Tweets on ipaded

I followed the conversations on ipaded and was amazed as well as a bit overwhelmed by the large number of apps mentioned. Upon opening a few of the weblinks I discovered a diversity of educational apps such that I thought...where do I start!

At this stage I won't be opening a Twitter account or following Twitter conversations. Instead I will source my apps using 'Google' with applications to search for apps appropriate to my content search.

Currently, my aim is to upskill students in many of the apps I have become familiar with via the course relevant to this blog, i.e., 'iPads in the Classroom'.

Critical Evaluation of a Content Based App

Once again my evaluation rubric PDF allowed for limited evaluation on the PDF file so I resorted to using my laptop, printer and scanner to produce this evaluation JPG file. This process just confirms my growing view that I need all these tools in my toolbox along with my iPad.

I found the rubrics valuable as a type of checklist to guide my evaluation of the apps. I assessed their effectiveness for my targeted use by students against the criteria on the rubric selected for each app. Each rubric confirmed my overall anecdotal assessment of the suitability of each app by identifying the strengths and weakness against the assessment criteria. I will use this assessment criteria in the future when determining  what apps would be the best value for money considering our limited iPad budget at school.

Critical Evaluation of a Creative App

My evaluation of a creative app was 'Explain Everything'. The evaluation was completed on the above PDF rubric and was saved as a PDF. From that point on, I had problems trying to save this to my blog. To be uploaded I needed to have this saved as a JPG file, so I attempted to create a screenshot of the PDF evaluation.  However, viewing the PDF file on my iPad was unsuccessful because, for some unexplained reason, the PDF file saved in Dropbox showed the original rubric without my evaluations. However, the same file showed all evaluations when viewed from the Dropbox folder on my laptop. Why remains a mystery to me! I resolved my problem by printing a copy of my evaluation, scanning and saving as a JPG file that I could upload to my blog. Hence, the poor quality of the evaluation above. What was the problem? Any assistance would be welcome.

Collecting and Sharing Evidence of Learning

o    How can you apply these methods to collect digital evidence of learning of content apps?

A screenshot is an easy way to collect visual evidence of student work completed on the iPad because it is an easy process to learn and apply. It could be used to capture images of the stages of a project completed on an iPad. Screen shots could be taken throughout lessons by the teacher, class tutors and or students during lessons as students work through the stages of an app. For example, screen shots could be taken of stages involved in filming a script using iMovie or creating an animated movie using Puppet Pals 2.  Screenshots could have annotations or narration added noting whether work was completed independently or with support. Screenshots could be emailed or uploaded to shared files within the school. Evidence captured in this manner may be applicable as a student work sample that could be uploaded on Electronic Student Profiles (ESP) as evidence of student learning.

Having consistent access to iPads in the classroom would make this an efficient way to collect evidence of student work across curriculum areas.

o    How can these methods be used to collect digital evidence of learning from creation apps?

Some creative apps allow for students to create and save a work task which can then be shared directly from the app by emailing to other interested parties such as colleagues and parents. An app that allows direct email is Strip Designer and I would use this app for this purpose as students become familiar and skilled with this app.

Student work samples produced on other creative apps such as Puppet Pals, Sock Puppet, Explain Everything and iMovie can be saved as work samples and saved to the camera roll, where it can be exported to ‘Dropbox’ and saved in a shared folder. Other Dropbox members can be invited to view student work files in the shared folder. Files can be moved from the shared folder and access to the shared folder can be changed as circumstances require.

Student work samples can be saved to a public folder as a means of sharing files where Dropbox accounts are not present or considered suitable. These files can be viewed by anyone who has access to the public link. For this reason, it is essential to ensure that all files in this public file are appropriate for sharing. Photographs can be shared in this way also using the public photo folder.

o    Which methods of sharing evidence of learning will be most effective for each?

Email is usually the most effective means of sharing student work if the files are small enough to email as they can be emailed directly to the desired recipients including parents. If the files are too large to email, such as those using apps that contain several images, then it is necessary to save them to a shared medium such as Dropbox or a shared folder. This requires notify desired recipients to access the files in the shared folder, often via email notification, thus an additional step.

In our school we have a public folder, known as staff no backup, for storing and sharing large files off the school server. Teaching staff have access to these files via the NT Schools login. It is our school policy in my workplace that student work or student images must not be stored in Dropbox accounts due to privacy concerns by our principal. Therefore, sharing electronic evidence of student work is restricted to the use of the shared folders on the school server or the public staff folder as outline above.

Social media is not currently a way that I would share evidence of student work as I would be concerned about breeching student privacy issues and I know our principal would not be supportive of sharing evidence in this manner.

Creative Book Builder

Creative Book Builder is an app that I see potential for incorporating into classroom literacy lessons. What a great way to create, edit and publish a text! I particularly like that audio can be added to accompany an image which is excellent for oral language assessment and is excellent for   students with limited written literacy skills. This app is currently on a wish list for purchase for our school iPads. I created a short e-book using the app on my iPad but I’m unable to share on Dropbox as it contains student images.  

Magical Movie Creation

The Year 5 class teacher and I have discussed some ideas for using iMovie with her class. 

The ideas discussed are as follows:

Teachers could record student work and performances as a visual record which could be used to track student progress, for self-reflection and possibly peer feedback. Peer feedback can be daunting for upper primary students so this may not be appropriate.

Students could use iMovie to communicate ideas, present interviews, present a point of view, present creative writing projects with visuals, such as props, and music. Some projects would allow students to take on varied roles dependent on individual interests and talents e.g. writing, acting, filming, directing, music and visual creation, etc.

Students could tell personal stories and turn them into digital stories using pictures and images from their classroom and their lives.

Students could present a visual procedure of an experiment, cooking activity, craft creation, etc., by sequencing photographs or videos of the stages with narration and/or text included.

Students could create a pictorial record of excursions, sporting events, guest speakers by videoing or photographing the activity use the iPads, followed by using iMovie app features to edit, narrate and present a pictorial project on the specific event to the class, parents, school community, etc.

Students could create an animated movie by using Puppet Pals 2 app to create numerous scenes and then edit the scenes into a movie. They could include narration, sound effects and music. This type of project would be one where students might feel more comfortable about peer feedback because it would be their image on the screen but a character that they were presenting.

The limitations and issues that are of concern are the availability of iPads for the length of time needed to create the iMovie. The iPads at our school are currently few and are located in a central area for borrowing by the school. They are borrowed for lessons or a day and must be returned at the end of the lesson or each day. Additionally, it isn’t possible to ensure that your class receives the same iPads as the previous day making sequencing of stages of making an iMovie extremely challenging. A teacher has recently been given responsibility for monitoring the iPads so we will endeavour to find ways to address these concerns with her.  

The time factor to up skill students in the use of the iPad apps is difficult to balance against all the educational requirements. Very few of our students have access to iPads at home so most require support to learn to use the apps.  We are training small groups of students in the use of specific apps so they can mentor peers in their class. We are hoping that this process will gradually up skill students in the class. Eventually, this class of mentors may be able to assist in training students in other classes.

Engaging Animations (Middle Years)

As explained previously, I’m working with a colleague to incorporate the use of a couple of iPad apps in her classroom. We have started with the puppet apps, Sock Puppets and Puppet Pals 2.

After working with both apps for a short time, it is obvious that Puppet Pal 2 is the preferred app for upper primary students as it has a more extensive selection of locations, characters and accessories to be included as props for projects. There is also the flexibility of personalising characters by allowing photo head shots to add to the selection of characters, thus featuring yourself or friends as Santa, a dancer, soldier, etc.

Last week a group of year 5 students were introduced to Puppet Pals and its features - locations, characters and props. They were then asked to work in pairs to create a scripted story that presented a point of view. Just viewing the app features enabled them to brainstorm several ideas in a short timeframe and proceed with planning and writing their story and script. It was a brilliant writing stimulus that produced some interesting writing. The next stage will be the students producing the animated story using the Puppet Pals 2 app.

This unit also involved investigating the Animation Creator HD app. As a beginner, I found the Animation Creator HD app far more challenging than the puppet apps because I haven’t previously pursued developing skills in any ICT drawing programs.  My attempts at creating an animation were trial and error, focussing on the learning to use the tools. At this time I’m not prepared to share any of my attempts with this app.

I can see that it would take a lot more time for me to develop a level of skill in the use of this app before I would be prepared to introduce it to students for a work task. However, I see the potential for its use as an upper primary classroom tool. We know that children love cartoons and are always keen to present a work project they have created to their peers and others. Providing students with the opportunity to create work samples using the Cartoon Animation HD iPad app would engage the most reluctant students in the work task. The drawing tools and colour options would allow students to experiment and create animations in all areas of the curriculum. This app would provide a new creative medium for students especially those with an interest and /or talent in drawing. It could be used for classroom tasks where visuals are a feature such as a procedure, timeline or animated story. Good cartoons tell a story and often have a moral or story to teach so it could be used to create an animation to feature a ‘You Can Do It’ moral or an anti-bullying message. Animations are only short so they can convey a story or message that is simple such as ‘Don’t’ litter’. Another option could have students listening to a text or watch a news clip and create an animation that depicts the major events that were conveyed.