Mac's New Catalina Sidecar Shows Great Promise for iPads & Education

Recently Apple’s new operating system for Macs, Catalina, was released. When looking through the new features and debating how soon I should upgrade, I noticed Sidecar. Sidecar allows users with an iPad to use it as a second display for their Mac, either mirroring or extending their desktop. But it also allows way more than that—you can use the iPad itself to control the Mac, sort of like a Remote Desktop program. This caught my attention because we are always looking for ways for our teachers to make the most of the technology tools we have to help deepen learning experiences and make instruction more meaningful. Catalina Sidecar seems like a great new feature to do just that. 

Back in the early 2000s we installed interactive whiteboards in almost all of our classrooms and trained teachers to use the software. As I wrote previously, SMARTBoards were a catalyst for future technology integration and helped to push our teachers to digitize their curriculum. They helped teachers think about how to make lessons more engaging and interactive. 

Over the past few years many schools have been getting rid of interactive whiteboards and replacing them with HDTVs. Unfortunately doing this removes much of the interactivity possible and instruction has to move back in time to either pre-made slide presentations or lessons that limit how much a teacher can annotate, sketch and interact with the displayed content in general. There are many instructional benefits to having an open canvas/space to work out a problem, draw with digital ink, mark something up, etc. Having this electronically to be instantly saved, stored and/or shared collaboratively is lost when the interactive teaching tool is removed from the classroom. 

At our elementary level, much of our curriculum is in SMART Notebook after well over 15 years of use of that program. So as we look toward the future use of interactive displays, we don’t want to just replace SMART Boards with HDTV displays that don’t allow the teacher to interact with the content on it. That would be going backwards and against instructional best practices. 

Many of our teachers currently use their iPad during instruction and project it wirelessly onto a screen using software like AirSquirrel's Reflector or an Apple TV. Usually they are using an app like Notability to write and mark up something together with their students. But for our teachers with years' worth of curriculum in SMARTNotebook, switching entirely to an iPad would mean a lot of work to change the platform and/or start over rebuilding lessons. 

In my initial tests of Sidecar as pictured above, SMARTNotebook can controlled through an iPad connected wirelessly to a newer Mac connected by a HDMI dongle to either a projector or a HDTV. The display can either mirror the Mac's desktop or be an extension of it, allowing the teacher to have dual monitors which is super helpful. Sidecar allows the instructor to freely move around the room, write on the iPad and interact with and use the tools of SMARTNotebook (or any other program on the Mac). So not only could you potentially remove the SMARTBoard but keep the interactivity and the software, you gain the ability to move around the room and no longer have to stand at the display. This is very helpful for classroom management (see Tip #5 for a Successful 1:1 Implementation: Make Classroom Management an Early and Continuous Focus).

All of our teachers have an iPad Generation 6 and many have an Apple Pencil. However, not many of our teachers have a MacBook, let alone the newer models needed--most have a PC desktop connected to a SMARTBoard. So as we continue to test out Sidecar, we will need to weigh the pros along with the costs. But instead of buying replacement SMARTBoards this initially looks much more promising!

Interestingly, I found one HDTV model we had where this didn't work, and two that did, so be sure to do your own testing. And if you are considering this for classroom use and test things out, let me know what you think. FYI, Apple has detailed instructions for Sidecar here.

Related Posts:

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• New iPads Coming for Minnetonka Grade 5-12 Students to Accelerate Learning
• Tip #1 for a Successful 1:1 Implementation: Execute the Rollout Carefully and Deliberately 
• Tip #2 for a Successful 1:1 Implementation: Differentiate Teacher Training
• Tip #3 for a Successful 1:1 Implementation: Use Schoology as the Classroom Hub
• Tip #4- Make Full Use of the iPad as a Formative Assessment Tool 
• Tip #5 for a Successful 1:1 Implementation: Make Classroom Management an Early and Continuous Focus
• Great 1:1 Program Evaluation Questions for Student, Parent, and Teacher Surveys
• Minnetonka's 1:1 iPad Student Training & Setup Checklist & Flipped Student PD 
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• Equity Maps Make Discussion Assessment Easier
• More Ways to Inform Parents of How Technology Changes Learning
• Even More Minnetonka iPad Integration: Examples from Middle School
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Pear Deck in Minnetonka Classrooms- Engaging, Interactive Lessons with Realtime Feedback

Source: Pear Deck

Starting last month, teachers in Minnetonka Public Schools began using Pear Deck with students. Pear Deck is a program that allows teachers to turn lessons into engaging, interactive activities and provide their students with immediate feedback. Teachers can convert existing PowerPoint or Google Slides into these activities, or build them from scratch.

Pear Deck's teacher view (forefront) with student view

This morning in Sara Martinson's freshman English class, students were reviewing parts of speech- verbs, prepositional phrases, subjects, etc. Sara turned the grammar lessons into an interactive Pear Deck. During the lesson, she walked around the room with her iPad which was logged in to the teacher dashboard in the web browser (www.peardeck.com/dash). This dashboard allows her to see each student's response in real time. The students were on their iPads, also in a web browser, and had entered in a class code at www.peardeck.com/join which was displayed on the projector/SMART Board. So there are three views in Pear Deck: the main projector view, each student views each slide on the iPad, and the teacher view which allows the instructor to see all of the students' iPads as they write or complete activities on the slide. Since Pear Deck integrates with Google, the students' names automatically appear on the teacher's view, allowing the teacher to see who is logged in and what each person is doing.

Sara going through a grammar example
using Pear Deck's projector view.

Sara explained to me that in the past, these grammar review lessons would have been slides in SMART Notebook that she projected, and she would have had the students take turns sharing their answers with the class. Now, Sara has found that students are much more engaged with the content because they all have to complete each and every grammar sentence, whereas in the past students might have only paid full attention when it was their turn. Also, as the instructor prior to using Pear Deck, she would not have know how each student was doing, or even if each student was participating. Now she can monitor and adjust her instruction while she is able to individually see each student's work. Sometimes she displayed one of the student's responses to show the class, other times she talked through the question on the SMARTBoard and discussed the solutions.

Source: Pear Deck

She also used Pear Deck's draggable answer feature, having the students report out their comfort level with the different parts of speech by dragging a star on a line/continuum. Answers to questions can also be drawings/sketches, too. She began the lesson by having the students draw an image that highlighted their weekend. Math teachers can have students graph responses and see their equation solutions. The possibilities for any subject area pretty endless and Pear Deck has five different interactive question types.

Student view opening Pear Deck from Schoology on an iPad.

A great new feature of Pear Deck is Takeaways, just released a couple of weeks ago. A teacher can export the complete slide deck into Google Drive by generating one link. Sara did this and posted that link to her first hour class in Schoology as pictured. When students click on this link, it opens up a private copy of their slide deck with all of their individual answers so they can use it to study from in the future. This is a powerful feature that is really helpful for the students.

Pear Deck is just one of the many great tools teachers in Minnetonka Public Schools are using with students in our 1:1 iPad Program for all 6,250 students in grades 5-12. It is an example of how technology in instruction can be used to deepen learning experiences for students and make instruction more efficient and effective.

Back to the Future Part III: SMARTBoards as a Past Catalyst for Future Technology Integration

Image Source

Continuing with the Back in Time and Back to the Future themed posts from last week about Instaframes/Overhead Projectors and two weeks ago about technology staff development 10 years ago, I figured a third part in the series is required, since, after all, there are three parts to the movie series, right? In Back to the Future Part III, Marty goes back in time to the late 1800's to try to alter some events in order to change the present time. Do you ever think about what you would change if you could go back in time?

Over the past twelve years that I've been working with the integration of technology in learning and teaching in Minnetonka, I'm sometimes asked, "What would you have done differently?" In my early career I would get asked about our choice of SMARTBoards. Today the question I get is about our choice of iPads. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I wouldn't change either of these choices we made (even if Marty pulled up in the Delorean and gave me the chance).  

As I wrote a couple weeks ago, we started putting SMARTBoards in our classrooms in 2002 and during the following five years, we added an interactive whiteboard, projector, and sound field to all of our 600+ classrooms. This began the digitizing of our curriculum. Back in 2009, I wrote an article for ISTE describing SMARTBoards as a springboard for technology integration (pictured below). Our teachers wanted their content to be on their SMARTBoard, and wanted it to be more interactive. They worked hard making their lessons digital, moving from overheard transparencies at the time. So our teachers have been creating digital curriculum for a decade or more, and thinking about ways to make it interactive, not just present it on a screen. This has been a great foundation to build upon and really helped us get to where we are today. 

In the ISTE article I wrote that I noticed our teachers were integrating technology at higher levels than other educators whom I taught in grad programs employed in school districts without SMARTBoards. I noticed that having a SMARTBoard required teachers to digitize their content and lessons, and it was a great catalyst for further technology integration. The alternatives at the time- simply a projector or nothing at all- did not have the same effect.  

"In the long run, the up-front cost of an interactive whiteboard for each teacher is money well spent. It will accelerate the teacher's adoption of technology and result in higher, more innovative levels of technology use by teachers and their students.  Money spent on staff development often results in hit-or-miss implementation of technology that may be infrequently used. An interactive whiteboard used on a daily basis truly gives you a bigger bang for your buck."

SMARTBoards have proven to be a great decision which we made over a decade ago. I wouldn't change that choice, and don't feel the need to find Marty to go back in time to try to alter things. Last month I wrote about the iPad being a big bang for your buck. I believe that our decision to go with iPads vs. laptops will also be one that we are happy with a decade from now, too. It will be yet another technology integration springboard for our staff and students, with no regrets or desires to go back in time and change our past.

Watch a video overview of Minnetonka's use of technology here.

Learning & Leading with Technology, vol. 36, no. 6 © 2009, ISTE

Back to the Future Part I: 2005 Technology Staff Development Classes- the Beginning of Minnetonka's Digital Curriculum

I love the concept of time travel, whether it is a book or movie. Recently my wife and I watched Back to the Future and Back to the Future III to our kids, both really fun movies to see which our kids enjoyed. (Sorry, we're not Part II fans.)  And just a couple of days ago I saw a DeLorean drive by, so Doc and Marty were on my mind as I came across a sheet of paper from my past and wrote this. So...feel free to press play on Back in Time by Huey Lewis and the News (one of my favorite pop 80's bands) as you read the rest of this:

I started working as an elementary fourth and fifth grade teacher in Minnetonka 20 years ago. After four years at elementary, I moved to one of our middle schools and spent four years teaching there. Then, twelve years ago I was hired as our District's first Technology Integration Specialist. We had just started with SMARTBoards in our classrooms back in 2002. As one of the first teachers in Minnetonka who had used a SMARTBoard and then left the classroom to train colleagues, I spent a lot of time helping colleagues with SMART Notebook software and learning to add technology to their lessons. We actually didn't have a lot of projectors in classrooms at the time, so when we added SMARTBoards it was also the first time those teachers had the opportunity to project their computer, a PowerPoint, or display an Internet page for their students. Over the next five years or so, we added an interactive whiteboard, projector, and sound field to all of our 600+ classrooms. Some more videos about that can be found here. This began the digitizing of our curriculum. 

In about 2004 or 2005 I started offering technology training to teachers in August prior to the start of the school year. I didn't think I had any record of those earliest classes that until my wife found the sheet of paper pictured below at home in a stack of recycled/scrap paper now used by our kids for coloring:  

Technology tools in 2005 for our teachers were SMARTBoards, Inspiration and Kidspiration Concept Mapping Software, Blackboard, Windows Movie Maker (with digital cameras using a 3.5" floppy disk), and United Streaming videos. It's pretty amazing to think back and reflect on how far things have come. For example, we often forget how much work it was in 2005 to make a digital movie and take for granted that we can just do this all on our phones now. 

It is also good to see that even ten years ago, we were focusing on more than just the tech tool itself. In the descriptions on the page, there are phrases like use "technology to foster inquiry in student learning", encouraging teachers to have students use technology for projects such as a "narrated movie or animated short video," and to use technology to "deepen students' understanding," all things we are still working on today. The tools have certainly changed but the underlying principals of technology integration and staff development have not.

It will be fun to see what the future holds in regards to technology staff development. Another ten years from now, I would hope we are still working on fostering inquiry, having students use technology, and deepening understanding. Maybe if I was a bigger Part II fan I could just go with Marty and visit the future today. Nah, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Watch a video overview of Minnetonka's use of technology here.