iPad: A Creative App Combo for Learning

Using iPads with students? Consider this... If you do nothing else with your iPads, may I suggest Explain Everything and iMovie (or similar apps).

Let me explain...

iMovie ($5.99) is the classic, intuitive editor by Apple. In the iPad form it allows for bringing together multiple video clips created on the iPad along with:

• Microphone input (narration, sound FX, original music recordings, etc.)
• Video recording (talk to your audience directly, record a skit, record anything!)
• Insert photos
• Insert sounds
• Add text to any of the above
• Add transitions to make it all smooth
• Export the final product as a self-contained video and upload or email it

Explain Everything ($2.99) is a whiteboard app, and what I would consider the best on the market to date. While similar apps are free, this one may offer enough options to make it worth your venture. Highlights include (features set for upcoming December release are in green):

• Record a video presentation one slide at a time
• Insert photos, drawings and images from any of several sources
• Insert a movie (to create a commentary and mark up with drawings)
• Timeline editor
• Download final product as a movie (then import to iMovie for further editing)
• Use a 'laser' pointer
• Export individual screen shots as images or PDF
• Connect with Dropbox, Evernote, Box, Drive, and many other apps
• And so many more features

(jump to about 1:30 to start seeing a demonstration of the features)

These two tools should be in the hands of students (and teachers) at all ages. They should be helping students harness their intrinsic motivation to learn and show-off what they know. Students engaged in this type of learning are going well beyond consumption. They are synthesizing knowledge, creating, developing 21st century skills, and most importantly, they are engaged in their education.

So what could you do with these tools? (enter raffle for free EE Compressor or EE)

• Keep it simple and explain how to do something, math, science, etc
• Use a map image and create a photo tour in history or literature
• Create a video presentation with questions left open ended for audience interaction
• Book reports
• Flipped lessons
• Students can film and analyze each other doing tasks
• Create and edit skits
• Whatever your heart desires

As I prepared to demonstrate these tools to a class of 8-10 year olds, I tested the process on my daughter. It was clearly one of the most challenging things I had ever asked her to do on the iPad. This was not a simple, press a button to get positive feedback type of adventure. At first, she struggled to make the transition into this type of creating.

Even though she was frustrated, she was fully engaged. She had no interest in stopping. After helping her through a slide, she then made a second slide all on her own. These slides are not like PowerPoint or Keynote. They are dynamic. She is creating an experience for herself and for those she shares with. We stopped after two slides (though she is ready to do more!) Then I helped her move the outputted movies into iMovie for some light touchup and to add a couple of sound effects (she loves this part :) and then sent it to YouTube.

What excites me is not what she and I created, it is the thought of what teachers and students around the world will create when these tools are in their hands. If you are one of these teachers, please give this a try and let me know what you create! Post links and comments in the comment section so others can gain from your experience.

 iMovie - $4.99

 Explain Everything - $2.99

 Compressor for Explain Everything - $14.99 (helps compress movies via Mac)

Win your own copy of Explain Everything or Compressor for Explain Everything! Enter here. (Generously provided by the makers of Explain Everything.)

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Chad McGowan is a high school technology teacher and professional development specialist in technology. Over the past 16 years, Chad has taught a variety of math and computer course from 7-12. Since 2000, Chad has been guiding other professionals in technology by staying current and learning from those around him. Follow Chad on Twitter @ahstechteacher and through this blog.

iPad Summit: Your Take Away

On two cold New England days, the first edTechTeacher iPad Summit USA was held in the middle of Boston. Inside the conference center, 400 educators from all over the globe gathered to share best practices, battle scars, and a vision for the future.

This vision for the future was not a vision of what education could be like twenty, ten, or even five years from now, it was a vision of what education would look like today and tomorrow. It was a vision we could only imagine five years ago. This vision is coming true today because of the revolution brought on in education by the arrival of iPads and other quality touch devices. What we had dreamed of for years in Star Trek, Ender's game, and other visions of the future has come to life in our lifetime. No longer science fiction, it is science fact and educational experience.

Were you there? Did you follow activity online at the #ettipad hashtag? Have you taken a look at the website and speaker materials? If not, I highly encourage you to do so!

An extremely quick after-summit survey for all (even if you followed online!)...

Now is your chance to ask yourself, what did I learn by listening to those who were traveling along the new frontier? (Participate: Survey / Results)

Here are ten things that come to my mind in no particular order...

• When properly employed, iPads absolutely can revolutionize education.
• When improperly employed, iPads could hinder what educators are trying to do.
• No integration model fits every situation.
• iPads allow students to more effectively access higher order thinking skills.
• The iPad is a tool. In students hands it can be as seamless as paper and pen.
• Classrooms still need teachers. Teachers still need to teach.
• Parents need to be part of the process. They need to be educated and they need to be empowered.
• Kids can do so much more than we give them credit for.
• Private schools are significantly outnumbering public schools on the iPad journey.
• Without a proper plan, iPad implementation will fall apart.

I'm looking forward to learning more, bringing best practices to my school district and beyond. Thank you to every keynote and presenter! You make a difference in the world because you care enough to share.

iPad Summit Day 1 top 10

Recently I have been on a professional development roll. From attending to delivering, this year is shaping up to be a non-stop drag race to the finish line. This weeks travels take me to the first ever EdTechTeacher iPad Summit USA. With a norEaster rolling through New England, several hundred visitors from across the country made it to Boston for this two+ day event. I missed the pre-conference fun, but wanted to share some great insights from my experience of day 1.

My top 10 of day 1

10. Tech breakdowns. Don't get me wrong, these aren't moments of joy, but satisfaction. If a professionally run, Harvard hosted, tech summit can have techy glitch moments (and talk about them openly in their sessions) then so can the rest of us!

9. Meeting people facing the same challenges from every corner of this country and beyond. San Francisco,  Canada, Cleveland, Cambridge, and those were just the people I bothered to ask.

8. iDiary - While I saw plenty of apps, this one was one of the best creation tools I saw today that was geared to the lower elementary group. As a father of, and a provider of PD to teachers of this segment, it was nice to come across this tool today.

7. Something I heard today that sums up the difference between iPads (or similar) and more traditional hardware: "iPads get technology out of the way."

6. Having a realization: The last time there was a revolution of this magnitude in education was probably when Apples were first brought into schools, or maybe back to calculators. Not only is this revolution bigger, it is more impactful, more widely adopted, and it is happening much more rapidly. Tablets in the hands of millions of students is occurring in the educational equivalent of the blink of an eye. And we are all going to better for it.

5. Brushes - With some art study, an animation course in my daily routine, and as the liaison for my high school art department, finding a new art app was a little appealing. I was not amazed by the ability to draw on an iPad, I just appreciated the simplicity, the price, and the ability to watch the development of the piece of art as an animation when done. Not convinced you can make art on the iPad, watch this.

4. In a day of innovative ideas, this non-tech one stood out to me: Why not get rid of AP courses and develop our own rigorous Advanced Topics Curriculums and get away from standardized testing that is not helping to develop critical thinking skills. Imagine the freedom this could create! Shared by the AM keynote, Tony Wagner (@drtonywagner), author of "Creating Innovators" - watch the book trailer

3. A presentation by Vince Delisi (@ipadvince) on iPads in project based units. From week long field trips journaled in Notability, to urban planning with SimCity, Vince covered a lot of ground in a small amount of time. For me, this is valuable use of my time.

2. Session with Beth Holland (@brholland) on how we don't all have to agree on a 'Best' tool, and that every situation may result in a best tool of its own. "It's not about which one, it's about which one When, and Why, and How."

1. After lunch keynote with Greg Kulowiec (@gregkulowiec). He spoke to the heart of the matter: The iPad is just another tool at the end of the day. In the right hands, it blends seamlessly into the environment.

I also wanted to give a little honorable mention to the staff at the center today. Food moved in and out seamlessly, the place was cleaned constantly and their were unlimited cookies to end my day :)

That's all for day one. Follow me, Chad McGowan, on Twitter @ahstechteacher and follow the summit at #ettipad to see what happens on day 2 or to read through the archive after the event.