is easy to get the hang of. The knowledge needed for using an I-pad is basically the knowledge to know how to operate simple technology devices. There is no actual skill required, except learning how to browse on the I-pad and find what you are looking for, which is quite easy to learn.

The great thing about the I-pad is that it is their to support the many different ways students learn. If you are more of a visual learner, you could look at a video to understand, or if you are the person that learns better with audio, you could listen to some clips on the I-pad that relates to what you are currently learning. The I-pad is not limited to certain literacies, which is a good thing when you want different ways to learn.

At OLQP our objective was to use the IPADS to really engage students in authentic Maths tasks. At first the children (and the teachers) were enthusiastically looking at the games that could be downloaded to support learning. While all the games that the children have been using are really fun and reinforce skills taught in Mathematics the difficulty has been sharing the ipads amoungst four classes. It seemed that instead of supporting the learning while it was actually happening in the clasroom the students were looking on the ipads as a tool for playing games or as an incentive to finish class work and move onto the ipads.
This week we are encouraging children to use the ipads as a way of recording learning and/or looking at that APS which provide opportunities for putting Maths into real life contexts. We are looking at APS that provide timetables, graphs, menus etc - rather than those that are specifically designed for education. We are encouraging students to create real life mathematical problems and to solve and record them using IPADS. Any suggestions for APS that are "year 3" friendly and provide simple data that can be used to create and solve authentic mathematical problems would be most appreciated.

The kids are absolutely fascinated with the iPads! They are definitely an engaging tool which sparks the interest of the students. We are currently working collaboratively for Mathematics investigations and as I'm sure you can imagine having acces to only 2 iPads for 60 children is quite challenging! We have found some great apps which are allowing the children to practise their mental computation skills, however, I believe they would be used more productively in a Literacy block.

Teleprompter iPad

Good Shepherd Year Two Update!

We initially believed the level of engagement was due to the fact that the children were using something different – the ipads were a novelty. We have found that they are so engrossed in what they are doing, don’t care what else is going on around them in their Learning Space or what they could be “missing out on”!

We have noticed that different personality types will initially gravitate to particular applications, for example, the some of the more extroverted children immediately “fell in love” with Puppet Pals. Over the past couple of weeks, however, we have also observed that Puppet Pals has given a voice to those children who are naturally quieter. Tony, a generally softly spoken member of our group, was the star of the show in a recent Puppet Pals production. His confident voice boomed throughout the show and he loved every minute of it!

Children work independently with the ipads. They “figure it out” as they go along with very little teacher intervention needed. A number of the applications we are using are multi-levelled and free! These include:
• Ace kids maths games HD free lite
• ABC phonics animals writing HD free lite
• ABC phonics sight words HD free lite
The children are successfully choosing an appropriate level to work at and are self-monitoring.

Engaging the Material and Re-thinking the Message

Engaging the Material and Re-thinking the Message

How does the iPad meet different learning styles so that students are more engaged with the material?

Having spent the past few weeks putting our two humble iPads into the hands of as many teachers and students as possible, I nonetheless found Week 7’s question quite a taxing one. For one thing, it is interesting to think about what “the material” is from a number of viewpoints. Does the message change because of the medium? My Science coordinator seems to think so in her evaluation of The Elements for iPad, a compendium of touchable elements with an array of information on each:



Likewise, as an avid reader, I’m highly impressed with the iPad’s potential - much of it already realised - as an e-reader that will transform the nature of content. Having grappled with the proprietary format restrictions of Amazon’s Kindle and the lunacy of not being able to read Border’s ePub files without copious hacks and modifications, I’m pleased that the Borders and Amazon apps sit snuggly with Apple’s new iBooks on the iPad - everything converges nicely without too much fuss. The screen is a nice size too.

Will the iPad’s niftiness with periodic elements and electronic books engage students who would be otherwise largely uninterested in the composition of beryllium or the ruminations of a nineteenth century lady of leisure (sorry, Ms. Austin!)? Quite possibly. In terms of learning styles, there could be considerable potential for exploring how the touch interface transforms our relationship with the information we view and process, particularly for the so-called kinaesthetic learners. Ultimately, though, I think the iPad’s success as a device to transform learning will be dependent on how well it builds in the open architecture of web 2.0 and interactivity within the apps themselves.

My Stand-Out App for Web 2.0 Interactivity - MobileRSS

Long-since relegated to the halls of nerdy obscurity, RSS reading is a technology that many teachers - myself included - often throw well into the too-hard basket, just because of the complexities of identifying, tagging and subscribing to sites that support RSS functionality. Although I love Google Reader, I find it cumbersome to have a class of kids set up separate Google accounts and then show them at length how to navigate news sites like abc.net.au/news looking for relevant tags and locating RSS feeds. Kids all too easily forget passwords and unless there is substantial time and follow-up, this kind of technology doesn’t pay back the investment (and Google have yet to answer my plea to add Reader to the suite of Google Apps for Education).

All of that aside, I’m pleased to see that RSS is alive and kicking on the iPad. A search for RSS turns up a good twenty apps that nicely manage feeds and integrate with many of the Web 2.0 services available (including Google Reader!). My pick, MobileRSS syncs effortlessly with my Google account and even stores hundreds of RSS articles/posts on the iPad for reading without a wifi connection.

The way that the iPad just blends into the background when I read is really the selling point for me both as a technology consumer and as a teacher. Most importantly, apps like MobileRSS allow for a high degree of interactivity, integrating effortlessly with Web 2.0 services like Twitter, Facebook, Buzz, StumbleUpon and so on. If it works for me (and it does), I think there’s real potential for kids to get excited about reading news and blogs and to share their interpretations, reflections and opinions on the pieces they read. That makes the teacher investment in protocols like RSS and services like Google Reader worth my while.

iPads in Year 6 : Girraween

We have been using the iPads in our Year 6 classroom. The students were very excited at the prospect of using iPads in our day-to-day learning. Our aim with the iPad was to use them for as many hours in the school day as we could. We have found the iPads beneficial in English groups and Maths groups. I have downloaded many applications for the students to use. I have noticed that new apps are added each day so regularly checking the app store has been beneficial.

The iPad has been great for our English as a second language learners who find the work in Year 6 challenging. We have used Balloon Pop challenge to revise odd and even numbers, multiplication and division. They have also revised times tables through various apps. In the last week, Story Builder has been good for those who struggle with communicating their ideas. They record their story of the picture and listen to themselves afterwards.

For our more able students we have been using an app to show percentages.

We have also used the iPads for surfing the net for information to complete the tasks we have been working on in the classroom. The students have found that the iPads take up less room on their desks and are quicker to use if they are looking up words or information to complete an activity in their workbooks.

Sacred Heart Primary Mt Druitt

Our use of the ipads has been with small groups of special needs children. They have demonstrated a very good knowledge and application of the ipad because of their familiarity with iphones. Some of our children have ipads at home. They find the games easy to play and access. However, we have not challenged them yet with things like voice over in stories. Once they are comfortable with the ipad the harder applications can be attempted.
The application in lessons is limited, as one of our two ipads has had great difficulty accessing wireless for internet connection. We will monitor this closely- but it does intermittently drop out from the network.
The teaching perspective of the program has found that most of the applications available are not Australian. Phonics and some stories are all American. Another potential problem is that the ipad needs to be used at school restricting teachers from home preparation if they do not have wireless internet at home. Due to restriction of not accessing this at home, our knowledge of applications is limited and therefore not realising its full potential. This will come in time as the pilot continues.

At Delany we have been using the Music Apps. So far the students have been really engaged and excited to work with them.

We have started using the following music Apps:

IAm Symphony: This has really nice musical sounds where you can move instruments around the music and here different parts of the orchestra. You can add in Timpani when you want. You can create new sections. In terms of educational value it helps you to hear the Symphony and it's music and arrange it at a very basic level.

Glee App the students really liked this app, but in some ways its like a glorified karaoke machine. It records your singing with the Glee choir and you are the lead vocalist. There's many different variations and songs you can download to add to it. It records you while you sing and the saves it for you to listen to (and improve on). Then you can send it off around the world and people rate it! It corrects your pitch and is very much like guitar hero as the notes come through and you can see the pitch levels of high, medium and low. It has a clear sound and you can choose if you have backing singers. The words come up and are highlighted. The app works well and depends what your looking for in a singing app. (It also has a tutorial to show you how to use it)

We have also used Orchestra II which is a beautiful app and interactively shows the student the lay out of the orchestra, it gives a detailed history and fact sheet (beautifully presented) on each instrument as well as plays the instrument for you. You can here each section play, to learn the unique tone of each instrument and family. However despite it being great for learning about the instruments and their sounds there is nothing further to this app like tests or educational games. So once you have read about each instrument and listened to it there is nothing more to do. It does have some really beautiful music on it.

More to come!

E-textbooks for the iPad

The CK-12 Foundation has e-textbooks for iPads called Flexbooks. They are Creative Commons Licensed making them free for use by educational bodies as long as you attribute them.


At OER Commons find Free-to-Use Teaching and Learning Content from around the World. Organize K-12 Lessons, College courses and more. Search by subject area, grade level and material type.

Priced ebooks for the iPad
The list of titles available at KeyBookshop.com covers a wonderful array of topics including core subjects such as reading, writing, math, science, literature social studies and language as well as more specialized topics such as computers, technology, arts, crafts, and many others. Teacher resources including activity guides, reproducible worksheets, lesson planning guides, and holiday ideas are also available. they are available in a pdf format which could be read by apps like Goodreader.

Using VoiceOver with the iPad

The iPad has built in accessibility features to make it easier to use for people who have a vision impairment, are deaf or hard of hearing, or have a physical or learning disability. These accessibility features include monoaudio, zoom, closed captioning and white on black. For more about these features see Apple's iPad Accessibility webpage.

In particular it has VoiceOver, a gesture-based screen reader for the blind. Instead of memorizing keyboard commands you touch the screen to hear a description of the item under your finger.

VoiceOver is activated via Settings - General - Accessibility on the iPad or you can also activate it via iTunes when the iPad is connected via Configure - Universal Access.

Note if VoiceOver is activated you cannot use the Zoom function.

Also when Voiceover is activated it changes the gestures you use to control the iPad. some VoiceOver gestures use two three or four fingers to tap or flick.

Further below is a list of VoiceOver gestures for navigating and reading.

The following video shows how iBooks on the iPad will read a book to you using the accessibility feature VoiceOver. Note that this will not work on books that have specifically disabled this feature.




Summary of VoiceOver gestures used to navigate and read.

* Tap: Speak item.
* Flick right or left: Select the next or previous item.
* Flick up or down: The effect varies depending on the Rotor Control setting.
See “Using VoiceOver” on page 110 of the iPad User Guide.
* Two-finger tap: Stop speaking the current item.
* Two-finger flick up: Read all, from the top of the screen.
* Two-finger flick down: Read all, from the current position.
* Three-finger flick up or down: Scroll one page at a time.
* Three-finger flick right or left: Go to the next or previous page (such as the Home screen or Safari).
* Three-finger tap: Speak the scroll status (which page or rows are visible).
* Four-finger flick up or down: Go to the first or last element on a page.
* Four-finger flick right or left: Go to the next or previous section (for example, on a webpage).
* Double-tap: Activate selected item.
* Touch an item with one finger, tap the screen with another finger (“split-tapping”): Activate item.
* Double-tap and hold (1 second) + standard gesture: Use a standard gesture.
The double-tap and hold gesture tells iPad to interpret the subsequent gesture as standard. For example, you can double-tap and hold, and then without lifting your finger, drag your finger to slide a switch. You can use standard gestures when VoiceOver is turned on, by double-tapping and holding your finger on the screen. A series of tones indicates that normal gestures are in force. They remain in effect until you lift your finger, then VoiceOver gestures resume.
* Two-finger double tap: Play or pause in iPod, YouTube, Voice Memos, or Photos. Start or pause recording in Voice Memos. Start or stop the stopwatch.
* Three-finger double tap: Mute or unmute VoiceOver.
* Three-finger triple tap: Turn the display on or off.

For more information see the iPad User Guide at Apple - Spport - Manuals - iPad User Guide. To view the guide on the iPad, tap the iPad User Guide bookmark in Safari.

Meeting Different Learning Styles

We've had the ipads for six weeks now and the majority of our kindergartens have had an opportunity to use them in some way. We know from observations, that the majority of our boys tend to be less interested in the more structured reading and writing parts of our day. So too, are our students who for whatever reason, have just not 'clicked' yet with the whole reading/ writing concept. Being conscious of these students, we are aware that a slower improvement rate in literacy can lead to lower self esteem and so cycle begins.

Kinesthetic learners are able to physically hold and change the orientation of the ipad, interact with parts of the screen and use their hands to manipulate objects and characters.

The visual learner is presented with vibrant coloured pictures, signs and symbols. These images provide visual stimulation and assist in recalling facts and concepts for visual learners. Visual discrimination skills are improved when games included visual cues rather than text on its own.

The auditory learner not only discusses the activity but also learns from others responses. The use of music and speech enhances their experience and assists auditory learners in recalling information.

With the availability of the ipads we have been able to ensure we are maintaining an interest in learning regardless of the childs preferred learning style. As a result, the learning becomes more personalised and meaningful.

Learning With Ipads, St Finbar's Glenbrook article today

Hi everyone,

Here is the online version of the Sydney Morning Herald article today.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/they-heard-the-news-today-20100822-13atc.html

Kind Regards,

Tim

Marian College

At Marian College the past few weeks have been absorbed with migration to the new Windows Environment. So we are really looking forward to the next weeks with the iPads in our Year 8 English classes. We ran a session for staff on Thursday morning so they could get some hands on experience with the iPads and the response was extremely positive. Many thought they were just a large iPhone so were very pleasantly surprised to see their flexibility.

We have downloaded a number of great apps for teachers to use, one in particular MissSpell has been very popular and also Rory's Story Cube. For the staff PD we tried to connect to the data projector with no success, will try again this week, but if anyone has been successful please let us know.

We love the fact that they are so quick to connect and the battery life is so long. Looking forward to using them as an eReader and podcast creator. Disappointing that iBooks only has older out of copyright books to download, as we would have liked to have a library of Young Adult titles to purchase. Can you imagine the Cherbub Series books by Robert Muchamore on the iPad? Great way to get Year 8 switched on to reading again. Hope this is rectified in the near future.

Joan and Jody

St Finbar's Primary Glenbrook - Visit from Sydney Morning Herald

Hi Everyone,

Just one hour ago, we had a visit from Sydney Morning Herald Photographer, Nick Moir who took some pictures of us using the ipads for an education article on their use in schools. Beforehand, Nick spoke to the children about his job as a photographer and the students had many insightful questions about his job. Co-incidently, we have Herald subscriptions on the ipads and the children were scanning the Herald. While we were looking at them, one of Nick's photos came up! I will post the story and his pictures once it is published.

I explained to the journalist how we use media for our shared reading. Twice a week I have been sharing an interesting child centered article and the children absolutely love the stories and photographs. The SMH apps are free but I can access the papers via a very good teacher subscription discount.

I have attached some photos and the students used the opportunity today to write about the ipads.

"The ipad is good for my learning because it's awesome. It is like a computer without using a keyboard or mouse. There are cool apps like toy story and alice in wonderland. I like how some of the things move and how you can record your voice. It is like an electric book which you can slide the page". - Phoebe Yr 3

"It is fun and encourages you to do better. It is better than a computer in a way!" - Madeline Yr 3

"We can read, play games, create music and play Maths games." - Cameron Yr 4

"The ipad is great because it has many educational apps. I love learning on the ipad because it is enjoyable and fun" - Isabel Yr 4

"You can download Mathletics and other fun apps" - Katie Yr 4

"You can learn in different ways." - Annaliese Yr 3

"I like puppet pals because we can record voices. Thankyou Mr Brown for the opportunity" - Gabrielle - Year 3

"Everyday Stage 2 is wishing, wanting and hoping that it will be their day to use the ipads," - Emily - Year 3

"It is a good gadget" - Anaru Yr 3

"The ipad has many games like hangman and puppet pals. I like the stories!" - Nathan

"The stories are different because if you don't know a word they can read it to you!" - Olivia Yr 4

"I feel very lucky but want other students not as fortunate as us to use them". - Emma Yr4

St Agnes ipad Update

So far the ipad has been successfully used to support the integrated learning of students and staff at St Agnes. Students within a number of KLAs have used the ipad to assist them during classroom activities. For example, some students have used the ipad Chalkboard app during their math classes to expand on the mathematical formulas provided by their teacher. The students were then able to share their working out and final answer with their work buddies.

In Design and Technology Year 7 students have used the ipad (mainly the iFile application) to actively investigate and create their own Digital Media. Students have used the voice recording function of the iFile app to record each other singing their favourite songs. Their saved sound files were then able to be downloaded via a specific IP address to be used with their video editing work. This ease of wireless file exchange assists the teacher in providing instructions, examples and work to multiple recipients at the same time.

Students have also used the various ipad Reader apps during our silent reading program. The students that have used the ipad during this time have all said they found it easy to read from the screen and the added animation and sounds encouraged them to read on.

We are still having trouble with connecting our ipads to each other and to other devices via Bluetooth. This is still the case when using a Bluetooth file transfer app. Does anybody have any ideas?

Ipads with kindy at J23

Kindy have been having a great time at Stanhope exploring the new ipads. We were really excited to introduce them to the children and they have had a ball exploring a variety of apps. One concern we had was the care of the ipads, but the kids have been fantastic. Sharing was a biggest issue as there are 116chn to 2 ipads- though this then led to the children creating their own roster, so all is peaceful again!

Puppet pals is by far our most popular app - we have upgraded on one ipad to include the full range of characters and backgrounds (well worth it). Does anyone know if we have to upgrade each ipad separately? When we sync them, the upgrade does not sync as it's bought within the app. This can be quite expensive if it's the case. Has anyone else who has been using puppet pals had any success with this? Some apps we have been playing around with are:

Brain Pop- lots of info, quizzes, animated movies etc. Too hard for kindy but would be great for stage 2+

Draw Free- writing sight words, sentences, handwriting, letter formation

Pocket Phonics- great for sounds and letter recognition as many readers use this font. Not fantastic when you are teaching letter formation as it isn't in foundation print.

Farm Flip- a fun memory game (we are learning about the farm this term.

My First Tangrams- four different activities that use tangrams- chn really like this one.

K-3 sight words- we play this in partners to challenge each other. Lots of levels, so a good range of words.

Chalkboard- empty board for writing - this one is good as it picks up the curve of each letter.

Draw it- freestyle, graph paper, notepaper. We tried this one in maths - was a little difficult. Will try this one again when we get a whiteboard connector to see if it's any easier.

We have found the enthusiasm to be amazing and shouldn't have been surprised at the children's ability to work out how each app works.

If anyone has any apps suitable for kindy, we would love to hear from you. We would like to use them more for reading, so are looking forward to finding more suitable apps.

Greetings from Sacred Heart Mt. Druitt

We are using the Ipads with our stage 2 and stage 3 Special Needs students in our literacy blocks. They have been greatly received by all students. The apps our students have enjoyed using are Puppet Pals, IQuestion and ISentence. We are still searching for additional apps that would be suitable for our student's needs. The ease of use is evident with the Ipad as most of the students are familiar with the Iphones. They have no problems with manipulation of the devise. At the moment our students are also using a Belkin five point attachment jack for multiple users. Students are excited about the application in their literacy block and are frequently using safari in their lessons.

10 iPad apps for educators

This video discusses consuming and creating content on your iPad.
Creating content with:
*Popplet - mindmapping
*Audionote - notepad/voicerecorder
*Caster - record multiple audio tracks
*Real director - create video/podcasts
*Mover+ move your video files from iphone to ipad
*Typedrawing
*2screens - use VGA out to present files/photos etc.
*Paperdesk - like a projected whiteboard that you can type on

Hello to everyone from Good Shepherd Primary School!

Our ipads are being used in our Year 2 Learning Space. In what was a highly anticipated, long awaited move, the children and teachers finally made it last week. The Year 2 teachers have had a great time looking at different apps that would work in the Literacy Groups. Quite a few of the apps they have been able to download have been free, so there still lots of "money in the bank" to purchase more.

In the meantime, every child in Year 2 (about 110 children) has been given the opportunity to play with and explore the ipads. The most popular app by far has been Puppet Pals - they LOVE hearing their voices in the final product!

Looking forward to sharing our learning experiences with you.

Ipads during music class

Hi again from St Finbars. I trialed an app called DAW Multitrack. It was great for recording live music, though sond levels get a bit patchy when your band is loud. A bit of trial and error. Probably better for recording a demo an instrument at a time. The children enjoyed recording and I was amazed at how they sounded better when they knew it was being recorded. This app does not contain any garage band style sounds. It is purely multitrack. (I will blog next week about a new app that can do your garage band style music.) I put together a quick vid today about the ipad in the class. All the best Tim

St Finbar's Primary Glenbrook

Hi everyone,



We have been working with the ipads in literacy blocks. We synched them no problems. I will post some photos and video over the next few weeks. We use them with small groups and all of the grade 3-4 students have used them. They are an absolute pleasure Ito work with.
The main apps used so far have been the full version of Alice, Aesops Fables,
Beatrix Potter collection, and puppet pals.

While they are excellent for reading and engaging children with puzzles and games, our focus for the next fortnight will be using the iPad as a creative device. I want to see if we can record music for our class videos, use them to write scripts and create power points.

We have a class tv station oztv and we want to use them in production of our tv station. Check it out at...
http://www.stfinbarsceparra.catholic.edu.au/home/tbutt/oztv.html

Regards,

Tim

Blog from Delany!

We have started to use the Ipads at Delany. We are using the trial in the Music department. At first we had difficulty with one of the Ipads and it wouldn't sink to the Mac that we had downloaded the new apps to, so we had to re-install the original settings and then re-sync the apps, if this happens to you go into itunes and restore original settings.

Students who are working well in class get the first go on the Ipad. They have been working on a variety of musical apps.

So far they are really excited and are very focused on their class work so they can have a turn. The plan is to have 2-3 students on each Ipad and they explore one music app that I have downloaded for a number of lessons, to see if they can learn something of value in the areas of composing, performing or aural. Then students will go to the App Store and choose a musical app that they are interested and I will download it for them.

Music Apps tried so far:

Smule magic piano, like it, but I see no musical education value to this app.

Nota is excellent for music notation testing and has a quiz and marks students.

Note Goal is similar also recommended for testing music notation reading.

Syncing the iPads
We need some tips for syncing our 3 iPads (2 from the pilot and 1 of our own) to our school iTunes account on the one computer. It is probably something very simple but the computer seems not to be reading/registering the iPads when they are plugged in the way it does with our school iPod. We want to transfer the apps we have purchased on one iPad to the other two???

We have been using the "puppet pals" application and a word game called "scramble". The children have been using these to assist us in literacy time. We have found the aps have been beneficial to chn learning and has given chn a newfound interest and enthusiasm for learning. The children have been writing scripts using a variety of characters using "puppet pals" and they have enjoyed writing expositions in the form of debates and using these characters to present their debate.

iPads at Marian

Hi from Joan and Jody and Marian College

Like eveybody else we are excited about having the opportunity to trial the ipad in the classroom. Jody and I are both iphone users and so this felt like it was just an extension of our phone. The keyboard is, by comparison, much larger and easy to type on.

The students love them and want to know when we will issue all students with one!!!

I am not sure if content creation is going to be part of using the ipad for us as we are looking at using them with our Year 8 wide reading classes. We are anticipating great interest in reading now instead of the usual comments of "its boring".

First impressions from Caroline Chisholm College

Greetings from Caroline Chisholm College!

The new (albeit temporary) additions to our beloved Technology Family here at the college have been doing the rounds of teachers and students with the customary "oohs!" and "aaahhs!" for a few days now. So I figured it was probably time to weigh in with a post or two on my own first impressions.

It's been really pleasing to read of teachers that have explored some of the conventional (and not-so-conventional) apps out there. It's particularly good to think laterally about the potential for app development and I'd certainly be interested to investigate potential apps (has someone already done a post on this?) I think now is the time to put a bit of consumer pressure on Apple to approve the Apps that we need. Of course, hinging app development on the approval of one company is always a dicey game and the real potential lies, in my view, with open source (jail-breaking, anyone?)

In any case, I thought I'd chime in with some comments about usability on standard HTML 5 websites and the touch keyboard interface. It's unfortunately in these two particular areas that I'm currently quite disappointed. Take the keyboard - standard symbols like apostrophes, question marks and so on are rather difficult to access via shift keys and having to switch between alphabetical and numeric can also be a royal pain. As someone who likes to type a lot, I found typing beyond the conventional quick brown fox that jumps over the lazy dog to be quite a chore, even after 2-3 hours of practice.

My second gripe comes with trying to type text into standard text areas - think the window for this blog post, a comments box on an article page or indeed Google Docs. In all three cases when I went to tap in the box to type text I was met with a blank white space that refused to yield a cursor. I kinda thought it would be cool to post this entry on the iPad but alas - I had to return to my trusty laptop with its clickety-clackety set of coffee-stained keys.

Am I missing something? I think that Apple are definitely riding on the App market coming to the fore and, in time, of course this will happen. But I have to say that there is a real limitation with locking down the user experience into the fixed parameters of a given application. In my view, Apple really need to get the HTML experience working properly and seamlessly to really empower users to use the device for new and exciting purposes.

As an English teacher who loves writing, I won't be rushing to recommend using the iPads with the touch keyboard interface alone. The idea of a bluetooth keyboard is another thing altogether though - and I recently bought one for our school to play around with. It'll be interesting to see if my favourite Web 2.0 sites work well - or at all - with it.

Tried Projecting Your iPad?

Are you one of us who has tried to hook your iPad up to a data projector? Without success? Don't bother going into the settings in your iPad - the solution isn't hidden there.

The issue appears to be that data projectors need a certain resolution for them to project from any device. Ipad apps apparently can work on different varying resolutions. That's my simplified way of explaining something that really has more complexity to it!

What I found out with the help of Gary and Lisa is that only certain apps can be 'projected'. Keynote can - but only in 'slide-play' mode (look for the play button, top right hand corner).

To project web stuff you can't just use Safari. You have to download the 'idemoweb' app and use that as your browser. Of course, you'll need to buy a vga connector - $30 or so from JBhifi.

We have several interactive whiteboards throughout the school so being able to use the ipad apps with the interactive facilities of the boards would open a whole new set of possibilities. If anyone has success doing that, please share.

Steve Dowd

St. Matthew's, Windsor

iPad's at OLOL Seven Hills

At OLOL Seven Hills the Stage 3 children have been enjoying learning through exploration and discovery with the iPad's in the classroom. We have been using the iPad's in Maths, Menu Board Groups and Integrated lessons.

In Maths lessons, the students take turns completing mentals for 10 minutes using the following apps: - Times Tables - Math Board - Pizza Math - Let's do Math! and - Math Ninja.

In Menu Board the children are able to use the iPad to play spelling games or read books. We have used the following apps: - Hangman - Word Search -Toy Story -Alice in Wonderland -Jack and the Beanstalk -The 3 little Pigs - Word Dropping and -Puppet Pals.

Our Integrated Unit this term is on Antarctica. We have downloaded 4 different apps labelled, "Antarctica" which all have great links and valuable information on different animals, explorers and Antarctica itself.

So far we are enjoying using the iPads and find they are a valuable motivational tool!

More Apps from St Joseph's, Kingswood

I purchased an iPad just before the holidays and have been playing with it ever since.

I have found the following programs very useful:

• Let's Do Math! - suitable for lots of age groups where the concept of 3+1+ 3 or 5-3+2-1+2 is understood. There are multiple levels, a time limit for the users plus positive comments along the way. When you make a mistake, it says things like "Uh uh" and "Oh, time's up" It is a race against the clock so you need to think quickly.
• ABC Blocks on the Farm - suitable for infants/lower primary children. Is a spelling activity where the blocks that display the letters need to be placed on top of each other. It is not left to right spelling activity as would be the normal convention but top to bottom.
• Google Earth - just like the desktop application - but you need to be on a www connection. Suitable for any student needing access to the software.
• Amazing Facts - Multiple categories with facts written on pieces of paper the shape of a head. An example of a fact is "In Australia, 225 of adults will never have children." (Note- sources are not given.) Suited to any age where the text can be read.
• Animal Eyes - Fun - Flickr photos that focus on the eyes of different animals - from snails and frogs to elephants and crocodiles. Could be used with infant students.
• Trip View - Rail, Bus and Ferry Maps. Fantastic app. Multiple uses.
• Mini Piano - could be used in any class. Only has 8 notes but very clear. Would be great on an IWB or large screen to teach notes on a piano.
• Puppet Pals - from Kinder to the grave! A must have. Fantastic application for those wanting students to write and perform a play using the characters provided. Additional characters can be purchased but it is worth it.
• Sticky Notes - All ages - Just like the sticky notes on a MAC. You are able to take notes on "Post-it" style notes.
• Jumbo Calculator - Great for those learning to use a calculator. Would be fantastic on an IWB or large screen.

St Agnes-iFile

Hello all,

Just sharing that St Agnes has located and already have started to use a very good App called iFile. With iFile you can upload files from your computer to your ipad via a wifi connection. You upload your files to a specific IP address and once you run your app on your ipad the files are downloaded onto your device. It also works when sending files from the ipad to the specific IP address.

This kind of app is very useful when transferring files from the ipad to multiple computers without using itunes and a cable.

We are also wondering if any school has been successful in connecting their devices via Bluetooth?

We have attempted to connect our ipads to each other and to other devices but on all occasions the ipad has failed to locate the other devices. This is still the case when using a Bluetooth file transfer app.