I mentioned in an earlier post that the school that I work for is implementing 1:1 iPads in 2013 for all students (Yrs 7-10). In 2012 a pilot was undertaken with the Yr 9 cohort only.
In this post I intend to discuss some of the apps that I trialled in (and out of) the classroom with my Yr 9 classes, along with some apps that I used to help organise myself.
I don't intend to give a full review of any of the apps, though I may point out some interesting pros and/or cons. Many are free, many require accounts to be created and some only have limited application to my subject areas.
There is no particular order to the following, and it is all coming from memory - there are many other apps that I have had a look at, some of which are potentially better for certain applications. Prices shown are correct as I write this.
1. Notability $1.99
Notability was the first note-taking app that was recommended to us as a staff group when we first began the iPad program. Having done most of my word processing in MS word, and most of my note taking on paper in the past, I found it slightly difficult to get used to, though the ability to record audio and insert images was good. I started out using Notability to keep notes during various meetings, taking photos of the printed (that's right, hard copy!) agendas and other items and inserting them, annotating where I felt the need.
Our students also had the app, and (unsurprisingly) picked it up much quicker than I, using it proficiently after just 30 minutes to complete a science lab report. The only downfall in this context was that there was no in-built way to create a table. My students quickly overcame that in various ways - all without my input. Students also used this app, along with Clinometer HD, to complete a trigonometry assignment, inserting images of triangles from around the school and calculating heights of various structures. It seemed natural for them to be able to include text, annotated photos and hand written calculations into their final product for submission.
2. Teamviewer free (for personal use)
Teamviewer allows you to remotely access a computer from your iPad. You can manipulate files, transfer them directly to the iPad, or simply control the entire computer remotely. I cannot express how useful this app has been. There are many other similar apps out there, but this was the first one that I used that felt comfortable for me. I also use it on my home computer to access my school laptop, and even to help my mother with computer issues remotely.
3. Edmodo free
I trialled using Edmodo and found it very useful to share and distribute updates, assignments etc... with my students. It was also useful for online discussions and forums. At the time that I was trialling it, however, there was no easy workflow solution for students to submit work. This was a major frustration for me. I believe that this has been fixed now and many teachers are using it very effectively as a Learning Management System. I didn't continue with it due to the limitation mentioned, and moved on to try iTunes U (read below). Hint: If you intend to use Edmodo and wish to advise parents of its great potential, ensure that you don't mistakenly send them to edmondo.com as a colleague of mine did.
4. Educreations free
I tried many whiteboard apps, and couldn't quite find one that was right for me. Then I stumbled across Educreations. It's interface is simple. There aren't a million bells and whistles. It is easy and fast to publish your recording to the web and share it. One of the main troubles for those perfectionists out there is that there is no inbuilt editing tool, and you can't export the recording to anywhere but the Educreations site. This means that you have one take. That was ok for me, I was using it mainly as a lesson recording tool while I was actually delivering the content. It became my whiteboard and I simply recorded the examples and discussion we had in class. This was then available for students to go back over at their leisure (or absent students could catch up). Some students would try to be silly and get their voices heard on the recording, but overall it was a great success. With the updated app, students can even create videos, and I am looking forward to using this next year in that capacity.
5. Explain Everything $2.99
Explain Everything is another whiteboard app, and has many more bells and whistles than Educreations. I used it to create short theory videos for some of my science classes. One of the main benefits of Explain Everything is that you can export your recordings locally to the iPad.
The handwriting is not great, and some of the functions are not particularly intuitive, but it is a handy app to have around.
I encouraged students to use it to complete assignments and tasks, but none were adventurous enough at that stage.
6. iTunes U free
I first used iTunes U for my own learning, looking at lectures from various universities and starting to delve into the world of moocs. I decided to put all of my year 9 science content and assignments on iTunes U for Term 3 to see how that would go. I spent a fair bit of time preparing the content, structuring the tasks and the workflow. But when it was all up and running, the transformation in my classroom was amazing. No longer was I spending half a lesson lecturing and dealing with disruptive students. The students were taking responsibility for their own learning. My time was freed up to have rich discussions with students of all abilities about different aspects of the content. iTunes U is not the only platform that this is possible with, but the Term was the first real major success that I have had with the whole concept of blended learning.
7. Nearpod free
Nearpod showed promise, but fell by the wayside a bit for me. At the time I was trialling it, I was probably trying too much. It seemed to take a fair bit of work to set up presentations well, and I found the interface difficult to use when setting up quizzes etc... (this may well have changed now). When I went ahead with it in a lesson with my students I didn't really notice any benefit. The students didn't seem to engage more with it than if I had simply used a presentation on the big screen. I didn't find that I could gauge their understanding any better either. I'm not saying that Nearpod isn't good - in fact I definitely intend to explore it more, however at the time I tried it, it didn't work in the way that I had hoped.
8. Quick Graph free
There are many graphing calculator type apps available, but this app is pretty much explained by its title. You can use it to produce graphs quickly. Simply type in a function and it will plot it for you. You can plot several functions at the same time, and in different colours. I found it very useful showing transformations of linear and quadratic graphs on the big screen to my maths classes. So much quicker and easier than drawing several graphs on the board, or handing out photocopies.
9. Wolfram Alpha $2.99
Want to check if you have factorised a quadratic trinomial correctly? This app can do it really easily. Population density and life expectancy in Australia? Done. Half life and tensile yield strength of thorium? Yep. One of the most useful apps ever. I love it. Better than a calculator, better than an atlas. Mainly used to check things or for some quick information in order to provide some real numbers for a maths problem.
10. Numbers $10.49
I have always been a PC user - not for any reason other than the institutions where I have studied and worked have all been PC based. Hence, the spreadsheet software that I am used to (and love!) is Excel. One of the first apps I looked for when I got an iPad was a spreadsheet. It took me a while to get used to using Numbers, due to being Excel-washed and also touch-screen based. Of course, now I can access Skydrive and Google Docs, but I still find myself using Numbers when I'm on my iPad. The forms function is really useful, as is its ability to generate charts - one thing that many other iPad spreadsheets, including cloud based, do not support on this platform.
11. King of Maths $0.99
I tried King of Maths with my Year 7 class. They did not have iPads, but I used it on a single iPad as a reward for behaviour and work ethic. The students loved it. They were able to set up their own character and compete against each other in turns. The problems are well suited and increase in difficulty nicely. They also aren't too repetitive and challenge the students in different ways. I am definitely going to use this again in 2013 when all students have iPads.
12. TeacherKit free
I found TeacherKit useful as a tool for attendance and keeping notes about students. There are many similar apps available, and many other ways of doing what it does. It has a nice interface, and enables you to have photos of your students, seating plans etc... along with taking attendance and making notes. It has a gradebook feature that I didn't use. I found that to analyse my attendance data in the ways I wanted meant that I had to export the data and deal with it, which was not ideal, but that is the case with most of the apps like this. As a consequence I think I will simply be creating a spreadsheet in Numbers to serve the same purpose as this app. That way I am able to determine how my data is manipulated without the middle man.
13. iMovie $4.99
I used iMovie to create short theory videos for science classes, video presentations for assemblies and also as a creation tool for my students. Many students found the app engaging when allowed to use it to demonstrate their understanding. However, there are always students who simply want to use it because it is different to what they are used to, and, similarly to Powerpoint presentations when they were novel, students can get caught up with the bells and whistles instead of focusing on the work at hand. Students also seemed to move toward Pinnacle Studio instead as the year went on.
14. Penultimate $0.99
So, my penultimate entry is Penultimate. I have found this the nicest handwriting app so far. One of its key benefits is its simplicity. You have notebooks, and you write in them. Simple. Sure, you can change the colour of your pen, and insert images, but that's about it. The rendering of the writing is smooth, and it looks good projected to a big screen. I have used it occasionally as a replacement to my whiteboard (which at that point was unusable), but also just to do scratchy notes and to show students examples of maths problems.
15. Dropbox free
One of the most useful things ever. There are many cloud storage services out there, but Dropbox was the first one that I came across. Easy to use, plenty of free space to start with, ability to share folders. We use it within our departments as a shared storage space for curriculum documents, planning, common tasks, meeting minutes, the list goes on. I didn't use it with my students as part of any workflow, but the potential is there - read some other blogs to see how this has been done.
I now use Dropbox alongside Skydrive and Google Docs.
In 2013 I hope to consolidate and simplify. I am beginning to get an idea of what works and what doesn't work in my particular context.
The technology leaders in the school are asking that for consistency we all use Schoology and its associated app as our LMS, and I have been busy setting up some classes ready to go for the new school year. I haven't had enough experience with it to elaborate, but it seems to be very similar to Edmodo.
I have also found that Knowmia has a nice app for creating videos - which I will use as a supplement for some of my Maths classes.
Now back to it.....
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