Prezi video

Here is a tutorial I created for my 10th graders. We are beginning to work on research. This was a huge help. I found myself saying the same thing again and gain, but now I can just send them to a video. 

I created a Prezi, then I did a screen recording as I played the prezi. I uploaded it to You Tube, but I also synched it to the video on the iPads. 

Bye Bye Clickers

I think that I have found an app to replace my Active Expressions clickers: Socrative.

I was originally planning to use Lan School to monitor students and poll them about content. I decided that it was more than I needed. Since the students have their iPads flat on the desk most of the time, it is pretty easy to see what they are working on, unlike laptop screens that can hide Facebook easily. As long as I am up and around the room, they are staying on task. Since I don't need it to monitor students, I only need it for polling students.

I have a set of clickers that work great for keeping students engaged by asking them multiple choice, short answer, and true/false questions. I found that with the iPads, I wasn't using them because it seemed like too many devices to keep track of during a class period. I love the way the Active Expressions works, and am hopeful I can find apps to replace all of the functions I was using.

Socrative was extremely easy to set up. I created an account and downloaded the apps to the iPads. Ready to go in 10 minutes! I can verbally ask questions and have them answer with the app, or I can create a quiz for them to take at their own pace or my pace. My first attempt was great and it was simple to e-mail me the results after they finished. I also loved that they can take the quiz, then hand it to another student to take as soon as they are finished. This will come in handy with my large classes since I only have 30 iPads.

Back from break with a dilemma

So, I am in love with my iPads, but it is a challenge to figure out how to do some things like turn in work. I have run through many different programs, but keep running into problems.

Moodle- I like the way this program functions for teachers, but not students. They don't have the option on ipads to upload files. This means that they are limited to using the online text for assignments which is not a friendly view for them. It is also a big challenge for anything that needs formatting. The other problem I run into is collaboration. It isn't a very good tool when I often have students working together on assignments.

Google docs- I like the collaborative aspect as well as my feedback options. My big concern is having so many students working on it at the same time. We have enough problems with wireless and bandwidth already. Another thing I want to be pushing is more video and audio, and I just don't know how well that will work.

Dropbox - This could work well with net books, but not with an iPad. There are few apps that will upload to Dropbox (Paperport) and none of them are very good with essay formatting. All that they can really do with the app is look at assignments they already have in there.

Evernote- On a computer, this works great, but on iPads, you can only share your notbeooks with another to view work, not edit. This presents lots of challenges in terms of student feedback. However, I am a really big fan of the audio options with this. I like the idea of students showing their understanding in ways other than writing on occasion.

Wikispaces- This is my current favorite. I am really liking the way my students are using it as a collaborative tool. They did great work with the discussions for our class novel, and it has been a great way for them to work on projects in small groups and pairs. It has great options for feedback as well. My concern is with their independent summative assignments. I want to have a place for them to do some assignments that are not available for the rest of the class to see.

Pages- This has a great look for text typing, but the issue is with turning it in. There are several options, but none of them are ideal. I can't seem to get iTunes to work without me having to take too many steps to see each student's assignment. It shouldn't be more that a click or two to go from one student's assignment to the next. I tried to play with iWork and iDisk, but found the same problem. I know that the e-mail option is the way to go, it just has some issues as well. Since each iPad is shared between 5 students, I don't want them to use their own e-mail addresses; they regularly forget to log out of things. I have decided to try creating a new e-mail address for each iPad so that the students can send their work as a PDF. If you send as a Pages or Word file, it requires saving before opening. I am looking for the fewest number of steps.

Here is my plan:
Wikispaces- This is where I can keep all of the class notes, calendar, and practice/formative/group work. I like to use the discussion posts for short things like exit slips, discussion, topic ideas, and grammar practice.

Pages- All summative/independent work will be done here. They can e-mail their work to me as a PDF and cc their own e-mail. I can "reply all" to give them feedback. If they want to work from home, they can use the same e-mail feature to send their work back and forth.