Ipads 3-2-11

Apps to Date – in use – there have been many tested

• 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.