Inkling

Application: Inkling

What it is: Inkling is a new textbook platform for the iPad.  It transforms paper based textbooks int engaging, interactive, collaborative learning experiences.  My favorite feature of Inkling: the ability to purchase by chapter or whole book.  Most of us remember those classes where we purchased a $400 book only to crack it open once for one chapter.  Another fabulous feature of Inkling is the shared notes that make it simple to collaborate with other students and teachers in real-time.  Interactive media is included in every textbook including movies, 3D objects and guided tours.  The tools are easy to access and use, they are well designed to be quick to access but not distracting from the textbook.  (As an aside, I’m not sure they can even call these textbooks…they are so much more than text!)  Interactive quizzes are built-in that help students to determine their level of understanding as they work.  An intuitive search engine predicts the search as it is typed.  Right now the titles available are rather limited (7 at the time of this review), with any luck titles will be added quickly making the iPad a must have college bound device.  What would be even better is if k-12 texts were made available, that would really be something to get excited about!

How Inkling can enrich learning: Inkling is like a textbook on steroids.  It makes reading and learning a joy with built-in multimedia to enhance the learning experience, the ability to highlight and take notes, and the ability to share those notes and annotations with other students and teachers.  The collaborative nature of the app is really appealing.  Now students and teachers can make learning a collaborative effort by adding discussion questions, annotations, observations, and highlighting key elements of a text.

Devices: iPad  Requires iPhone OS 3.2 or later.

Price: Free (iTunes Link)**

Whiteboard HD

Application: Whiteboard HD

What it is: Whiteboard HD is an application that mimics the experience of writing on a whiteboard.  It can also be used to create flowcharts and drawings.  Drawing objects include curved lines, straight lines, shapes, and free hand draw.  The drawing tools are accurate and you can import images and diagrams directly from iPhoto into the app.  Add text boxes to the whiteboard for legible writing.  Text and drawing objects can be moved and manipulated using the multitouch interface.  One downfall of the text box is that after created, it cannot be edited, only moved.  Hopefully this feature will be added to a future update.   Whiteboard HD has built-in VGA support so it can be connected to an external monitor or projector.  This means that you can use Whiteboard HD as your classroom whiteboard surface.  Any notes, drawings or charts created on it can be saved for later reference.

How Whiteboard HD can enrich learning: Whiteboard HD is a great teacher app.  I don’t know that I would spring the money to purchase it for my students because there are so many similar applications that are free.  What makes Whiteboard HD nice are the text box feature, the built-in VGA capabilities, and the diagramming drawing tools.  Whiteboard HD is an excellent app for mind mapping and creating flowcharts.  The drawing tools are precise and easy to use and manipulate.  Whiteboard HD would make a cheap interactive whiteboard replacement (if all you used an interactive whiteboard for was notes and diagrams).  As you and your students make notes, drawings, and explanations on the whiteboard space, it can be viewed by the whole class on the projector.  At the end of the lesson, the notes can be saved and emailed making it useful for student review and students who were absent.

Devices: iPad  Requires iPhone OS 3.2 or later.

Price: $5.99 (iTunes Link)**

Slide By Slide

Application: Slide By Slide

What it is: Slide by Slide is an application that lets students search and view presentations from http://slideshare.net.  In landscape mode students can view the presentation ad and distraction free.  In portrait mode, students will see the description along with the presentation.  Students can easily access the history of slide shows visited.  Presentations can be shared using Facebook, Twitter, or email.

How Slide By Slide can enrich learning: Slide By Slide is an easy way for teachers and students to share and view presentations.  To use Slide By Slide, sign up for an account on SlideShare.  Upload a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation to SlideShare.  Direct students to the title of the presentation to search for in the Slide By Slide app.  Students can view and save the presentation to their iPad.  This is a great way to create customized content and learning modules for your students.  Because they will view the presentation on their own device, students can self pace their learning.  If your classroom has a Twitter account, the presentation can be shared with others along with notes and key features that the students noticed (this would be fantastic for students learning together in different classrooms or different countries).

Devices: iPad  Requires iPhone OS 3.2 or later.

Price: Free (iTunes Link)**

Piano Music Scores: Master’s Collection

**Full disclosure: I received a promo code from the developer to provide feedback on this app.

Application: Piano Music Scores: Master’s Collection

What it is: Piano Music Scores: Master’s Collection is a music score reader with excellent additional features.  In addition to more than 3,000 piano music scores (20,000+ pages) you will find detailed composer biographies, instantly watch YouTube videos for any piano score, a built-in sound recorder to analyze a performance, a place to save your favorites for easier access, an audio/visual metronome, built-in Facebook integration, and the ability to upload PDF music scores using iTunes.  The collection of music in the scores provided is very complete including pieces by more than 130 composers including Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Mozart.  This app will save you from constantly purchasing expensive sheet music, it is an all in one solution.  If students are struggling with a piece, they can immediately watch hundreds of videos of others playing the piece.  Students can instantly record and analyze their performance with the built-in recorder.    The scores can be shared via email or Facebook with friends.  Every piece of music is linked to a Wikipedia article making it especially useful in the study of composers.  The built-in metronome can be easily set and then hidden to view the score behind it.  The app is well designed to fit your needs.  Each score sheet was scanned in making them a little less than digital crisp, but all are clear and can be easily read.  Not being a piano player myself, I asked some music teachers to help me review the app and give me their feedback.  Overall they were all very impressed with the application, especially marveling over the low price for such an incredible collection of scores.  They appreciated the built-in metronome, easy search options, and the easy record features.  All also commented on the ease of use, and the fantastic ability to learn more about composers directly within the application.

How Piano Music Scores: Master’s Collection can enrich learning: This app is a great addition to the music classroom.  The application is comprehensive and can be used for everything from providing sheet music, to researching and learning about composers, to watching videos of concertmasters, to recording and analyzing their own music.  Students who are working on pieces together will enjoy the Facebook integration where they can share scores.

Devices: iPad

Price: $12.99 (iTunes Link)**

Junaio: Augmented Reality

Application: Junaio

What it is: Junaio is an augmented reality browser application for the iPhone, currently the iPhone is the only available device but I suspect that with the addition of the camera in the iPodTouch, the app may soon be available for it as well.  First a definition for those of you unfamiliar with augmented reality.  Wikipedia has this definition for augmented reality (AR): “a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery.”  If that is a little cumbersome for you, let me give you my definition.  Augmented Reality generally uses a camera to let you overlay virtual data on top of the physical world you are seeing through your camera lens.  The virtual data could be a map, information, multimedia, or even look like a holograph that you can manipulate.  For a really simple explanation you can check out this AR Common Craft Video.  Junaio uses GPS and markers to help the iPhone determine it’s location.  When GPS is unavailable, AR markers can be used.  These are square black and white barcodes that store data.  When your camera is pointed at a marker, the data associated with it pops up and is seen as an overlay on top of your physical view.  Junaio features several built-in channels including culture (learn about places through Wikipedia entries), gaming (play scavenger hunt games and find clues), shopping, food, news (read breaking news and history of the local area you are in), nightlife, and travel.  The real highlight of the Junaio app is the ability to create your own channel and publish it to the world.  Adding data is easy, simply click on the “add” button at the bottom of the screen and choose to add text, a picture from your iPhoto library, a current picture, or a model (moving images, avatars, live Twitter feeds/messages).

How Junaio can enrich learning: Equip your students with an iPhone (iPod Touch 4G) and let the learning begin.  Students can use the built-in culture or news channel to learn about the news and history of their state.  This apps potential really explodes when you use it to create your own channels.  Create a channel just for ELL/ESL students that overlays vocabulary on top locations and items in the school or classroom.  Create a virtual scavenger hunt for your students around the school grounds where they must follow directions and decode clues, discovering learning along the way.  Make math hands on by creating a channel where students receive a real world math problem that they must solve by measuring angles, determining perimeter, area, or volume of actual objects in the school.

I recently read an article in the School Library Journal that got my wheels spinning about the ways augmented reality could transform the library experience.  In the article they suggest putting AR markers on a book cover so that when a device is used, a librarian could walk across the book jacket and deliver a quick review of the title.  Markers inside books could cause 2D diagrams or images to come alive as 3D interactive simulations.  Another idea I loved was to create a literary tour using an AR program, which would describe locations that appear in a book.  When you actually travel to that place, the text that took place there could pop up along with additional information or content.  Each of these ideas is amazing in itself but thinking of transforming a school library, here are the ideas I came up with:

  • Connecting your card catalog with augmented reality so that students could search for a book or topic from their mobile device and instantly get a layer that directs them to books that may be of interest.
  • Connecting a tool like Shelfari, where students keep a virtual bookshelf and rate the books they have read ,with augmented reality.  Students could instantly ask for books that are recommended based on their ratings of other books and recommendations could pop up in a layer directing students to those recommendations.
  • Turning booktrailers (professionally created or student created) into an augmented reality layer.  Students could use an AR marker on the book cover and instantly watch a booktrailer about the book.
  • A this day in history layer where a fact pops up each day describing an event in history, the layer could then direct students to additional information, include a video or challenge of some kind.
  • Connect AR to a search engine so that when students are researching a topic, book recommendations pop up in a layer with directions on where to find them.
  • Our library is often a showcase of student work, what if each diorama, piece of artwork, or project had an AR marker on it?  Students could record themselves (either audio or video) describing their work.  This could be attached to an AR marker so that as students viewed other’s work, they could get an introduction to it by the creator. (This would be awesome for parent teacher conference time as well!)
  • AR Markers next to the computers could remind students of important Internet safety rules, the school acceptable use policy, and what to do if they have been bullied.
  • The school librarian could have a special selection of books each month that contain an AR marker linked to the librarian reading the story.
  • Does your school have author visits or use the Skype an Author network?  If so record the author (audio or video) and connect it to AR markers on their books.
  • Label the areas of the library using AR so that ESL and ELL students can get a vocabulary lesson as they walk through the library.

Devices: iPhone (3GS or 4), possibly iPod Touch 4

Price: Free (iTunes Link)**

Apple Does it Right

Cross Post from Dreams of Education

From Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_han/623205062/

I just finished reading and commenting on “Why I’d Rather Have a ‘Limited’ iPod/iPad in My Classroom Than a Netbook” over at Mr. Keenan’s blog, Mobile Devices in Education.  The past few posts on Dreams of Education have been about making school a place where students and teachers know they are valued.  In “Teachers as Expendables” I talked about the way that students and teachers are treated in a school and why that matters.  Last night I wrote “Beauty Matters” and talked about how aesthetics in the school building can show students that they are valued and special and let them know that learning is important.  In Mr. Keenan’s post he talks about a new student who came to his class and was amazed that they were given an iPod to learn with.  He says, “Students come into my class and are amazed that they are given something they love to use, and taught how to use it effectively for learning. More than the novelty of it for them, is the fact that educators are starting to understand that we can fit learning into their world, instead of forcing them to conform to our ‘educators paradigm’.”  While I agree with Mr. Keenan’s assessment of the use of the iDevices in the classroom, I think there is more going on here.

Apple products are different because they evoke emotions, they make you feel privileged, special even.  When you use an Apple device you immediately understand the incredible thought and design that went into the product.  You get the sense that it was created especially for you, the way you work and think.  While netbooks are handy because of what they do, they are utilitarian.  There is nothing that feels overly unique or special about them.  You just don’t get the same feeling when you use a netbook.  Apple products don’t feel as if they got rushed through production and a factory line, with little thought given to design, to get set on a shelf in Walmart.  Apple knows that good design is worth the extra time and energy, when you use a device you get this sense.

I believe that Apple devices are ideal for education, not just because of what they allow students to do and create, but also because of the way they make them feel.  When you give students something that is beautiful and well designed they are going to feel special and valued.  They are going to know that the device chosen for them was done from a thoughtful place.  They will have the perception that their education is valued because we didn’t skimp on the device we gave them to save a few dollars.  Fans of Apple love the product for more than what it does, we love what it represents, we love the thoughtfulness that went into them.  When I had a Dell, I thought nothing of selling it and trading up a year later when it had started to cause more problems than it was worth.  It is different with my Apple devices.  From the moment you open the box it feels like an experience.  Even the packaging is well designed and thought out.  There is an immediate recognition that attention was given to the product.  The device doesn’t come with owners manuals and instructions on use, it doesn’t need them because it is waiting, ready to be used the way that you would expect.  When you turn the device on you aren’t bombarded with advertisements for other products, you get right in and you use the device. So, when the next magical device comes out, there is a hesitation to let the old iDevice go. Whether students are cognizant of all of these emotions or not, they are there.  It may be subconscious but when a student is given an iDevice, they feel gifted and worthy.

Steve Jobs gets criticized for his assertion that his devices are “magical”, but when you see a student gather around an iPad, you too begin to appreciate that there is something magical there.  When I first brought my iPad to school and set it on my desk, students immediately flocked around, asking questions and wanting to interact with it.  A few weeks earlier I was testing out some new netbooks and had 3 lined up, not one student stopped to look at them or ask what they were for.

I’ll leave you with one last thought, have you ever had a friend loan you something that instantly made you feel trusted, special, and worthy?  Maybe you needed to borrow a car and instead of handing you the keys to their teenagers Dodge Neon they gave you the keys to their new BMW.   Don’t you instantly feel valued?  Maybe you dropped in to see a friend and instead of offering you a glass of water they took the time to mix up a special drink or open an expensive bottle of wine.  Apple devices do this, they let kids know that they are worthy and they make them feel like what they do in the classroom matters.

87 Free ebooks from Kaplan Publishing

Application: iBooks free eBooks from Kaplan Publishing

What it is: For a limited time, Kaplan Publishing is offering free ebooks (87 of them)!  Find ebooks for teachers; medical, law, and business students, study aids, biographies, family and relationships, and more.

How Kaplan ebooks can enrich learning: These ebooks are a great place to start your professional library.  Whether you are a student in high school, a college or graduate student, or professional, the Kaplan ebooks are an excellent addition to the iBooks library.  If you teach high school or college students, download all of the free ebooks (did I mention there is 87 of them!) for your students.

Devices: iPad, iPhone

Price: Free (iTunes Link, access from your iPad or iPhone)**

**This offer is valid August 24-30, 2010

Transform Any Text into a Spoken Track

Did you know that you can transform any text in almost any program into a spoken track on iTunes using your Mac?  You can, and it is extraordinarily easy to do!

First you need to adjust a setting in your System Preferences:

1. Open System Preferences

2. Click the Keyboard icon

3. Select the Keyboard Shortcut tab

4.  Choose “Services” in the left sidebar.

5. Scroll down to “Text” and check the box next to “Add to iTunes as Spoken Track”

Next, open any program and highlight some text (Pages, Word, an Internet browser, Mail, Notes, etc.):

1. Click on the program name in the menu bar (for example “Pages” or “Firefox”)

2. Select “Services” and click on “Add to iTunes as Spoken Track”

Finally, find your spoken track saved as an audio file in iTunes.

*Alex is the default voice used for the Spoken Track service.  You can change the voice in System Preferences:

1. Open System Preferences.

2. Click on the Speech (microphone) icon.

3.  Select the “Text to Speech” tab.

4. Choose a new system voice from the drop down menu.  You can also adjust the speaking rate here.

How to use the Add Spoken Text to iTunes in the classroom: The ability to transform any text into spoken text is really amazing.  Teach your emerging readers, struggling readers, or English as a second language readers this trick.  As they encounter webpages, documents, or notes that they struggle reading independently, they can quickly add the text to iTunes as a spoken track that can be played as they read along.  Have notes or information for your students?  Create an audio track that they can download to their iPad or iPod Touch. This is a great built-in accessibility tool for students.

I often had my students creating multimedia projects.  The problem?  I had one microphone and a room full of 26 students at all times.  Recording their own voice in their projects just wasn’t always possible.  Solution?  Have students type up the dialogue or narration in their project, send the spoken text to iTunes and add it to the project. Voila, problem solved!

Devices: iPad, iPhone, iPod (any), Apple computer

Price: Free

Dragon Dictation

Application: Dragon Dictation

What it is: Dragon Dictation is a speech to text application.  To use it, students speak into the microphone and their speech is converted to text.  The accuracy is impressive, even with difficult words or background noise.  Students can use Dragon Dictation to compose notes, email messages, or status updates for a Twitter or Facebook account.  Tap on a word that was misunderstood to get other suggested words or to delete it and type in the correct word.  Highlight text and paste it into another document (Pages, Keynote, Notes, etc).

How Dragon Dictation can enrich learning: Dragon Dictation is an outstanding accessibility tool.  It is a great tool for those who are sight impaired and struggle with typing on a touch device or communicating through text.   Dragon Dictation can be used in the primary elementary classroom to help students spell and write.  Often, young students who struggle with spelling have limited writing.  This isn’t because of a lack of deep thinking, it has more to do with the hesitancy to write what they can’t spell.  As a result the writing is limited.  Dragon Dictation can help students write to their full potential using the breadth of vocabulary they know and not just what they can spell.  Students can dictate an entire story, or they can dictate the words that they need help spelling.  This keeps the students from constantly raising their hands requesting help with spelling.  Dragon Dictation is a fantastic tool for brainstorming, students can talk through an idea and have written notes with their thoughts to refer back to.



Devices: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Price: Free (iTunes Link)**

Adding PDF Formatted ebooks to iBooks

Apple recently updated iBooks so that PDF documents could be read natively directly in the iBooks application.  It is simple to add a PDF to the iBook bookshelf from iTunes with 5 easy steps:

1. Connect your device to a computer.

2. Click on the Books icon in your iTunes Library in the left side bar.

3. Drag the PDF from wherever it is saved on your computer and drop it into Books.  (From here you can change the title, author, illustrator, and genre of the book if it isn’t displayed correctly.)

4. Click on the iPad or iPhone in the device list and click on the Books tab.

5.  Make sure the box next to the PDF that you added is checked and that Sync Books is checked.  Click the “Sync” button.

It couldn’t be easier!  Now you can create custom textbooks and reading material for your students virtual iBooks library.  Students can create their own “published” PDF books for their iBooks library and swap finished stories saved as PDFs.

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