Wednesday, March 30, 2011
3-30-11
A few pictures from the class along with a video (not too exciting but captures a typical lesson)
VIDEO - a few clips from class
3-29-11 Tuesday
Today the class enjoyed meeting the family that donated the 10 iPads, cases etc to us. I met prior to the class and I explained how exciting it was to be able to teach with tools like the iPad that are at the front of the teaching curve. The family was incredibly humble and explained that they were excited to be a part of the project.
The class arrived, sat down (along with the contributing family, our PR person, the headmaster and our website consultant – almost more adults than students), downloaded the lesson, opened up their homework from the night before, placed it in their dropbox folder (which is shared with me) and we began to review the assignment. Things went smoothly and we moved on to the day’s lesson. I handed an iPad to the family and explained the fundamentals of using Noterize – they worked through the lesson and picked up on it just as quickly (if not more quickly) as the students. They were really taking notes and solving the problems! This was truly exciting.
The slides, notes etc went well and there were no tech glitches - which is a good stage to be at. We now are to the point that we can begin experimenting again, finding “apps” to use in the classroom – I am considering creating an assignment to have the students find, download and review an application on their iPads – Not too sure how to support this as we have to pay for it – maybe they find it, select it, then we download it in class, at which point they can then try it and review it.
Other apps and uses for the iPad – So far we have been trying to focus on the mathematics instruction and typical note taking procedures that we have used in the past – supplemented by having a graphing calc built into the iPad. The next step is to find new methods of instruction – at this point I am looking into apps that can be used in algebra – At this point I know of only one Alg textbook that has been created for the iPad. This might be useful as it contains instructional videos etc. but the material is not quite as rigorous as we would like – we are continuing to look.
The other day I described the classroom procedure but I should elaborate on the tools- below is a more detailed explanation:
Pre-activity – I create the lesson on the Smartboard, save it as a pdf and upload to the school website under my class (this takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours – it will get faster and better as I get better and the lessons semi - repeat from year to year)
The additional time spent downloading, opening, and closing etc. does not seem to be any more than the time it takes for students to take out their homework, me collect it, take out notepaper for notes, then for homework etc, In fact overall it may save time. Until of course we introduce a new app.
The class arrived, sat down (along with the contributing family, our PR person, the headmaster and our website consultant – almost more adults than students), downloaded the lesson, opened up their homework from the night before, placed it in their dropbox folder (which is shared with me) and we began to review the assignment. Things went smoothly and we moved on to the day’s lesson. I handed an iPad to the family and explained the fundamentals of using Noterize – they worked through the lesson and picked up on it just as quickly (if not more quickly) as the students. They were really taking notes and solving the problems! This was truly exciting.
The slides, notes etc went well and there were no tech glitches - which is a good stage to be at. We now are to the point that we can begin experimenting again, finding “apps” to use in the classroom – I am considering creating an assignment to have the students find, download and review an application on their iPads – Not too sure how to support this as we have to pay for it – maybe they find it, select it, then we download it in class, at which point they can then try it and review it.
Other apps and uses for the iPad – So far we have been trying to focus on the mathematics instruction and typical note taking procedures that we have used in the past – supplemented by having a graphing calc built into the iPad. The next step is to find new methods of instruction – at this point I am looking into apps that can be used in algebra – At this point I know of only one Alg textbook that has been created for the iPad. This might be useful as it contains instructional videos etc. but the material is not quite as rigorous as we would like – we are continuing to look.
The other day I described the classroom procedure but I should elaborate on the tools- below is a more detailed explanation:
Pre-activity – I create the lesson on the Smartboard, save it as a pdf and upload to the school website under my class (this takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours – it will get faster and better as I get better and the lessons semi - repeat from year to year)
- Arrive in class and download lesson –
- Safari – log onto Whipple Hill website (students have individual logins), find the lesson for the days and click it (takes about 2 minutes – logging on + time to download)
- Noterize app - Once the file has been downloaded, the pdf opens in Safari and at that point you can choose to “OPEN IN” Noterize. (30 seconds to 1 minute)
- Dropbox app and Noterize - With the lesson downloaded – place the homework assignment in the Dropbox app which I can access as it is a shared folder with my Dropbox - I created a new account in Dropbox which they are all logged into. (3-4 minutes)
- Noterize – Return to their homework assignment and correct in class – also take notes on (30 seconds)
- Noterize - Open up the lesson for the day and take notes. (30 seconds)
- Lastly – I open up the homework assignments from dropbox – HOWEVER I have been using Note Taker HD. I correct and comment on then EMAIL back to them. I have to email the files as the notetaker HD app does not support placing it directly into the dropbox app – I need to think of a workaround for this.
The additional time spent downloading, opening, and closing etc. does not seem to be any more than the time it takes for students to take out their homework, me collect it, take out notepaper for notes, then for homework etc, In fact overall it may save time. Until of course we introduce a new app.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday 3-11-11
I spent the last few days attending the CUE conference in Palm Springs. I attended several seminars on the iPad and a few that spoke to using the smartboard in the classroom. I have so much information that I am trying to sort it so that I can begin to use it. Once I have completed that task I will post anything that we are thinking about using in the classroom.
On par with the seminars learning value were conversations with those in the lines waiting for the classes. I made it a point to ask whether they were using iPads, what role they played etc. One thing that is certain is that the interest in the iPad is huge. Any seminar that had the word iPad attached was packed with many standing for the typically 1 hour session.
Back to the classroom.
It was time to set up the emails for the students – steps
1. Write email AUP addendum
2. Define email format – gradyearfirstnamelastinitial@harborday.org - ex 11jamesg@harborday.org (this one is not active)
3. Have students create password
4. IT looks over password to make sure it follows rules
5. Have IT dept. create the addresses and passwords
6. Create and test the emails in class
Items 1-5 worked well and took about 2 days (except the creation of the AUP which took about 1 week but can be used from this point on). Everything was great until #6. The first mistake was entirely mine in that the iPad seems to automatically define the email as IMAP. So we entered them all this way and none of them worked. Later that day I was working with IT and we discovered that we needed to change the accounts to POP. This required us to delete the old version and create a new email on the iPad.
I allotted 10 minutes in class to have this happen, too much I thought, but of course for the ONLY 7 students it turned out to be not enough. Some went quickly through the screens, others slowly, some listed to details, some didn’t. Lastly and as it turns out most importantly is some remembered the capital letters in their password, some didn’t (really no one remembered the capital letters its just that those whose emails worked didn’t have any cap letters).
Next time I will take screen shots (Hold down power button and home button at the same time until your see/hear a flash – then it goes into the photos folder) and display them on the smartboard.
Outside of that we have been working through the class rather effectively with the students focused on math and not on the tech (until of course I think of some idea which takes us off track again).
Again the method used to turn in the homework assignments has yet to be decided on. The dropbox app had begun to work well but sometimes the students have trouble accessing and remembering to save the file with their name on it. With the emailing of homework it would be attached to the email and name included. I anticipate that the email version might be harder to keep and access the files. We will see.
On par with the seminars learning value were conversations with those in the lines waiting for the classes. I made it a point to ask whether they were using iPads, what role they played etc. One thing that is certain is that the interest in the iPad is huge. Any seminar that had the word iPad attached was packed with many standing for the typically 1 hour session.
Back to the classroom.
It was time to set up the emails for the students – steps
1. Write email AUP addendum
2. Define email format – gradyearfirstnamelastinitial@harborday.org - ex 11jamesg@harborday.org (this one is not active)
3. Have students create password
4. IT looks over password to make sure it follows rules
5. Have IT dept. create the addresses and passwords
6. Create and test the emails in class
Items 1-5 worked well and took about 2 days (except the creation of the AUP which took about 1 week but can be used from this point on). Everything was great until #6. The first mistake was entirely mine in that the iPad seems to automatically define the email as IMAP. So we entered them all this way and none of them worked. Later that day I was working with IT and we discovered that we needed to change the accounts to POP. This required us to delete the old version and create a new email on the iPad.
I allotted 10 minutes in class to have this happen, too much I thought, but of course for the ONLY 7 students it turned out to be not enough. Some went quickly through the screens, others slowly, some listed to details, some didn’t. Lastly and as it turns out most importantly is some remembered the capital letters in their password, some didn’t (really no one remembered the capital letters its just that those whose emails worked didn’t have any cap letters).
Next time I will take screen shots (Hold down power button and home button at the same time until your see/hear a flash – then it goes into the photos folder) and display them on the smartboard.
Outside of that we have been working through the class rather effectively with the students focused on math and not on the tech (until of course I think of some idea which takes us off track again).
Again the method used to turn in the homework assignments has yet to be decided on. The dropbox app had begun to work well but sometimes the students have trouble accessing and remembering to save the file with their name on it. With the emailing of homework it would be attached to the email and name included. I anticipate that the email version might be harder to keep and access the files. We will see.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Ipads 3-15-11
We finalized the email AUP and handed it out to the students today. The hope is that now we can more easily turn in assignments and communicate with the students. Up until now we have not really had much of an alternative to using the website to download the lessons, hand in homework or communicate with the students. In fact today, for some reason (we have yet to figure out why) one of the students could not download the lesson from the website and he really had no alternative. Certainly something on my mind is creating the “plan b and c” for technical issues with the equipment. In the end he left the computer with me, I placed the Dropbox app on the iPad and he now can access the lesson. More on dropbox in a minute.
The class moved ahead and with the lesson downloaded we move to check on their homework assignments on the iPad. As we have yet to create a format for turning in the assignments, I manually went around the class and looked at their homework slides. Next step is to correct the homework problems and review any questions. For this they do not use the downloaded lesson from earlier. It is a little different than the order for the paper class and I am working on the sequence. I think that this is the best.
1. Arrive in class and download lesson
2. As the lesson is downloading – place the homework assignment in the Dropbox app
3. Open their homework assignment and correct
4. Open up the lesson for the day and take notes.
Outside of the download issue we all worked on practice problems and the class went fairly smoothly.
DropBox app – one of the issues here is that they all log on under the same account and can all access the folders and files and therefore copy/change them. Therefore the best thing to do is to turn in homework immediately upon entering the class, then I can place it in my folder because it is shared.
One of the inherent dangers of this electronic distribution is the ability to share. If one student completes their assignment in the afternoon then he/she can immediately send it to friends to be copied. I am unclear on the solution and perhaps it’s as easy as that now anyway. I will certainly need to be careful about putting tests on the computer as it could be distributed while they are taking the exam.
The class moved ahead and with the lesson downloaded we move to check on their homework assignments on the iPad. As we have yet to create a format for turning in the assignments, I manually went around the class and looked at their homework slides. Next step is to correct the homework problems and review any questions. For this they do not use the downloaded lesson from earlier. It is a little different than the order for the paper class and I am working on the sequence. I think that this is the best.
1. Arrive in class and download lesson
2. As the lesson is downloading – place the homework assignment in the Dropbox app
3. Open their homework assignment and correct
4. Open up the lesson for the day and take notes.
Outside of the download issue we all worked on practice problems and the class went fairly smoothly.
DropBox app – one of the issues here is that they all log on under the same account and can all access the folders and files and therefore copy/change them. Therefore the best thing to do is to turn in homework immediately upon entering the class, then I can place it in my folder because it is shared.
One of the inherent dangers of this electronic distribution is the ability to share. If one student completes their assignment in the afternoon then he/she can immediately send it to friends to be copied. I am unclear on the solution and perhaps it’s as easy as that now anyway. I will certainly need to be careful about putting tests on the computer as it could be distributed while they are taking the exam.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Friday 3-11-11
Over the last few days the class/my teaching has felt too fragmented. We are constantly solving problems with the technology while at the same time introducing new apps all while teaching a class. I have been too excited about pushing the envelope and perhaps lost focus on the fact that we are also learning Algebra. As a result today was a pure lecture without new tools/toys/experiments with the iPads. We downloaded the notes, went over the homework and work through the problems together. Things went well and the students learned about graphing, slope intercept and all those good things. I will begin to meter the new apps/ideas out more slowly and keep the focus on the class.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wednesday 3-9-11
New app today – GraphCalc HD – a graphing calculator
We have been talking about slope etc in algebra so after looking around I found the app “GraphCalc HD”. I worked with it for a while and decided that we should download it to all the iPads. After the students walked into class and had finished downloading the lesson I announced that we would be downloading an app today. I had downloaded the app to the master iPad computer and decided that syncing each to it should be the most effective method. So I announced to the class (just 7 students) “please bring up your iPad and place them on my desk”. I plugged in the first one and noticed that I could not sync the apps – the button was dimmed. I had disabled the iPads app store and I assume that must have disabled the sync option. I changed the setting on the iPad and still the sync option was disabled. OK, I decided that wasn’t going to work so I decided to download it to each iPad. I thought this was a good idea too so that each app would be paid for vs. the master computer sync which doesn’t cause the user to pay for each iPad app synced. In order to do this I had to (on each iPad)
Disable the app download restriction – go to settings, type in password
Find the app in the app store
Download the app – again type in password for iTunes account
Once the app was downloaded we had to back in and enable the restrictions to not allow the downloading of apps. The whole process took about 15 minutes and really disrupted the class. I am sure there is an easier way and I will have to find it.
Note: one student had synced with their iTunes on the computer at home and therefore the wrong account was open and I had to log off etc. We explained that the students should not sync with their computers at home to avoid this.
Given the app download and syncing with another computer issue I wonder whether it is worth regulating it so much. Maybe we should allow connection to another computer as well as opening the app store. From what we have done so far the apps are associated with the account that they are downloaded from and the two can coexist on the same iPad.
We have been talking about slope etc in algebra so after looking around I found the app “GraphCalc HD”. I worked with it for a while and decided that we should download it to all the iPads. After the students walked into class and had finished downloading the lesson I announced that we would be downloading an app today. I had downloaded the app to the master iPad computer and decided that syncing each to it should be the most effective method. So I announced to the class (just 7 students) “please bring up your iPad and place them on my desk”. I plugged in the first one and noticed that I could not sync the apps – the button was dimmed. I had disabled the iPads app store and I assume that must have disabled the sync option. I changed the setting on the iPad and still the sync option was disabled. OK, I decided that wasn’t going to work so I decided to download it to each iPad. I thought this was a good idea too so that each app would be paid for vs. the master computer sync which doesn’t cause the user to pay for each iPad app synced. In order to do this I had to (on each iPad)
Disable the app download restriction – go to settings, type in password
Find the app in the app store
Download the app – again type in password for iTunes account
Once the app was downloaded we had to back in and enable the restrictions to not allow the downloading of apps. The whole process took about 15 minutes and really disrupted the class. I am sure there is an easier way and I will have to find it.
Note: one student had synced with their iTunes on the computer at home and therefore the wrong account was open and I had to log off etc. We explained that the students should not sync with their computers at home to avoid this.
Given the app download and syncing with another computer issue I wonder whether it is worth regulating it so much. Maybe we should allow connection to another computer as well as opening the app store. From what we have done so far the apps are associated with the account that they are downloaded from and the two can coexist on the same iPad.
Tuesday 3-8-11
New apps today
Printopia – Install on a computer connected to the server and it becomes the host computer to allow the iPads access to printers on the network.
A student came in early this morning asking for help printing a document from his iPad. Firstly I was excited that he had completed his English assignment using the Pages app (Apple), secondly I was not sure why his paper would not print. Earlier we had set up Printopia on a computer in my classroom. This would allow the iPads to see the printers on the server here at school. Interestingly, all were appearing but no printing was occurring. I found the simple solution – the network cable had come loose from the rear of the computer. In the process however, I found that the in addition to printing to the various printers options were available to print to the computer or print to the dropbox of the computer that had Printopia on it. We printed to both and amazing, within seconds the preview window was up on the computer showing the paper as well as a “Printopia folder” within the dropbox folder with the paper in it (Dropbox the app not the Whipple Hill drop box). There will be a definite use here until we get the students emails up and running.
The class today had roughly half the students absent so we decided to tape the class and put it on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPuFoixRl_k). This was an experiment as you might be able to see that there is too much of me and not enough of the lesson. It also is somewhat hard not to be aware of the presence of a camera.
The lesson itself was planned and went well with the students doing an excellent job of taking notes. I have begun to place some additional space at the end of the slides that they download at the end of the class so that the homework can be completed there. With what I learned this morning, we sent some files to the computer and others to the dropbox. We did learn that we need to properly title the exported document because they all show up with the same file name. I will have to figure out if the files can be renamed. Like any time that we try something new it caused some delay and can be frustrating.
Printopia – Install on a computer connected to the server and it becomes the host computer to allow the iPads access to printers on the network.
A student came in early this morning asking for help printing a document from his iPad. Firstly I was excited that he had completed his English assignment using the Pages app (Apple), secondly I was not sure why his paper would not print. Earlier we had set up Printopia on a computer in my classroom. This would allow the iPads to see the printers on the server here at school. Interestingly, all were appearing but no printing was occurring. I found the simple solution – the network cable had come loose from the rear of the computer. In the process however, I found that the in addition to printing to the various printers options were available to print to the computer or print to the dropbox of the computer that had Printopia on it. We printed to both and amazing, within seconds the preview window was up on the computer showing the paper as well as a “Printopia folder” within the dropbox folder with the paper in it (Dropbox the app not the Whipple Hill drop box). There will be a definite use here until we get the students emails up and running.
The class today had roughly half the students absent so we decided to tape the class and put it on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPuFoixRl_k). This was an experiment as you might be able to see that there is too much of me and not enough of the lesson. It also is somewhat hard not to be aware of the presence of a camera.
The lesson itself was planned and went well with the students doing an excellent job of taking notes. I have begun to place some additional space at the end of the slides that they download at the end of the class so that the homework can be completed there. With what I learned this morning, we sent some files to the computer and others to the dropbox. We did learn that we need to properly title the exported document because they all show up with the same file name. I will have to figure out if the files can be renamed. Like any time that we try something new it caused some delay and can be frustrating.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Friday 3-4-11
Here are some shots from today's lesson.
The class went smoothly today with the students taking notes, asking questions etc. It was the first full day where there were no glitches etc. The lesson plan was on graphing and included in the download were about 15 pages of blank coordinate planes. This was so that they could complete the assignment entirely on the iPad. The idea worked well and I will be looking at the solutions on Monday. We are still working on getting email addresses set up so that they can email me the assignments. Idealy, as mentioned in earlier posts, we should be able to upload them to the dropbox on our Whipple Hill website but the iPads cannot do this yet.
I will begin to look for a good graphing calculator app that will show not just the graph but also the table that created it.
The eight graders are still working on the iPad flashcard apps. Although I thought that they might just spend time playing with the apps, it seems that they need to have some motivation (it looks like an assignment will create this motivation). They are still happy to work on it but the motivation needs to be present.
We are at the stage now where the new factor is beginning to be lost and it is becoming another tool. The students are using it and really liking it. I have to keep looking for applications and new ways to use the iPad.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Ipads 3-2-11
Apps to Date – in use – there have been many tested
I gave a test today and I was thinking about having them take the test on the iPad but realized that if the unit were to crash there would be a problem – so we broke out the old fashioned pencil and paper.
Outside of class we have had a rotation of 4 iPads for other teachers to use for a 1 month period. Their focus is to look at their use to 1. help them with their single use as a teacher and 2. To look at how it might be integrated into the curriculum. Today I met with a reading specialist and a kindergarten teacher. Both actively observe students during the day and typically carry a clipboard to catalog observations/finding/etc. They have loved using the iPad to create a pdf of a form that they can fill out while observing. A valuable component of the Note Taker HD app is that tags can be assigned to the individual pages – Creating a take for each student and some basic characteristics makes a summary to dig up later on. We are working on how to save the files to the Dropbox Program or some central file location that can be accessed everywhere. The Noterize app has this capability but lacks the tags.
Late in the day some eighth grade students came to me asking about a flash card app. I had one and had not used it much. Why not have them test it. So now I have 2 testing some flash card apps. I have asked them to give me their input tomorrow during class so that we can decide whether to place the apps on the other iPads. As usual the students will be helping the teacher.
- Noterize
- Penultimate
- Dropbox – the app version not the Whipple Hill version
- Note Taker HD– a newer one used by some of the teachers that are testing
I gave a test today and I was thinking about having them take the test on the iPad but realized that if the unit were to crash there would be a problem – so we broke out the old fashioned pencil and paper.
Outside of class we have had a rotation of 4 iPads for other teachers to use for a 1 month period. Their focus is to look at their use to 1. help them with their single use as a teacher and 2. To look at how it might be integrated into the curriculum. Today I met with a reading specialist and a kindergarten teacher. Both actively observe students during the day and typically carry a clipboard to catalog observations/finding/etc. They have loved using the iPad to create a pdf of a form that they can fill out while observing. A valuable component of the Note Taker HD app is that tags can be assigned to the individual pages – Creating a take for each student and some basic characteristics makes a summary to dig up later on. We are working on how to save the files to the Dropbox Program or some central file location that can be accessed everywhere. The Noterize app has this capability but lacks the tags.
Late in the day some eighth grade students came to me asking about a flash card app. I had one and had not used it much. Why not have them test it. So now I have 2 testing some flash card apps. I have asked them to give me their input tomorrow during class so that we can decide whether to place the apps on the other iPads. As usual the students will be helping the teacher.
Ipads 3-1-11
To date the classroom procedure has been -- Students arrive -- Students download lesson and open in Noterize, get out paper homework and correct in class. With the homework assigned and completed on the ipad the sequence was a little different and opening up the “penultimate” app took a minute or two. Familiarity will smooth things out. It was really a treat to see the students excited about the potential for no paper in class. We corrected the homework and moved on to the lesson – We are beginning to have the occasional crash with the Noterize. The files come back in tact without the last few annotations.
We tried to use the Whipple Hill dropbox but were not able to upload a file. On my end I have to create an assignment within my Whiple Hill webpage then check a box allowing the assigment to be turned in via the dropbox. When the students log on they click on the assignment and are able to select a “turn in” type button. When they go to choose a file the choose button is dimmed. It has got to be something with the way the iPad stores files. We contacted the Whipple Hill rep and they are now aware of it.
The students have carried them to their other classes and to date there have not been issues. In fact several of the 8th grade teachers are creating assignments specifically for the iPads
We tried to use the Whipple Hill dropbox but were not able to upload a file. On my end I have to create an assignment within my Whiple Hill webpage then check a box allowing the assigment to be turned in via the dropbox. When the students log on they click on the assignment and are able to select a “turn in” type button. When they go to choose a file the choose button is dimmed. It has got to be something with the way the iPad stores files. We contacted the Whipple Hill rep and they are now aware of it.
The students have carried them to their other classes and to date there have not been issues. In fact several of the 8th grade teachers are creating assignments specifically for the iPads
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
2-28-11 - Ipads in the classroom
2-28-11
With our 1-week term break behind us we begin class again. Today the students will be allowed to use the iPads in other classes and take them home. We notified the other teachers that some (just 7 of the 43 8th graders) would be using iPads in class. Their use is at the discretion of the teacher. One of the lines on the AUP explained that the students where not interfere with others learning.
There is certainly some concern about allowing them to be taken home and used/stored at school. The eighth grade has lockers that are used to hold their book bags etc but they typically leave them unlocked during the school hours. Each assured me that the iPads will be treated carefully but we will see how careful everyone is 4 weeks from now.
Today in class we found that the Internet was very slow so the process that we usually follow (Arrive, download lesson, import into Noterize, take notes..) took longer. We will need to come up with a plan B if this is going to happen with some regularity.
I gave another 1 question warm up using the “eclicker” app and it worked well. There are still little glitches as I become familiar with the tools. As a general note it does take some time to create the eclicker quizzes because they are multiple choice so that in addition to creating the smartboard lessons does require some additional time.
With the notes downloaded the students took their notes and it was business as usual. The lesson finished and it was time for homework. A FIRST here was that the students would be completing the assignment on the ipad using Penultimate. They created a new folder titled Chapter 7 homework and were on their way. Folders and organization is something that I need to think a bit more about so that the students are able to find their various classes and assignments once they have accumulated a few months worth of information/files. Another new feature that we are excited to test is the Dropbox option to turn in the assignments. This is part of the Whipple Hill package and is not related to the Dropbox app.
With our 1-week term break behind us we begin class again. Today the students will be allowed to use the iPads in other classes and take them home. We notified the other teachers that some (just 7 of the 43 8th graders) would be using iPads in class. Their use is at the discretion of the teacher. One of the lines on the AUP explained that the students where not interfere with others learning.
There is certainly some concern about allowing them to be taken home and used/stored at school. The eighth grade has lockers that are used to hold their book bags etc but they typically leave them unlocked during the school hours. Each assured me that the iPads will be treated carefully but we will see how careful everyone is 4 weeks from now.
Today in class we found that the Internet was very slow so the process that we usually follow (Arrive, download lesson, import into Noterize, take notes..) took longer. We will need to come up with a plan B if this is going to happen with some regularity.
I gave another 1 question warm up using the “eclicker” app and it worked well. There are still little glitches as I become familiar with the tools. As a general note it does take some time to create the eclicker quizzes because they are multiple choice so that in addition to creating the smartboard lessons does require some additional time.
With the notes downloaded the students took their notes and it was business as usual. The lesson finished and it was time for homework. A FIRST here was that the students would be completing the assignment on the ipad using Penultimate. They created a new folder titled Chapter 7 homework and were on their way. Folders and organization is something that I need to think a bit more about so that the students are able to find their various classes and assignments once they have accumulated a few months worth of information/files. Another new feature that we are excited to test is the Dropbox option to turn in the assignments. This is part of the Whipple Hill package and is not related to the Dropbox app.
Day 7 -- 2-18-11
Several students had asked to complete their homework on the iPads – they did this so the first thing we did was to correct the homework in class – using the Penultimate and of course the red ink. Problem right now is that we do not have email addresses and the Penultimate program does not yet link to Dropbox or Google docs – things need to be emailed. We are now working on assigning emails. Another option is using the Whipple Hill Dropbox but we have rolled out that component yet.
Day 6 --- 2-16-11
We also gave a quiz today using the eclicker app that is available in the app store. This app allows the teacher to send questions over the wireless system and observe the student responses. I created a single question quiz and sent it to each iPad in the class and watched while they worked to find the solution some pictures below show the students working
One item of note is that during class the students are much quieter with this new single point of focus. Even with the occasional tech glitch they remain glued to both my presentation and their screen.
Above – students taking the eclicker quiz.
Day 5 --- 2-15-11
We have not charged the iPads since we started and because the students will not be taking them home for a while we need to create a bulk charging area or buy some kind of station if there is one available. Additionally if/when we roll these out next year in a class set environment we will likely need one if the younger students are not taking them home.
Cleaning – outside of water we need to look at some means of cleaning the screen.
We asked the other teacher whether it would be acceptable to have the iPads in the classroom since only the 7 students in algebra would have them and it might create a distraction. Most thought it was acceptable – we will see how it works.
Cleaning – outside of water we need to look at some means of cleaning the screen.
We asked the other teacher whether it would be acceptable to have the iPads in the classroom since only the 7 students in algebra would have them and it might create a distraction. Most thought it was acceptable – we will see how it works.
Day 4 --- 2-14-11
The students are becoming more familiar with the procedure in class but there are style some techniques that they need to master before the note taking becomes seamless. The preparation required for each class is more than we had before but is becoming more manageable. Really so far what we have done is save lessons as pdfs and write on them. The primary app that we have used is Noterize and it really is performing well. Pictures below – note the chart that they are filling out (Algebra mixture problems)
Ipads Day 3
Day 3 2-11-11
The students are beginning to become accustomed to the iPads in the class and get started with the note-taking ore quickly. We were not able to finish yesterdays percent lesson so we used the same notes file as yesterday. The students took notes and we were able to get through the lesson at a fairly normal pace.
With the notes complete we began to work on the homework in class but instead of using paper we used penultimate
The students are beginning to become accustomed to the iPads in the class and get started with the note-taking ore quickly. We were not able to finish yesterdays percent lesson so we used the same notes file as yesterday. The students took notes and we were able to get through the lesson at a fairly normal pace.
With the notes complete we began to work on the homework in class but instead of using paper we used penultimate
Day 2
DAY 2 - 2-10-11
Tasks
Notes – Place the download bookmark for Harbor Day onto the home screen –
Penultimate – we did not use this today other than to create a folder titled Algebra 2-10-11 so that any notes/homework can be properly stored and retrieved.
The students quickly logged on and downloaded the lesson. From the download they opened it in Noterize and we practiced adding 2 or 3 notes to the first blank page – the rest of the lesson involved filling in the percent table and trying to figure out how to write in the small boxes. Generally the lesson was much slower as they grew accustomed to the technology.
Tasks
- Review the acceptable use form
- Understand penultimate – setting up folders and creating some organizational structure so that the notes are not randomly scattered
- Actually take notes
Notes – Place the download bookmark for Harbor Day onto the home screen –
Penultimate – we did not use this today other than to create a folder titled Algebra 2-10-11 so that any notes/homework can be properly stored and retrieved.
The students quickly logged on and downloaded the lesson. From the download they opened it in Noterize and we practiced adding 2 or 3 notes to the first blank page – the rest of the lesson involved filling in the percent table and trying to figure out how to write in the small boxes. Generally the lesson was much slower as they grew accustomed to the technology.
Ipads in the classroom - First Post
Ipads in the classroom DAY 1 2-9-11
The iPads have been readied – connected to the network, apps (Noterize, pdf expert, penultimate) loaded on them. The smartboard lesson has been slightly redesigned to help with the note taking on the ipad. The lesson has been uploaded to the website so that the students can download it onto the iPad and begin to take notes.
The iPads were handed out and quickly all had them on and were playing with some of the apps. After about 5 minutes the direction was to work with Penultimate and just try to draw/use the stylus to take notes. Some liked the stylus while others used their fingers. I think eventually they will gravitate to a stylus. We still need to find a good one as I am not yet satisfied with those tried to date.
The second task was to log onto the new website, change their password, then download the lesson. This did not take too long but they did have to learn how to make the pdf open in Noterize. Once open they discovered that they could write on the pdf notes, place stickies there, record audio, highlight and type notes. It is a good app but someone mentioned that they thought it tended to crash. We will see.
The students quickly picked up on how to use it and I am certain that I will also be learning from them. The next step is to use the ipad in other classes but it might be best to wait until the newness has worn off so that others that don’t have them will not be additionally distracted.
Potential issues – Charging
The iPads have been readied – connected to the network, apps (Noterize, pdf expert, penultimate) loaded on them. The smartboard lesson has been slightly redesigned to help with the note taking on the ipad. The lesson has been uploaded to the website so that the students can download it onto the iPad and begin to take notes.
The iPads were handed out and quickly all had them on and were playing with some of the apps. After about 5 minutes the direction was to work with Penultimate and just try to draw/use the stylus to take notes. Some liked the stylus while others used their fingers. I think eventually they will gravitate to a stylus. We still need to find a good one as I am not yet satisfied with those tried to date.
The second task was to log onto the new website, change their password, then download the lesson. This did not take too long but they did have to learn how to make the pdf open in Noterize. Once open they discovered that they could write on the pdf notes, place stickies there, record audio, highlight and type notes. It is a good app but someone mentioned that they thought it tended to crash. We will see.
The students quickly picked up on how to use it and I am certain that I will also be learning from them. The next step is to use the ipad in other classes but it might be best to wait until the newness has worn off so that others that don’t have them will not be additionally distracted.
Potential issues – Charging
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