iPad for Teachers?

[itoddm]

I'm a special education elementary teacher. I have around 10 kids in my class at a time. I do not have a smart board. All I have is an old white board and dry erase markers. I do have a flat screen tv in the room though.

I don't have an iPad yet. I am on the verge of ordering it though. Once I get some ideas on my head of how to use it in my class, I will feel better about spending the hard earned money.

I'm hoping I can do powerpoint presentations and place these on the iPad and then find a connection to hook up the iPad to the tv. I suppose my plans are to start with some basic technology. This will be me spending my money to bring technology to my classroom for the first time. I'm hoping I can use YouTube videos in the same manner as the powerpoint presentations. I guess my plans are to start at a very basic level and move up. The thought of keeping a folder on my macbook with a lesson plan, a powerpoint presentation, pdf files, worksheets, tests, rubrics etc that I can simply sync to the iPad and then use as needed will be a hugely helpful thing for me. I want to be able to eventually have a folder for all lessons that I can open and have everything there for me to access.

 

[MikeTemple]

I'm unsure which of the posters in this thread are talking about University-level teaching, but in all the Universities I have worked at in the UK we use a VLE such as Blackboard for students to submit their work in electronic form, with grading and attendance systems integrated. This means that you can do everything via Safari on the iPad, and all the data is held securely. It also does some plagiarism checks, which seems increasingly necessary these days.

 

[Crosbie]

I'm unsure which of the posters in this thread are talking about University-level teaching, but in all the Universities I have worked at in the UK we use a VLE such as Blackboard for students to submit their work in electronic form, with grading and attendance systems integrated. This means that you can do everything via Safari on the iPad, and all the data is held securely. It also does some plagiarism checks, which seems increasingly necessary these days.

My college are shifting from BB to Moodle, and I'm hoping to get involved in the process to ensure that all the main functions are available on iPad.

Just being able to use the iPad on the train to do these kinds of things would be a real boon. I've already used it to check emails when running late. The only other way I've used it so far is to view a presentation when our entire system was down - I put the main stuff on the whiteboard and just used the iPad to follow the presentation like a set of notes.

I've thought about talking the college into getting a class set for trialling - at least one between two. Our photocopying budget for the year (in English) is pretty hefty - a handful of iPads' worth across the department. But there's not quite the control needed yet over software and screens, and the price is still a little steep. It'll be realistic in five years' time.

 

[Full of Win]

One big drawback is that video support is POOR, shockingly poor, in Keynote.

Being able to annotate PDF's would be great.

iAnnotate

 

[broncopde]

Wirelessly posted (iPod touch: Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

I'm unsure which of the posters in this thread are talking about University-level teaching, but in all the Universities I have worked at in the UK we use a VLE such as Blackboard for students to submit their work in electronic form, with grading and attendance systems integrated. This means that you can do everything via Safari on the iPad, and all the data is held securely. It also does some plagiarism checks, which seems increasingly necessary these days.

Not that blackboard doesn't work fine in safari, but did you know they have an iPhone app, Blackboard Mobile Learn? I believe it is supposed to be updated with iPad support by this fall.



It looks like your school must opt in to the app for courses to show up and everything. It can definitely make things more straight forward and touch friendly UI wise.

Edit: already has iPad support

 

[DctrJ]

In an attempt to keep this thread going I'll give you an update on my plans for fall semester. I'm going to use "Attendance" from the app store to manage my class rosters and attendance. We have a mandatory attendance policy and I've grown a little lazy the past few years enforcing it. (I know I ended the last sentence with a preposition.) I've been exploring ways to view lecture notes and really thought DropBox would be sufficient to view my notes in PDF, however, I really need landscape mode and DropBox has a side bar that doesn't let me take advantage of the extra screen space in landscape. I tried a variety of PDF readers and none were simple enough, fast enough, or had the same limitation in landscape. My solution, which is perfect for me, is to use iBooks. IBooks now allows you to import PDF's so I have all my notes available in landscape and can turn pages with a swipe of the finger. Additionally, iBooks is fast and I can bookmark easily for the next class and I can do a quick search if necessary. As an added bonus, I have a couple books I've written in PDF that I use so they to are in iBooks and searchable. Any journal articles I might reference for class are also in iBooks. I think this is looking promising!

 

[cfs123]

I am an elementary teacher who commutes to work. I can't the ipad as an in class tool to teach my students. However, for me, I us a wifi version for the following:

-Record reading assessments

-classroom budget

-professional development pdf's

-my work mail

-have some personal and professional books on it (now I can look up info on a whim if I have an idea or question about a specific strategy). plus my backpack is super light now

-have my calendar on it

-meeting notes

-have morning music on it and relaxing music on it for certain times of day

-use pages for docs only going to me and my team. (Never to others as pages is not stable yet)

-Also, watching podcasts during my commute is great on the ipad

CFS123

 

[cfs123]

I guess I don't understand how the iPad can be screwed up by kids....really, it is just a bunch of apps- not like you can access system files or anything.

That being said, I think there is quite a bit that needs to be done to allow iPads to be used in a school setting where one could sync all iPads the exact same way, same settings, etc for the tech dept to keep the iPads running well. They almost need a parent/teacher controls for them.

I hope to buy a classroom set of iPads a year from now to use with second and third graders!

Kids know how to treat tech stuff better than some adults. But with a large group accidents happen. However, in my experience, I have had an imac in a Kindergarten class with a set of cd games. Everything is still perfect. We also had a Smart Table. This is a table with a giant touch screen. As long as the children know the guidelines and the expectations are clearly explained each time the technology is used, there usually isn't any cause for concern- Usually.

 

[ZeroDecibel]

iPad for teachers

I got an iPad recently with the intention of using it in the classroom. I have put most of my notes and pdf's of my texts on my iPad already and will be adding more as I go. I use Documents to Go to transfer pdf's from my Mac. This lets me view all my documents. The Word documents don't come through completely though - no equations (I teach Math). I also got ajiReader which lets me annotate pdf's. I hope to be able to scan in student assignments and mark them on my iPad as I ride the subway home.
I hope to update this scheme later in the fall.

 

[ibosie]

You might find your scribbles appear elsewhere in the document when you export the file back out. Unfortunately I find layout does not stick, even when swapping between iPad and Mac in the native Pages format.

 

[mward333]

The Word documents don't come through completely though - no equations (I teach Math).

You can always turn your Word files into pdf files before moving them to your iPad. Just "print" the files, but choose "Save as pdf" on your Mac before printing them. (I can clarify if that does not make sense.) My Ph.D. is in Mathematics, and I teach in a Department of Statistics, so I run into colleagues all the time who are doing Math in Word and then having troubles similar to yours. (Just in case anybody asks, I do my own mathematics in LaTeX, so I don't have such troubles with Word..... FYI.) I hope that this helps.

 

[robooz]

Help!

I am an English teacher who has just {stupidly} purchased an ipad so I could connect in the classroom and deconstruct text... from what I'm reading, I can't use any of the apps to project the page of a text and deconstruct it. What is the point of this technology if the most basic need isn't available? I know there are copyright laws, but we still buy the texts- this is just the obvious way be able to easily deconstruct text. I may as well go back to an overhead! Has anyone ever been able to solve this problem?

 

[Night Spring]

I am an English teacher who has just {stupidly} purchased an ipad so I could connect in the classroom and deconstruct text... from what I'm reading, I can't use any of the apps to project the page of a text and deconstruct it. What is the point of this technology if the most basic need isn't available? I know there are copyright laws, but we still buy the texts- this is just the obvious way be able to easily deconstruct text. I may as well go back to an overhead! Has anyone ever been able to solve this problem?

Sorry, not yet. My guess is it will be at least another generation or two before the iPad gets that type of functionality. And what is basic is in the eyes of the beholder. Only an English teacher would call ability to deconstruct text on a projector "basic"!

 

[mrbash]

I am high school literature teacher and avid reader. I haven't bought an iPad yet and am needing some advice. I would use my iPad for surfing web, streaming occasional video, and as an ereader. I like the iBooks app since it has highlighting and notes. This could be useful to use in my classes if it is possible to display my iPad screen onto screen in class. I know people love their iPad, but I guess I'm trying to justify buying one LOL. It is either the iPad or the nook lol.

You should be aware that the iPad does not support Flash. So many videos will not play. This also means that many websites will not be navigable.

I own an iPad and it is often frustrating to come across websites that are blank. One of my motivations for buying the iPad was to help me paint, but most of the painting/color sites I visit use flash so I am SOL.

On the plus side, it is a great in-car GPS.

 

[Dr Kevorkian94]

Well if u jailbreak I think there is a way to have video out for everything ( I'm not shure tho). I bet some other member would know the program.

Edit: found one it's called DisplayOut, from bigboss it supports iPhone 4 and iPad. And it coasts $1.99

 

[lokerd]

On the plus side, it is a great in-car GPS.

And an even better GPS for the boat navigating the rivers and sloughs.

And school is starting up...and so far, the iPad has been great for the many inservice meetings of having to get up and move around a bunch...perfect for when even my smallest notebook was inconvenient.

I wish I was more prepared for integrating it into the classroom...I guess it is going to be a new learning experience.

 

[macpluslaptop]

I teach college classes that are fairly low-tech (Blackboard is as complicated as it gets). So I'm not thinking of immediate use in the classroom. But in using the iPad over the summer it's become indispensable to me - as a big PDA, first of all, and then as a truly portable small computer. It's a wonderful PDF reader (especially if you get iAnnotate), and I put essays on it. Just for kicks I also put my final grades and attendance forms in PDF on it, too, and that's helpful as a reference.

I have many student appointments to schedule, so the calendar features will be important. And there are many iPad notetaking apps that incorporate sound (recording meetings, etc.) and drawing and typed notes. I also have OmniFocus on it now, and I'll keep track of my different classes, committees, and such through it.

All in all, I'd go for it. It's much easier to open up the iPad anywhere (even on the couch) than a laptop, so you'll be using it for personal use as well. Give us all an update when you make your decision.

 

[eye]

I teach middle school English and I see no teaching uses for the iPad at this point. If you stand in front of the class fiddling with your iPad just to project it on a screen (which is boring and can be done with an overhead, Elmo, pc, etc. anyway), then you are a boring teacher and your students will enter snoozeville. There are a million dynamic ways to teach, don't let technology become a crutch or excuse for lazy teaching.

 

[WillNxx]

ipad for keeping records

any other educators want to weigh in on how they might use the ipad in the classroom or to help manage their workload?

Education seems to be stuck in a box. Every school district has some variant on a 1970s era attendance application..... Groan.

The iPad is great, does amazing things--but it's too passive. We watch, we read, etc... all good, but wouldn't MORE be more useful?

What I want, is a device I can walk around my classroom, seating chart on the screen. A few taps can drill right into a student's records, enter a grade, attendance, behavior, send an e-mail to a parent--No homework again! or "He's doing great today!"
Apple needs to think outside the box on typing. The screen tapping, prediction is OK for Twittering... but it's not typing, it's not writing--it's Morse Code on the water pipe to the next cell.
I guess everyone's holding their breath for voice recognition. Yawn. So how would I send a private note to the Dean that a student appears intoxicated in class if I have to speak it? I've got a phone, actually three phones, I don't need another.

I guess what I want is the iPad's portability with my MacBook's ability to type in information.
At MacWorld 12 years ago, I tried a typing gizmo, a BAT, chorded keyboarding--it was easy to learn. Why can't this technology be attached to an iPad so I can be chording in information with the hand holding the iPad?
Apple-- the lowest common denominator of hunt and peck is not Mac, it's for the people who don't read and buy the cheapest box at BestBuy and wonder why they have to buy a sound card.
I've never Twittered, not interested. I write, I create databases, I need to move a lot of information from my real world to a shared digital world. (If this was Facebook, I'd be getting dinged, too many words) Maybe a third party could offer such a device. Create a powerful tool for this new powerful tool. Why is there nothing between a keyboard and me having to solder wire?
Teacher database, chorded typing, portable, connected. Mom knows 30 seconds after the teacher knows that Johnny hasn't done his homework--we don't have to wait until he drops out of high school to wonder what happened.
School districts and 'educators' will be of no help. They are in the way. Push from the teachers. As with my MacBook Pro purchase, I'm not going to wait for some bureaucrat to give the tool I need.

 

[ElroyErn]

It depends on if your able to and like typing notes if so then I would take the notebook with that you have a full os and you have access to MS word if you purchase it or open office and you can buy other programs for it more easily. The ipad allows you to write out your notes on your ipad and save them in a file, but you don't have programs to make reports as easily. You don't have an os so your limited in choice of programs so your at the mercy of the apple developers. Personally I would go with notebook.

 

[sakunlabs]

My iPad app for teachers

You may want to try our app, Teacher's Attaché. Allows course management, attendance, grading support, and more.

 

[jennmelb]

iPad CAN be used for content creation - just create it!

The iPad is great, does amazing things--but it's too passive. We watch, we read, etc... all good, but wouldn't MORE be more useful?

What I want, is a device I can walk around my classroom

As with my MacBook Pro purchase, I'm not going to wait for some bureaucrat to give the tool I need.

So, do what you say - don't wait. Get iPad to work for you!!
I have seen teachers using iPad to present slides in a lecture theatre, while walking around the room, not connected to a cable.

I have done it myself.

There are some great Apps which allow remote projection of slide content- MySlide (for Windows users) and AirSketch for Mac - which also allows the host user to "Ink" the slides with a stylus or finger while projected on a classroom screen. If students have iPads they too can see the slides as the host presents them wirelessly. With AirSketch I have projected slides with text from a short story - made into a PDF , and annotated them for a class using a stylus on the ipad touchscreen. GoodReader and iCabMobile BOTH allow projection of text files.

I'm not sure why people keep saying iPad is only for consuming content. These people haven't tried to do anything, obviously, but are waiting for someone to tell them what ipad can do. Its easier to say "iPad can't do what I want, so it must be useless" than to make it do what you want. I have created Keynote presentations on my iPad and presented them. it is possible to also get a remote control app to present Keynotes remotely using an iPhone.

Just get out there and make what you want to happen happen. Talk to developers and suggest changes. We don't want our students to be passive receivers of information, but creative and constructive in their own education. Teachers should be modelling inventiveness through our own knowledge creation, not complaining and demanding "fixes".

 

[lokerd]

Not sure if this possible on the iPad 3.2 which I am still on, but I am using an iPhone with in built in alarm. With iPad 4.2, it is probably plenty possible.

I set the alarm to go off 8 mins before the end of class...so 6 alarms during the course of the day.

Amazing! 13 years of teaching...and this is one of my favorite classroom improvements.

I used to set a timer to go off each class, but it required setting, and calculating time remaining in the class, etc. As a result, it frequently didn't get done. I even had a clean up captain assigned on lab days that was in part responsible for getting the timer set, but it only worked some of the time with the more capable students.

The Apple Alarm is perfect. I have it set to go off Monday-Friday, and in the last two weeks it has helped to keep me on track if I get off pace in the shorter classes (or classes vary in length by as much as 10 mins on a normal day...even more on a pep rally day).

 

[flyfish29]

I use iCal for a plan book so I use the iPad for my plan book and therefore have my plan book at home either on my iPad or my MBP at home through syncing.

I plan on using the iPad for some basic elementary practice of math skills with some kids that are behind. I plan on using the MadLibs to teach children who are not yet getting the parts of speech. I love the physics and problem solving games. Eventually it would be great to project Cut the Rope and Angry birds on a smart board and be able to draw on the screen to show trajectory, and other physics in those sorts of games.

as far as using it for an administrator, there are some great support apps for administrators who do classroom visits and want to track info easily and clearly. I can't recall the program off the top of my head. I also play in using the voice recognition to have special education students dictate a story or answer to a short answer question and then play them back so that student can record their answer. (these students often have difficulty writing their answer but can dictate it to the teacher. this app would allow a student to dictate then record the answer themselves.) I also use my camera on my MacBook to do this with photobooth.

 

[lokerd]

Oh, yeah, another, slightly non typical, but very useful app for me has been LogMein on the iPad. Of course this works also from a desktop, but I have been able to log in to my school computer and do things that I used to have to stay in my classroom to do because of resources that are only available on the school network.

I have since used the iPad to control and fix other computers I am responsible for. If my wife calls while I am away and I need to fix something on her computer, I just login where o am and deal with it right then. Very cool.