iPad Mini - Set Up Suggestions

As we are preparing for 1100 students receiving their own iPad on November 1, our teachers were presented an iPad Mini at the beginning of the school year.

Today's Lunch N' Learn, which Pulaski High School staff have been faithfully attending for five years, is all about starting with a personal iPad.

I like to use the "One Page Home Page" where the most used apps are on the front page of the iPad.  All other apps are accessed through the "pull down and spotlight search" feature of the iPad.  I will be demonstrating that concept and providing productivity apps along with "must have apps" that help to make educational life easier.

I utilized Keynote on the iPad because I want to be able to use AirServer and toggle back and forth between the presentation and the apps that I will be talking about.  All with one device, the iPad Mini.

View the Keynote

Additional digital work flow steps included sharing the Keynote from my iPad to "other apps".  I produced the Keynote as a PDF and exported it to my Google Drive.  This allowed me to make a "anyone with a link can view" document to share the presentation.

One great resource that all students and staff should be looking into further as iPads rollout in our district is the Apple Ecosystem for Educators Flipboard magazine that I have created and contribute to on a regular basis.

Google Cloud Printing On An iPad

Explain Everything: Integration Apps For The iPad

It is important to understand the tools that exist for efficient, effective, and engaging productivity by our students and staff utilizing the iPad. 

This does not dismiss the importance and necessity of Google apps or Creation apps used on the iPad, but "showing what you know" is a critical skill for students. 

Continuing a four part series of Integrating Apps for the iPad will be our Lunch N' Learn's focus.

Four Apps. True Productivity.

Week 1: Notability
Week 2: Recordium
Week 3: Explain Everything
Week 4: iMovie

Define: Integrat(ion)

Readers of iPaddiction will realize that Explain Everything is well used in our school district.  Well used in the fact that it is moving toward being invisible.  Invisible in that our students don't ask for instructions, they understand the app and therefore focus on the learning! 

Putting together a compilation of Explain Everything may help in continuing to provide teachers and students with an excellent technology tool to...

• Record and annotate lectures - student action
• Show What You Know - student action
• Describing step by step directions - student action
• Preparation and direction for students - teacher action
• Testing and assessment - teacher action

30 Learning Opportunities:

Video Tutorial

Inserting GIF

Logging Out of Other Accounts

Coaching Teachers Through Using The Explain Everything App

Mitosis Project

Perfect Tool For Analyzing Text in An American Literature Assessment

American Literature Using EE to Discuss

Enhances and Clarifies AP Stats Project

In High School Science Planets

Inserting Objects For Creating & Reflecting

Google Presentation To Explain Everything

Audio and Visual For Junior Papers

Math Discussion  Part 2

Newton's Laws & Rube Goldberg

AP Stats

Summarizing Informational Text

Enhanced Notes of Content

Splicing iMovie and Exporting To Explain Everything

Explain Everything Calculus 2

and Google Forms For Analyzing Exponential Functions

For Individual Instruction

Magnetic Poetry

Connections in Algebra I Lab

Explain Everything, Google Form, and Paper For Assessment

Continues To Enhance Note Taking

Insert Video with Explain Everything

Making Common Craft Videos of History of Psychology

For One Form of Assessment

Common Craft Videos Day 2

Common Craft Props

Google Apps Needed On The iPad

Google Apps are getting better every day!  Yesterday, when I created a picture, I just tweeted it.  Today, I realized I've utilized and posted a large number of times on these tools.

Google Drive App
Drive & Docs on iPad
Turn In Folder
Updates For Staff
Book Exporting Options
PicCollage To Google Drive To Teacher
Google Drive i Stands For Information
Google Drive To Document Standards
Google Drive on Computer and iPad
Google Drive on the iPad
Stick Around To Google Drive

Google Docs App
Google Docs on the iPad
Google Docs via Safari on Web
Google Docs Discovery By Student
Reading Book and Using Google Docs

Google Sheets App
Google Sheets on the iPad
Time Sheet via Google Form

Google Slides App
Google Slides on the iPad
INSERT Image in Slides (workflow for now)
Explaining Blood Flow in Heart (Images coming soon on iPad)
Google Slides to Explain Everything
Rethinking Slides
Google Linking Options

Google Search App
Slightly Different on iPad
Google Search Features
Underutilized app - Need to do more with this!

Google Classroom App
Google Classroom (app just came out, reviewing later)
Assignment Quick View
Starting New Semester or Removing Students
Google Classroom Intro

For an amazing resource, Check our Google Apps for the iPad by ShakeUpLearning

East Leyden High Chromebook Visit Review

Friday presented a great opportunity for our school district to send eight teachers and administrators to East Leyden High School.  We were provided a day long opportunity to witness the implementation of Chromebooks to all students.  Every student has one Chromebook.  The school is also a Google Apps For Education District.

View Entire Presentation East Leyden Produced

Facts that I was able to gather:

• Superintendent stated some time ago that we (Leyden School District) was either going to implement Chromebooks sooner or later, but they were going to implement them
• Visited North Carolina who implemented Chromebooks with district, staff, and school board.  After the visit the Board of Education stated, "knowing what we know now, we can't afford to not do this"
• Chromebook removes a ton of logisitcs
• They are in their first year of integrating Chromebooks
• Homework is always present through the cloud
• Some distractions occurred.  Twitter and Facebook needed to be blocked
• Observed Chromebooks being utilized in different ways
• Some students were checking email while teachers were teaching
• Went "all in" with this initiative
• Created mandatory parent meeting
• 3,500 Chromebooks To Students
• 260 Teachers
• Bought "Loaner" computers and have plan for their use
• Expected that students charge Chromebooks each night
• Leyden created Digital Evolution Summit for teachers who led it
• The school district uses "Open Class" for classroom management 
• Incorporated Tech Support Internship
• Students learning five different strands of hands-on technology
• Students expected to assess various issues that occur throughout the day for students and teachers and come up with best approach to resolving them
• Students work on various projects throughout the year
• Slide 29 of presentation
• Students blog about their TSI experiences
• Passion for technology
• Students loved the fact that homework is always available
• Students loved the collaboration component
• Student perspective on Chromebooks
• Student and parent procedures

View video of actual students and teachers in action.

Personal thoughts as we decide the direction we are moving as a district:

• IT managers will love Chromebooks.  Minimal set up. Hear Some Thoughts
• School must be Google Apps For Education
• We need to go "all in" if we are to accomplish true transformation. All in with whatever device we choose
• Pulaski School District is incorporating so much of the transformation of learning with a small amount of devices at this time!  Yeah, for teachers!
• The best thing I saw was the creation of the "Tech Support Internship" (TSI)
• 90 high school students helping staff and students with tech support
• Students also learn five strands of tech certification
• We need to implement this as soon as possible
• iPads still need to be utilized!  The creation piece of the iPads is above and beyond what a Chromebook can do.  My opinion.  
• Ideal setup: Every student has a Chromebook with iPads available in some fashion for supplemental use.  Someone really needs to slam a Chromebook and an iPad together so that everyone gets each operating system and all the functionality.  Then the perfect device would exist.  Wait it does, kind of!