Showing posts with label iPad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPad. Show all posts

Monday, October 28, 2019

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.

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Monday, October 21, 2019

Skipper Student Tech Tips Advance Use of Technology for Learning


SkipperTech Tips started last spring when I decided to start posting some technology tips to all of the students in our grades 4-12 1:1 iPad program. I started this in an effort to increase students’ efficiencies and skills using technology for learning. I began periodically posting a weekly tech tip using Schoology, our learning management system. I included all of our teachers and staff, too, so the tips have the potential to be seen by about 8,000 people.  

For about the past 15 years we have been sending our adult staff periodic tech tips by email, usually on a monthly basis. This was the first time we brought the tips directly to the students districtwide. One of the reasons behind this was my desire to give the opportunity for all students to be informed of valuable tips rather than hope one of their teachers relay something to them--I haven’t seen this “trickle down” tech tips philosophy be very effective in the past. Posting a quick tip that everyone sees is a much more effective way to get the message out to as many people as possible. The pilot of this process last spring was very positive and I’ve resumed it this school year.

I also decided to have some fun with it and used my dog as the avatar for the poster. I took a photo of my dog wearing a Minnetonka hat and used that as the avatar for “SkipperTech”. My kids have helped with photo shoots with our dog and an iPad for each tip, and we've added some fun "Easter Eggs" for the observant--such as dog-related websites, tabs, and topics such as the presentation pictured above on squirrels. You get the idea.

I've used the SkipperTech account to post a request for students to submit their own ideas for future tips using a Google Form. I've received tips related to iPads, Notability, Google, iMove, Siri, other apps, and more. Last spring I had already received over 200 suggestions, so I have plenty of material for future posts. I included a place on the form to ask the students whether or not they wanted to remain anonymous or receive credit for their tip. 


I've also used the SkipperTech account to provide students with direct links to instructions apps such as Animatic and Stop Motion. A third use of the account has been to collect student work to showcase and share their ideas with one another. For example, last spring SkipperTech asked students to submit creative examples of animated GIFs they had made with the Animatic app. Almost 140 students submitted work. In a previous post, I shared over 20 examples of what Minnetonka students had made. Hopefully SkipperTech will inspire our students to not only use tech better but open their eyes to even more possible ways to use it to enhance and showcase learning.

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Monday, April 15, 2019

Exploring the Respiratory System with Augmented/Virtual Reality & More in Seventh Grade Science

Students in Kaylene Boos’ seventh grade life science class at Minnetonka Middle School West are studying about the respiratory system. In the past the lesson involved a lot of lecture and note taking. Naturally students didn’t find this past method of content delivery very interesting. Teachers are always improving their instruction, and over the past few years, middle school science teachers have restructured the learning activities to be more engaging for the students. On Monday afternoon when I was present, students were rotating among eight different stations for five minutes each, very engaged in activities.

At one of the stations students used the Virtuali-tee app. This augmented reality app allows students to scan a special T-shirt with their iPad and see the body systems inside the torso of the person/shirt, including the respiratory system. Funds from the PTO were granted to purchase the shirts for each seventh grade science teacher. As pictured, students could hold their iPad like a window into the respiratory system. As they moved it around, they were able to see inside a lung. Augmented and virtual reality show a lot of promise in the opportunities that will be available for learning, and activities this seem to just be the start of what’s possible. 



At another station students watched a video about the respiratory system and answered questions, recording their answers in Notability. At a third station, students completed an online labeling activity in which they had to race to beat the clock identifying the parts of the respiratory system. Another station consisted of sorting vocabulary terms and then photographing and inserting the image of the result into the Notability file. Students also researched answers to questions online and took a Schoology quiz at two other stations and the last station had a model of a working lung made out of a 2 liter pop bottle.

These activities cover multiple dimensions on our Minnetonka Teaching & Learning Framework: communication, collaboration, personalized learning, critical thinking, use of technology for learning, and more. Switching stations every five minutes kept the students active and moving around. They also worked on each activity in shorts bursts, so I did not see them losing interest or becoming bored with the learning. I certainly would have preferred to learn in this manner myself back in school. Plus when I was teaching, I should have designed more active learning opportunities like this for my own students!


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Monday, March 25, 2019

2nd Grade Book Creators Publish Their Learning


Last week I was in second grade teacher Traci Preciado’s class as students were working on writing books on a research topic of their choice. Students eagerly showed me their work and read their books aloud. The topics they selected ranged from animals like cheetahs and sabertooth tigers to Native Americans to British Soldiers. Each student was engaged and excited about producing a book on their topic and motivated to write and find images to illustrate their work using the Book Creator app.


A few weeks prior to this, students had been learning about polar animals, polar lands, and people who live in polar regions. Students had written summaries of each areas and then chose one area to publish as a book. Traci then showed them how to use the Book Creator app and they spent a couple class periods putting in their information. This was practice for their own research project.


The following week students choose an animal, person, or place to research. The wrote questions, researched and read about their topic using Pebble Go, and then wrote about it. They used Book Creator in iPads to type up their writing and insert images. When they finished the class has a publishing fair, inviting in their parents to come in and hear the books being read by students. Traci also emailed each students’ parents a copy of their book electronically as a PDF.
This is a great example of students having voice and choice in their learning as well as creating and communicating their work with an authentic audience, all components of our Minnetonka Teaching & Learning Framework. Traci tied in numerous nonfiction reading and writing skills throughout this project as well. Students were very motivated to learn and use technology to showcase their work.


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Monday, March 18, 2019

Amazing Creativity Shown by Student Animators

Animation by Fawaz, 5th Grader
Animation by Sophie, 9th Grader
I'm always amazed by our students and their creativity. When students use their creative skills combined with technology tools they can make some truly awesome products. Whether it is their artwork, skits done with green screens, stop motion, eBooks, or more, our students make some incredible projects.

A couple weeks ago I asked our grade 4-12 students with iPads for creative examples of animated GIFs they had made with the Animatic app. Almost 140 students submitted work. It was hard to choose some to showcase as so many were really well done! Here are over 20 examples to give you an idea of what Minnetonka students have made.
Animation by Ryann, 6th Grader

When asked to explain their work, 90 students stated that they made their submitted animation just for fun. One student wrote, “I watch animators on YouTube, and when I saw this post I was like: Hmm... I should try it! I like drawing and writing, I should like this! And I ended up really liking it, and will probably animate again in the future." Another stated, “I made this animation because, well, I felt inspired! Also, I wanted to show people my artistic abilities that can encompass technology all at the same time.”

I spoke with the co-founder of Animatic, Darren Paul, about a month ago. He and his team were very excited to have their app showcased in the Apple App Store and as a result saw an enormous jump in downloads. This, in turn, resulted in a great increase in the number of examples made with Animatic being posted worldwide. They are seeing all sorts of uses of their tool, not just by students but by professionals and adults in the workforce, too. Check out their Twitter feed and website to learn more.

 If you'd like to learn how to use Animatic from a professional, check out this four-part tutorial from a Disney animator with whom the Animatic team partnered. I shared these videos with our students, too, so we will likely see an increase in their abilities and created work in the future!

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