This is the first assignment for our new group of teachers. For an assignment to be completed, you must click on "Comments" below and add your comment.
Assignment: Meet with your mentor and ask them what they would have liked to have known when first getting started with their iPads. Share with us their words of wisdom.
This assignment is due April 23rd.
so one of my mentors is Tami. Here were her comments on this topic: Learn to sinc early with your computer. Also it is easier if you upload apps and updates with your computer first and then sinc onto the ipad.
ReplyDeleteI found that my skype was calling me at odd hours as all my relatives live time differences away. To switch off your apps on the ipad - double click the home button until the apps go wiggly and then press the minus (-) bar. You will not be deleting the app you will be switching it off.
My mentor is Ali. Ali wished that someone could have helped him be more efficient with his ipad in his classroom when he was first learning to use it. He started out thinking of it as a small computer, but eventually he learned that it was a different kind of tool. There are some short cuts he found to be particularly handy that would have been nice to know early on, like shaking the ipad for "undo", pressing the home button twice to see all open apps, pressing the top and home buttons at the same time to do a screen shot, and a whole bunch of imovie short cuts.
ReplyDeleteI have two mentors,Bridget Hass and Jo Morton. Bridget wished that she had known how expensve the really good apps are, how tricky it can be to swtch back and forth between the ipad and the computer (with the projector) and also how easy it is to read on one. Jo wished that she had known all the shortcuts that she has learned over the past few months.
ReplyDeleteSharon, it may be worth considering creating one iTunes account for the science department to share. You can authorize up to five computers with one account. This would allow you to share some apps amongst yourselves. If you go this route, I would suggest using the "none" option for payment. Instead of using a credit card, you would use gift cards. Also, if you want to try out an app that someone else has used, they could log into the store on your iPad and re-download it for you. You can use multiple accounts on one iPad.
DeleteMy mentor is Madeleine Soloway. She has told me that she wishes someone had shown her in the beginning how to archive images—create portfolios of student work in an app better than DropBox. This might be something that she and I can work on together.
ReplyDeleteMy mentor is Tony and he had a couple of insights: I wish I'd known that it was not necessary to install so many apps. Jennifer and I spent a great deal of time last summer previewing/selecting apps because we thought we needed to install them prior to the students' first use. In reality, we have far too many apps on the devices--many of which we've never used. I do think that it's best to start with fewer apps.
ReplyDeleteI also wish I'd known how easy GoodReader is to use. At first, it seemed very complicated and I was a bit intimidated. Now, it's second nature. And it adds an efficiency to my routine that I never imagined.
There are a few PDF readers out there that are free, if you want to try one out before downloading GoodReader. Adobe Reader is free, and while it doesn't have all the capabilities of GoodReader, it does allow you to do simple annotations.
DeleteMartha Alexander is my Geek Sage. She gave me a list of things. Here it is:
ReplyDelete1. Don't charge the ipad if it has 50% or more power.. Overcharging wears out the battery. (Jennifer Swift)
2. Definitely change the settings so that when you buy an app it automatically downloads on all your ipads at once. (Amy Valk)
3. Ask Becca and David for new apps; they know about more of them because they have a class set and are using the ipads a ton.
4. Tell your class not to change the lock screen setting. (Amy)
5. Every time you move to a new math unit, look for apps. I love the math apps. They are my favorite. Just found an app for practicing area today. Of course, Olivia Gallant found it two minutes after I told my math class that we need an area app.
The app is Geometry Combat. It has rectangle, triangle, and trapezoid figures.
Good stuff.
Clarification for #2 above: only set up your iPad to automatically download new apps if you have a class set that you are completely in control of. What you need to be careful of is if you have only one iTunes account and you want to download apps like Facebook or eBay for your personal device. If you had automatic download turned on, these apps would suddenly appear on all of your student iPads. It is better to do this if you have separate personal and class iTunes accounts.
DeleteMy mentor, Brian Smith and I went through our apps lists. Together we made a good start and had a few insights on which apps will be useful and effective. I have also noticed that it is easy to run out of memory when you sync with an iTune library. Only a few hours of video lectures will use up the memory.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to comment on your post about syncing with the iTunes library. On the first summary tab when viewing your iPad in iTunes, there is an option to check "manually manage music and videos". If you check that, you can just drag any music or videos on there when you want them. This is preferable to syncing the whole library, since as you noted, the storage space is much smaller on the iPad.
DeleteBen said he wished he had focused more and earlier on learning to use imovie because if he had, he could have incorporated instructional videos into his lessons. This helped focus me because I'm interested in developing some instructional videos for the students to watch at home so we have more opportunity to focus on collaborative projects and research in class. Ben recommended that I immediately download the VoiceThread app and told me how he'd used it in his class.
ReplyDeleteiMovie on the iPads is pretty simple and we're always happy to show anyone how to use it. If we have enough interest, we can offer a training. We love the idea of "flipping" your classroom!
DeleteOman said he would have loved to have had more people in the Junior High with iPads. Both Ben and Oman said they wished they'd had a class set in order to maximize the utility of the device. Many of the app reviews I've read over the past few days describe how teachers are using them with their students, so I kind of agree. I'm also glad to have some time for my own learning curve in learning about the iPad before having to teach students.
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ReplyDeleteMy mentor found many wonderful apps for students with all kinds of minds and loved it. However she found that when she found an app that was helpful it was then hard to find something similar for those who did not have an iPad to use.
ReplyDeleteAs our iPad program grows, we hope that more and more kids will be able to benefit from the research you and the other learning specialists are doing now.
DeleteMartin said that the best use he has found for the iPad is replacing his old lecture notes. He recommended getting a good stylus for that purpose. Ditto what others have said about the challenge of using it in the classroom when you only have one.
ReplyDeleteWe have a few styluses down here if you want to try one. Oman really loves this one Cosmonaut. We will have one here soon for you to try out.
DeleteI want to respond to those of you who commented that it would be easier if you had more than one iPad. This is definitely true, but keep in mind that this program is designed to give you time to experiment and become "fluent" on the iPad before using them with students. We want to give you time to find great apps and figure out how to manage files. Hopefully, we will continue to increase the number of iPads in use each year, so eventually you will no longer be a "one iPad classroom".
ReplyDeleteElisa is my mentor. Thank goodness I have one since I would be running over to the computer people all the time! She said she found it difficult having multi devices in sync with computer & Ipad... such as her Iphone. She said having 2 itunes accounts can be a pain.. she can't use her personal account because it would sync to all the others. This shouldn't be a problem for me since I don't have an Iphone and I only have 1 itunes account... but others may have suggestions on dealing with this. She also commented that updating apps is very demanding, making her want to limit the number of apps on the Ipads. Apparently these apps need frequent updating. Sounds like a lot of maintenance to me! Lina
ReplyDeleteObviously, I am way behind in my iPad game. I finally emailed my mentor, Jennifer Swift, and she has given me tips for classroom use, but most importantly opened my eyes to practical uses of the iPad and made me excited about this opportunity.
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