The 1:1 Dilemma #edchat

I had a chance to attend another great edcamp this weekend (EdcampOU) and I sat in a session on 1:1 computing. A district very close to mine passed a bond and will be rolling out iPads to all of their students (Grades 1-12) in the coming year. Teachers were given them first and are being trained on how to use them. It was an excellent session run by Chris Stanley(@StanleyTeach).

I have a 1:1 situation in my classroom with a class set of iPads. While it has been an amazing experience, there are limitations when five students are sharing 1 device over the course of the day. For some of my students, this is the only access they will have to a computer for the entire day. I also do not get to leverage all of the power of the iPad because some apps require storage on the tablet. Despite those issues, the 1:1 experiment has been a huge success in my opinion.

The conversation about 1:1 spilled over into Twitter and one of my district's administrators, Aaron Johnson (@i2_sing_america) and @kevinozar joined the conversation about supplying students with the devices and what do we do about teachers that are resistant to adopting the new pedagogy that comes with the new tools. These are great questions and here are my thoughts on them.

I think the one that drives me the most batty, is the reluctant teacher argument. Yes, there are teachers that do not like change. That is a fact. Are there that many reluctant teachers that an entire district should not move forward with a 1:1 program? I doubt it. Even if there are, it seems to me that the situation is an administrative issue. If an employee refuses to use a new tool despite adequate training and support, that is when the boss steps in and uses appropriate measures to get them on board.

Now, notice I said adequate training and support. That really is key. I think most teachers are reluctant to change because they have had too many new programs and tools thrust upon them without adequate training and support. I would love it if every teacher could grab and iPad and start to lesson plan like a pro, but that is not happening. I have had the iPads in my class for almost a year and I'm still on a learning curve. Worse yet, I've been supplying my own training and support through Twitter. Now, if my district were to move toward a 1:1 model, I would be in an excellent position to support students and staff. That is a bonus. One person's pain can turn into another person's salvation when it comes to technology integration. Without proper training and continues support after the training, 1:1 programs, and all new pedagogical initiatives, will fail miserably.

Should school districts pay for students to have devices? This is the question I have changed my position on at different times over the past couple of years. I believe that BYOD cannot work because of the digital divide. I also think it can't work because it now asks a teacher to have an elementary understanding of how many different devices and OSs work. That sounds like a logistical nightmare for any teacher.

Computers, iPads in this case, are starting to become the norm in the classroom. In my district, it is an accepted expectation that work is completed on a computer and submitted to teachers electronically. It has been that way for almost 10 years. As the makeup of our district has changed, that expectation has slowly changed. There are students without access to computers at home and struggle to complete work before or after school. As a teacher, I make the accommodations I need to help those students succeed, but they will have trouble all year and some teachers are not as accepting as I am. As a school, we offer supplies to students they cannot afford on their own. If a student doesn't have pen and paper, don't we offer it to them to use? Are computers entering the same category? We give all of our students email addresses, how can they use them if they don't have access? We are moving students to Google Apps for Education, what's the point if they can;t use the tools outside of class. (Yes, GAFE isn't awesome on iPads, but maybe we go laptops. Don't let that be the sticking point in this post.)

I think it is becoming the responsibility to provide access to all of the students in an effort to give them the computing skills they will need outside of the classroom. If a student is only given pencils to do their work, they will not be prepared when they go to college or have to fill out online job applications. I know funding is a nightmare and their are logistical issues that have to be dealt with, including adequate bandwidth to handle the traffic, but should these be the roadblock to providing the best education possible for our students?

What are your thoughts?

Epic @EvernoteSchools Experiment Update #3

We are in our third week of the EEE and things are going pretty well. I have had some students encounter problems with saving work on Evernote from home. They told me there were some error messages and some of their work was lost. Like most things tech, not everyone is going to have a perfect experience every time. I told them to write down as much information as possible the next time something goes wrong and send it to me so I can send it to Evernote.

There is something valuable to be learned when tech behaves badly. Kids need to be reminded to save work regularly and have back ups just in case. The vast majority of my students have not had any problems using Evernote or saving information, I just hate seeing a few struggle because of technical errors outside of their control.

Students started taking class notes this week and reading stories on-line. It has been a really great combination for my class. I have had multiple students tell me that they used their personal devices to access the stories, the notes and write their responses all away from their home. Kids are really investing in the time and energy it takes to learn the new system and are finding the places to integrate it into their lives. As time goes by, more students will become more comfortable with the system and do some cool things with their accounts.

I have two teachers that have started to use Evernote in my building since introducing the system to them and I have another two that are interested in moving their notes, lessons, assignments, etc to Evernote as well. It is so exciting to see teachers excited to learn new things. The two that are already using it have expressed utter joy at being able to easily share information with students and staff. It really has changed they way the approach the classroom.

Things I've seen with Evernote:

• Student took a picture of my notes on the board after I was done to add to their Evernote account
• Student took down the email address of the students at his table to contact if he was out for the day
• Students sharing notes to other that have missed school
• Students wrote their entire essay in Evernote and then submitted it to Turnitin.com
• Students typing up blog posts on Evernote and then posting them to their Blogger Account. 

These are just a few things I have seen the past couple of weeks. I can't wait to share more of what the kids are doing. 

- @TheNerdyTeacher

Using My iPad in the Classroom This Year (Redux) #edchat

Two years ago today, I wrote a post about how I was going to use my iPad in the classroom. It was simply titled "Using My iPad in the Classroom This Year". To my surprise, it is my most visited post of all time with over 37,000 page views. That is about 20,000 more than my second most read post. I thought it would be fun to do an updated post having used the iPad in my class for two years. Now that I have a class set of iPads, the number of apps that I use or will be using has changed and I thought I would share that with everyone.

Safari - FREE

This is still a go to app. My students are always encouraged to look up things on the internet when they have questions or need to do research. It is fast and simple to use. There are very few problems I have encountered with using Safari and will continue to use it happily.


Evernote - FREE (or Premium Account)

This should not come to much of surprise for those that read my blog on a regular basis. I've had decided to embark on an Epic Evernote Experiment that will use Evernote in many different ways with many different pieces of hardware. I will be sharing all of the reading material for the entire school year on Evernote as well as having students use it to take notes in class and create e-portfolios. I will be using it for all of my lesson planning and storing of different bits of information I think I will need later using the web clipper tool. This app will allow me to move away from the word od space eating filing cabinets and allow me to focus more time on instruction and innovation and not copy making. I upgraded to the premium account because of the added benefits of sharing, editing and space and I couldn't be happier. 

PS Touch - $9.99

I'm not much of an artist or a big whiz with Photoshop, but I have used this app multiple times on the go to create and or edit photos for presentations. It is easy to use and provides an tutorial on how to use all of the different aspects of the app. I would love to see all of the amazing things a real photo-editing pro could do with this app. I cannot afford to put this app on all of the student iPads, but I do let students use it when they really want to get their hands dirty with some photo-editing magic. If you love to tinker with photos, then this is the app for you. 

Blogger - Free (iPhone/iTouch Only)

This app is only available as an iPhone/iTouch app, but it works just fine on the iPad. Students will be using their blogs to respond to different visual prompts throughout the year and this is a great app to do that. It's free and easy to use. Students can log in and work on their post or just copy and past it over from their Evernote account. I really want them to create an iPad specific app, but I also want Google to create a Google Drive editing app, but that doesn't seem like it is going to happen any time. Anyway, Blogger is a nice addition to the iPad and I use for some of my posts when I'm on the go. 

Nearpod Teacher and Nearpod Student - App is FREE - Subscription Based Access

I will be working this new app and web-based program into my classroom this year. The apps are free, but there are different levels of subscriptions you can purchase to use the service. It allows the teachers to have guide students in lessons while they follow along on their device. My class is a class of iPads, but it could work for BYOD where students have iDevices and Android devices. It looks like a great way to have students follow along in class, participate in the polls and questions on the tablet and increase engagement in lessons. I think Nearpod is going to be a really cool addition to my classroom. 

Skype - FREE

Skype is a wonderful app if you want your students to communicate with students across the country or one county over. Many students have their own Skype accounts and use it to chat with their friends. As a teacher, I have use Skype to bring experts in to speak to my teachers and administrators as well as connecting my classes to other students. It is a wonderful tool to use in class and one that more teachers need to consider looking at including in their lesson plans. 

iMovie - $4.99

I really encourage my students to make videos because they can be fun and educational. This is a great app that students have loved to use in class. I love that it can allow the user to quickly upload to YouTube when the video is completed. It does take some time to get used to the editing features, but it is worth it when the students create some fun and different projects. The iPads allow the student to be mobile and record in different locations, so iMovie allows them the freedom to edit where they are comfortable. For the video minded students, iMovie is a must for the classroom. 

Twitter - FREE

I use Twitter on a regular basis in both my professional life (@TheNerdyTeacher) and my school life with students (@MrProvenzano). I encourage my students to use Twitter to create a backchannel during class discussions using specific hashtags. The biggest question I get is about students who might be off task and I can only say that if my students are off task, it's because my lesson is boring. A student will not pay attention using any means necessary if they are bored, it's not the app, it's the lesson. Twitter has been used well by my students and I encourage teachers to see how they might use it in their class. 

There are some of the apps I will be using and have used the past couple of years. Feel free to share your favorite apps in the comment section and we can all learn some new things. Thanks for stopping by!

- The Nerdy Teacher

The Epic @Evernote Experiment #edchat @EvernoteSchools

Hello everyone! I've had plenty of requests to write about what I'm doing and I wanted to wait until I was all set before I wrote a post.

This Fall, I will be doing an Epic Evernote Experiment. I know that I have used the word Epic to describe my previous project (The Epic Romeo and Juliet Project), but this Experiment is truly Epic and I'm a sucker for alliterations.

My plan is pretty simple, use Evernote to share all of my class notes and reading with the students. All assignments will be shared through Evernote as well as any additional resources that I use in class. Seems pretty straight forward.

I have spend the past few days compiling all of the resources I have used in my class for my Honors American Literature, Traditional American Literature and Freshmen English. I have created notes, notebooks and tags for each piece. Units were cross-referenced using tags and the title of the note so students can quickly find what they are looking for on Evernote.

I created four Notebooks for each class; Assignments, Notes, Handouts and Stories. These are the four standard notebooks that will be shared with each student when they arrive to class in the Fall. They will have access to all of their textbook needs on Evernote wherever they are. All additional notes will be placed in the Notebooks as the school year progresses.

In the Notes Notebook, I have placed background information on authors and historical information centering around the various texts and stories we will be reading making sure to use the tagging feature to allows students to pull the information up quickly. I also created notes that have YouTube video read ins of some of the stories. I have created a complete digital backpack for my students. They will have everything they need for the entire year on the first day of school.

This process was a long and tedious one, but I have these notes FOREVER. I was able to upload PDFs and us the Evernote Clipper tool on Google Chrome to quickly and easily create notes and store them in the correct Notebook with the specific tags I needed. This really is a game changer for how my students will be able to access information inside AND outside of the classroom.

This would be an awesome experiment, but it's not quite epic. With that in mind, I have added another level to bring it to epic proportions. E-portfolios. I'm looking for my students to use Evernote Notebooks to store their written work and projects. With the ability to take photos and record audio I envision students being able to take pictures and store their thoughts on various work throughout the year. Long term, this could be great if an entire school district got on board and students from a young age could curate all of their work over the course of their school career. Imagine a 12 Grade student being able to review their writing from 5th grade. I can't think of a better way for an individual to measure growth. I wish I could see my work from grade school.

I'm excited to be working with some other companies who partner with Evernote and want to help with this Experiment. IPEVO is sending over a document camera that, later this summer, will allow images to be directly sent to Evernote. I'm really excited for the chance to look at this document camera. I have heard nothing but good things and I'm always pumped to offer more tools to my students. I envision many of my artistic students using the Document Camera to record their hand drawn work at home and storing it on their Evernote accounts. Their are many different possibilities.

I'm talking with other groups that are interested in being part of the Epic Evernote Experiment. If you are a company and want to join the fun, please send me an email at OneNerdyTeacher@gmail.com and I will get back to you right away. If you know of a product that would fit in well with my Experiment, please let me know and I will reach out to them. Any new products will be mentioned on my blog as they come in and I look them over.

I'm really excited about the possibilities of creating this environment for my students. Follow the journey on the special page I created. The Epic Evernote Experiment

If you want to start your Evernote journey now, follow this link to sign up!

That's it for now, stay tuned for more fun in the near future.

Evernote in a shared environment

I'll be honest, I was not always an Evernote user. I had a few occasional encounters with the program, but never really found a place for it in my life. That all changed this summer when I decided to commit myself to using Evernote for all of my note taking needs. I couldn't be happier about my choice.

I love Evernote and cannot imagine being without in my daily life. All of my important information I want to access is kept in Evernote. I love that I can send articles directly from Zite to Evernote for future sharing and reading. If I take great notes at a session during a conference, I can share it with everyone on Twitter whether they have an Evernote account or not. I have integrated Evernote so thoroughly into my life, I really can't think of any better way to take notes and share them with others.

A couple of months ago, I was given an opportunity to pilot Evernote with my students on the class set of iPads. I wasn't sure how the students were going to react to having a new tool to learn, but it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it might be.

I have had Evernote on the iPads since I gave them to the students in November and never went into detail about Evernote. I told the kids it's an awesome app and they should take a look at when they get a chance. I was surprised to find that about 1/3 of my students started to use it on a regular basis for their note taking.

When I introduced the Evernote Schools pilot, the kids gladly joined up and were interested in the ability to quickly and easily share notes with others. Even students who were not comfortable using other apps on the iPad, took to Evernote very quickly. The students have been using it every day for their note taking needs.

The iPad pilot has been an experiment in shared devices and a potential 1:1 environment. Evernote is a perfect tool for either environment. As I look at the shared device system in my class, Evernote fits in perfectly. Students are able to take the notes they want in class and log out at the end of the period. It solved my biggest concern in the shared environment; How do students take secure notes? Evernote is the perfect choice.

For a 1:1 environment, Evernote makes a great deal of sense. I can see a student with a single tablet going to each class with Evernote to easily organize their thoughts. Students can quickly search older notes for information they need on the spot. Creating specific notebooks for each subject or even units within a subject can even help the most disorganized students. Instead of seeing students scurry around for extra paper, new pens or forgotten notebooks, students can carry around a tablet and nothing else (assuming the school is using e-textbooks).

I'm very excited at what Evernote for Schools means for the shared/1:1 environments. Giving students the chance to organize all of their notes in one spot is a potential life changer for many students. If you haven't had a chance to take a look at Evernote, now is the time.

If you want to start your Evernote journey now, follow this link to sign up!

Photoshop Touch for iOS by @Adobe #ArtChat #EdChat

Adobe Photoshop Touch for iOS is finally here and I couldn't be happier. At $9.99 ($4.99 for Educational Volume Purchasing) I think this is a great deal. 

I'm not the handiest when it comes to Photoshop. I can do some photo editing and some silly stuff, but nothing compared to what some of my friends are capable of doing. I was a bit hesitant in downloading the 10 buck app, but I was not disappointed. The tutorials in the app are simply amazing. They walked me through the various things I can do on Photoshop and where all of the correct buttons could be found to make the editing process smooth. I can go back at any time and review the tutorial if I get a little lost. 

I was able to take pictures and layer images and write on top of them. I felt like I could do everything I would normally do on my Mac. It's great. 

As for using it as part of my iPad pilot, I'm not sure it is the right fit for me as an American Literature teacher. It would be simply amazing in Art Classes though. I have some amazing art work from students that just like to doodle while taking notes and participating in discussion. I know if they had access to this app in class, they could create masterpieces. 

Below you will find some screen shots of what the app looks like and what it can do. While not all of use are masters with Photoshop, Photoshop Touch is a great app that allows the most remedial of users to express themselves with creative flair. 

If you are a Nerdy Art person, this is an app that you have to have on your iPad without question. 

What I Saw In My Classroom With #PBL - #EdChat

I just wrapped up my Mock Trial of Mark Twain in my American Literature classes. I wrote about here and here in case you do not know what I'm talking about. Without a doubt, these kids did the best job with this project in all of my years doing it. You can check out the stream #MTTrial

From Teresa Evangeline's Blog

I know I have written about the value of Project Based Learning before, but watching my students rise to the occasion was something spectacular. Here is what I saw:

I saw students give impassioned opening and closing statements defending Mark Twain while others chastised him for his foul language and terrible sense of humor.

I saw students researching their characters from Huck Finn and played the roles perfectly during questioning and cross-examination.

I saw students dedicated to an argument, even if they did not personally believe it.

I saw students in the jury diligently taking notes and arguing their points during deliberation.

I saw a Twitter stream that had students supporting their peers and engaging their teacher in the back channel.

I saw a student quote Twain from memory in the face of harsh cross examination from the prosecution.

I saw students ask if they could do another trial later in the year.

I saw learning beyond what any teacher could ever hope to see from a project.

I saw engagement.

I saw fun.

I tweeted that I was seeing learning in a way that no bubble test could ever quantify. I believe that with my entire heart.

I encourage all of you out there to look at your lessons and SEE where PBL could fit for you.

The Epic #MTTrial (Mark Twain Trial) #EdChat

Today was the first day of trial for Mark Twain in my American Literature classes. Mr. Twain has been charged with the crime of racism and my students are holding a trial to determine if he is guilty or innocent. Student are running the entire trial and I advise when asked. It has been an awesome experience. You can follow the tag #MTTrial for live updates of the trial during 1st - 3rd hour.

My students are playing characters from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well as the Lawyers and Jury. The spent a week in class on their iPads diving into the text and researching Twain's past. The prosecution in all three classes made strong cases that Twain was very racist and using satire as an excuse does not cover the language and ideas he portrays in his stories.

I think the part I love most about this trial is the case the prosecution has to create. I know that many of the students on the prosecution do not actually believe that Twain is a racist, but they dive deep into the text to prove their point. They are not awarded points based on winning or losing, they just love tackling this very controversial issue. Every year I do this project, someone working on the prosecution makes a very sound argument that makes me think. This year was no different.

My students nailed the opening statements and hammered witnesses on cross examination. It was one of the best first days of trial I've seen with this project in the 10 years I've done it.

The students used their iPads to keep all of their notes and present evidence. It was an easy part of their case and they said it was nice having the device handy to share information with other lawyers and witnesses on the case. The iPads made for a nice addition to this project and made the work flow a bit smoother.

I'm excited to see what the defense has in store for Tuesday. They always seem to have an easy case going into the trial, but the Prosecution's case always puts them on edge because there are always things they did not think of for their case.

One of the reasons I love this project is that it gets kids thinking about a very important topic in very different terms. To this day, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is banned in school districts across this country and parents do want this book taught to their children. My kids have a chance to debate some of these ideas in a class setting that allows them to really wrap their brains around it. Over the years I have had Guilty and Not Guilty verdicts because students approached the cases in so many different ways. I wish some adults would approach topics like this the same way. It would make society a little bit nicer, if not smarter.

iP@ds in the classroom: Collaborative Annotating #EngChat #EdChat

Part of the iPad pilot had the devices staying in the classroom. I quickly saw the limitations, but that is a topic for another post. I need to focus my energies on creating lessons allow the kids to function in a shared tablet environment.

We have just started Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the students have a hard copy at home to read and there is a digital version on iBooks. On iBooks, students can highlight and annotate passages they feel are important. I think this is a valuable skill for students to master, but it is difficult to teach without making many paper copies. So, I devised a plan yesterday.

Each student is assigned a specific tablet and they sit in tables of five. The tables were assigned a chapter to annotate. The students had already read the chapter the night before, so it was a quick re-read looking for four specific themes discussed in class. At a table of five, four students would work on one theme each and the fifth student acts as a secretary to record all of the annotations on his iBook.

At the end of the allotted time (15 mins), the secretary connects to the projector, via Apple TV, and present their group work to the class while others follow along and add those notes to their iBook.

Since each iPad will be at a different table, each student will be working on different chapters so the iBook will be mostly filled out by the three student users.

I love the idea of students being able to look at the thoughts of other students and see why passages are important to them. This really brings collaboration to an entire new level. The kids said the really liked highlighting the book and leaving notes. This could be a completely different way to teach a novel in my class.

I'll keep you posted on any new developments!

- @TheNerdyTeacher

iP@d Pilot/ #PBL Update 2.1 #Edchat

I received this email today and I had to share it with all of you. The name of the students has been changed.

I did not have time to stop by (too see class presentations), but wanted to let you know Zach Morris stopped by to show me his (project) - he was really proud of it. To see a kid who would basically have nothing to do with school last year so engaged and pleased was exceptionally cool!

Could I get your assignment/rubrics for this and any other tips on how to do it logistically? Very cool project and makes the challenging topic/readings very accessible. Nick said being able to do the project made the "challenging reading" worthwhile. Made me smile :)

The students were creating Transcendentalist Societies using their iPads and this student had been working hard all week. While this says something about the iPad project, it also says something about Project Based Learning.

Sometimes, the right project at the right time can have a profound impact on a student. This email will be stored in a folder for years to come.

I hope everyone is having a great day.

- @TheNerdyTeacher



Update 2: iP@ds in my classroom #EdChat #EdTech #PBL

This is Update 2 for my iPad project. Here is my first update.

My students have spent the past two weeks working on their projects. They are working in groups to create the ideal transcendental its society. The first few days with the iPads was more of a "What can we do we these?" experience for the kids. They logged into apps and took pictures using Photobooth. It was overall silliness at times, but I knew that was going to be the case, so I let them have fun. I really think that is important to remember. Some of these kids have never used an iPad outside of the Apple store and they should have a chance to play with them within the context of school and learning. I want them to see the iPad as a tool to explore the world, not just as another computer to do menial tasks.

After the playful period, students began to do serious work. Kids were using SketchPad Pro to design crests and flags for their community. They also used it to create detailed maps of their society. Some students utilized Pages to create the groups rules and job descriptions. It was great to see them working hard and collaboratively. It was a surreal experience at times. There were instances where it was dead silent as students all worked on various parts of their projects. I'm excited to see the work two students are going to present after writing a rap and using GarageBand to create beats to perform to. It's something that would not have been possible before. One of those students actually came in to school early in the morning to work on the iPad. He said it was the most fun he had ever had writing before. You cannot ask for better feedback than that.

Dropbox has been a great tool for my students. Signing them up to accounts at the start of the year is one of the best things I did this year. Without pushing, students created their own group shared folders and have been putting all of their work there. Students have been able to upload photos and videos from the app to work on at home. Dropbox has allowed the students to quickly and easily share all of their work. I also noticed that students have created folders for other classes as well, so I know they are really enjoying the program.

Kids have spent the past two days filming and editing using iMovie. I've only had to help a couple of groups with some user issues, but students have mostly figured out how to use the apps on their own. I think that is something that has always stood out about the iPad. The device itself and many of the apps are very easy to use and understand. It has allowed the students to spend more time on creation and that pays off when it comes to learning. I really look forward to sharing some of the projects with all of you once they have been presented in class.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions.

- @TheNerdyTeacher

Quick Hit - Saving Documents from iP@d to Dropbox #edchat #edtech



I wanted to share with everyone a way to save Pages and Keynote files from the iPad to your Dropbox account. Here is a link to the document I shared with my students on Dropbox. http://db.tt/VySWoJ6y

Basically, you create a document using Pages or Keynote and email to yourself. You go to your email through Safari and access your email. In the email, open the document and it will take you to a new tab. From the new tab, it will give you different programs you can open the document in. Choose Dropbox and it will let you save the file in an existing folder or you can create a new one. The PDF is a bit more detailed, but it works every time. Give it a try.

- @TheNerdyTeacher

iP@ds in my classroom - Update 1 #Edchat #EdTech #Education

Here is the first of many updates on how the iPads are being used in my classroom.

The students were finally able to get their hands on the iPads on Monday (November 28). The first day was spent mostly on the ins and outs of how the iPads were to be used. I showed some of the basic features of the iPad and let them take them for a spin. They were excited to see what they could do and spent time taking pictures and playing around with the free apps.

I showed them how to log into Dropbox and Evernote and how to log off those apps as well. Since these are shared devices, it's important that the apps used allow for user sign in and sign out. I reminded the kids to log off any students that forget to do so and see me if there are any notifications that pop up. The kids were excited and we did not have any major problems on the first day.

The next day, the kids were diving deep into their project (Creating a Transcendentalist Society) and started to encounter some problems using Dropbox. Dropbox allows user to upload video and photos to their account using the app. However, the app needs permission to find your location to do so. All of the settings were set to prevent new apps from using location services. I had to convince my IT guy to give me the restrictions password so I can trouble shoot issues like this. It's important for the pilot teacher to have access to the restrictions password to solve these little problems. It took me a chunk of time, but I was able to fix all of those problems for Dropbox and future apps.

The next issue that came to light was the lack of email. We did not have email addresses linked to the iPad accounts and it quickly became apparent that without email, the iPads were not effective at sharing information quickly. I convinced my IT guys to put the same email account on the iPads and we hope to block the incoming mail to the account. Now, my students can quickly share their notes from their Notes app, photos, video and Evernote. Email accounts are necessary to quickly and easily share information. 


I spent the first week creating a system for where the apps go on each iPad. The most common apps were placed on the front page, apps that were more Language Arts were on the second page and the last page will be all Science (I'm piloting with a Chemistry and Biology teacher). Breaking up the apps this way will allow the kids to find what they need quickly. I also showed them the search feature in case they can't find the app right away. App organization might take time to set up, but it will save the student time in the long run. 


I'm still waiting for the grant money to come in so I can buy the apps that I really need. The free ones are good for now, but my kids want to do serious photo and video editing and the free apps do not provide the umph they need. Try and wait to roll out the iPads until you have all of the apps you need. 


The kids still have all of next week to work on the project and I have not had any problems with the usage. I've actually heard students tell others to stay on task with the iPad. That made me smile.

I'll be keeping regular updates on my site on the apps I use, the policies put in place and anything else that comes up regarding the iPad pilot.

Have a great day!

- @TheNerdyTeacher