Evernote Peek

With Spring approaching standardized testing looms on the horizon.  How do you prep your students for the test?  Do you make reviewing the content you've worked on all year fun?  Evernote Peek is a great app that turns reviewing into a fun activity!

Evernote Peek is a fun tool that takes your notes and turns them into flashcards...but not just any flashcards. This app uses your iPad's Smart cover (if you have one) or an on screen version (if you don't have one) to display the content in sort of a game style format. It's very cool!

It's really easy to set up*.
1. Take notes in Evernote (on your computer, iPad, or phone)
2. Open Evernote Peek and sign into your Evernote account
3. Select the notes you wish to turn in to flashcards and it does it for you. Here are some tips on how to set up your notes.

One of the really cool things about this app is that it has the capability to add voice notes! You'll see a great example in the video below. There are also a bank of notes already created for you to draw from (like the periodic table, world capitals, etc.), or you can create your own. This app would be a great way to review as a whole class, or for independent practice.

If you were going to use this in an Elementary classroom for independent study you could set it up this way:

• Create a class Evernote account
• Prepare the notes ahead of time
• Have your students sign into the class Evernote account when they open the app
• Have students download your notes to begin using Peek

In a secondary classroom for independent study you could use Peek like this:

• Have students create their own Evernote accounts using their CSDdocs accounts
• Have students take or copy notes on the topic of study
• Have students sign in to Peek and download their notes to begin studying

*Click here for more detailed instructions on how to set up Evernote Peek.

Remind 101 is now "Remind" and is more AWESOME than ever!

A couple of months ago, Remind 101 (one of my favorite teaching tools) became Remind. Then they updated their app and website with more amazing features that make it much more than a way to send quick text reminders to students and parents.

If you are new to Remind, here's a short overview of the key features:

• Remind lets you connect with students or parents quickly and safely.
• Students sign up to get communications from you (the teacher) and they never see your phone number and you never see theirs.
• Recipients of your messages can't respond to you directly via text message.
• Messages can be sent via SMS text message, email or through the app (more on that below.)
• You can schedule messages. Do you have a test in 3 weeks? You can prepare messages with the info about the test and schedule them to be received when it is relevant to your students.
• Remind is FREE!

You can check out their website to learn more: remind.com/learn-more

Those are the basics, now for the really cool things you can do with Remind.

Teacher Setup:
You can create a new account and your first class from the App (Android and iOS) or from their website: www.remind.com. You give your class a name and then you are assigned (or if you create additional classes, you can choose) a class code. This is the code students and parents will use to register for your class messages.

Student and Parent Sign Up:

Once your class is created, you are ready to add the people who will receive your messages. Remind makes it easy and gives you a PDF flyer you can send home or post in class to help people sign up.

You can also have people sign up for your messages by having them download the Remind app and add your class using your class enrollment code. This is my new favorite way to use Remind, because there is added functionality in the app that makes this new version of Remind much more than a messaging app.

Student or parents who are using the app to follow your messages, can respond to your messages by clicking one of four icons (Remind calls these "stamps"):

There are four stamps and how you use them is up to you and their meaning may vary depending on the context of your message. Typically the star would mean a favorite, the green check would mean I have received this or I agree. The red X would mean I disagree or don't like this. And the question mark means I don't understand understand or I have a question about this/can we discuss this in class?

Students do see how many stamps of each type are shared by other recipients, but they don't see any names associated with each stamp. Teachers can see the names of students or parents and the stamps that they assigned to your message. In this way teachers could conduct quick polls or surveys of their students, check students preparedness for a test, or discover which parents received the letter or homework sent home that day. There are lots of options with these and it's one of my favorite new features of Remind, so have some fun with this.

Teachers can also see how their students or parents are signing up for Remind. The easiest way to view this is through the user dashboard on the Remind website: dashboard.remind.com. Select the class you would like to check and look for the subscribers list at the right of your screen. There  you will see the names of the subscribers and their chosen method(s) for receiving your messages.

Sending Messages:

Now that everything is set up and you have students and parents enrolled in your class, you are ready to begin sending messages. You can do this easily from the app or via your user dashboard on the website. Just select the class or the students you would like to send a message to (if you select individual users, you must select at least 3).

In the app or on the website, you can attach files (photos only from the app) or schedule your message to be sent to students at a later date. You are limited to 140 characters for your message, so keep it short and to the point.

From the app, you can now send voice memos to your students so they can hear your voice delivering instructions or asking questions. The voice recording is limited to 15 seconds and you don't have to take the full time if you don't need to.

What Else Can Remind Do?
As great as Remind is for connecting with students and parents, it can also be used for professional development, faculty meetings and other professional uses. One really cool idea that I just heard about was a sort of micro MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) being run by Angela Maiers. Last month she announced a #YouMatter class that she would be running on Remind. I signed up and since that time, I have received dozens of great tips and advice on how to create a school culture where students and teachers believe that what they do matters. If you want to join her class, you can follow the instructions on her website, or simply enter the code @YouMat into your Remind app.

Inspired by this great work, I have also started a Remind class. I will share regular ed tech tips and ideas with subscribers, conduct regular polls through the app, and encourage discussion via twitter.

To join my Ed Tech Tips class and play along, follow these steps:

• Download the Remind app for iOS (iPhone) or Android.
• Search for our class by tapping the “+” next to “My classes.”
• Enter @EdTechTips and sign up.
• No smartphone? Text @EdTechTips to (302) 536-2705 and follow the instructions.
• You can also visit remind.com/join/edtechtips and enter in your phone number to sign up.

Remind is a fantastic app and with the new updates and upgrades, it just keeps getting better. Let me know what you think in the comments below or on twitter @wardjhs #edtechtips.

-Jared.

Summer Technology Classes

This summer the Education Technology Department has a variety of technology professional development classes available.  Come join us to improve your technology skills and learn new information.  In-person courses are available for relicensure points or 1 USOE lane change credit. Participants will need to attend all classes to receive lane change credit.

See course descriptions below:

Teaching and Learning with iPads:
This course is designed to help Elementary (K-6)/Secondary (6-12) teachers realize the potential of iPads in their classroom while becoming comfortable using the iPad. The course will focus on effective instructional practices using the devices as well as applications to help engage students better in the learning process.

Canvas 101:
This course is designed for teachers interested in blended learning using the Canvas online course management system. Come learn about the following topics and get help with the things you need!

• Canvas Course Setup & Basics
• Creating Canvas Content Pages (Lesson plans)
• Canvas Assignments & Using Speed Grader, CrocODocs, Turn-it-in.com, Rubrics
• Canvas Quizzes
• Canvas Discussions
• Canvas LTI's (Using external web content)
• Canvas Collaborations

Flip'in Utah Conference:

August 12th and 13th at Jordan High School, we will hold the 2nd annual Flip'in Utah Conference. Presenters and participants will share flipped classroom resources and ideas with those in attendance.

Click here for more information and to register for courses.

Apps for Apes

iPads aren't just being used by people anymore!  Over 13 zoos across the nation have started using iPads with their Orangutans as part of the Orangutan Outreach program. Utah's Hogle Zoo is one of these participants!  The iPads are used to draw pictures, play music, listen to animal noises, and even Skype with other orangutans who have been transferred to another zoo as a method for easing separation anxiety.   The iPad itself is kept outside the cage as a safety precaution.  If you visit Hogle Zoo this summer, make sure you stop by the ape exhibit!

Forget about clickers, make your own Plickers

A classroom set of clickers, aka Student Response System can cost anywhere from $1000 to $3500 depending on the brand you choose, yet most of the teachers I have worked with use their clickers for quick multiple choice and true/false assessments.

My first set of 40 Plickers. Printed on white card stock and laminated.

I recently discovered a new iOS app and website (and Android app) called Plickers, short for Paper Clickers, that allows teachers to create and collect data from multiple choice assessments for little to no cost (provided they have a smart phone, iPod, or tablet.) Here's the basic idea: each student in class gets a paper card with a unique matrix design similar to a QR Code. When asked a question, students hold up their card with the correct answer positioned at the top of the card. The teacher scans the room with a smart phone or tablet (iOS or Android) and answers are recorded.

This is what it looks like in action:

As you can see, as I scanned the classroom, each student's name appeared on my screen to confirm that their card had been read and their response recorded. When that process is complete, I then get aggregate scores from the class displayed as graphs as well as individual scores for each student. Here's what the data looks like in the app and on the website:

This video shows what the results look like in the app. Scrolling through students, I can quickly see who answered correctly, who answered incorrectly, and who didn't answer the question.

Aggregate and Individual Scores via the Plickers website.

It's a pretty simple process to set up. The steps I followed are all listed below. The only trick is to remember that you need to visit the website to set up your classes and then you have to use the app to set up your questions. The other thing to remember is that when you create your quiz, you can't enter the responses for A, B, C, and D. So, I built my quiz as a PowerPoint presentation listing one question and possible responses on each slide. This way students could easily see the options for their responses.

When I was teaching with Plickers and sharing how to use them, I wrote these steps for setting it all up on the board.

One additional note, I added an answer key to the back of each card. I thought this would help students identify their answer while holding their card up for the teacher to scan. I made the letters for the back of the card in a thin font and used a light gray color so that the answers wouldn't be readily seen by a student's neighbors.

Here are all of the files that I used and created to make a set of Plickers and to get started.

• Set of 40 5-1/2" X 5-1/2" Plickers (recommended, scannable from 20-25 feet.)
• Set of 40 8-1/2" X 8-1/2" Plickers (scannable from 30-40 feet.)
• Set of 63 5-1/2" X 5-1/2" Plickers (for large classes or groups.)
• Plickers Answer Key (these were cut out and glued to the back of each card before laminating.)
• Plickers Instructions (from their website.)

Additional ideas:

• If you use small whiteboards in your classroom for student response, Plickers could easily attached to the back of those whiteboards and used for quick response questions. 
• Because the cards are so easy to make, you could make one set of each class and students could keep them in their binder or notebook for your class. 
• If they get lost or damaged, it is very easy to print new Plicker cards. 
• The biggest limitation is that you can't currently track and export data for a class or track student progress directly in the app. But the website says, "Online tracking/reporting tools coming soon," so hopefully that functionality is added soon. 

So, now that you can make your own set of clickers for next to nothing, how will you use them?

Texting School?

I had a conversation with my 2nd grade daughter that went like this on Sunday: 

Rylee:  "Mom, when will I get to go to texting school?"

Me:  "Texting school? What do you mean?" (Bewildered)

Rylee:  "When will I get to text in school?" (She asked me seriously.)

I wasn't really sure how to answer that question.  Rylee has her own devices and likes to text people and it has been a good way for her to work on her spelling.  I worry about her not being engaged enough at school because she often doesn't complete her work and I will often find worksheets stuffed in the back of her desk as I go in to see what missing work she needs to turn in.  She only gets to use computers once a week during her school week and that is about the extent her of technology use during the day.  The entire second grade class just completed a project that was labeled the The Great Brain Report.  Rylee's report was about how ice cream was made and if it was nutritious or not.  She had to write a two page report, create a project, and then share it with the class.  There was a celebration at the end of last week where family and friends were invited to come and observe the projects and celebrate with the students.  The list of ideas for projects that were sent home did not include anything technology driven.  Rylee loves to use her iPad to take pictures and videos.  She decided that she wanted to create her project using her iPad.  So she created an iMovie trailer that showed how ice cream is created.  She did her own videoing and added her own text.  She was very "engaged" with her project and actually enjoyed creating it and learned a lot.  Learning became fun!!! Why aren't teachers suggesting these types of ideas for their students to create in the classroom? I have been thinking about Rylee's question, "When will I get to go to texting school?"  I sure hope that she doesn't have to wait until middle school before she can use a device as part of her learning.

Ice Cream: It's Delicious and Nutritious

forScore App

This post is for all you musicians out there. One of my most frequently used apps on my iPad is forScore. This app manages all your sheet music, making your music rehearsals, performances, and teaching much easier. The forScore website describes it perfectly:

"Shelve those 3-ring binders. Get organized. Download and play something new in seconds. With forScore, your sheet music has never been better -- it's everything you can do with paper, and so much more."

ForScore allows you to import pdf files of sheet music. Once the music is imported, you can annotate it with a number of different pens. You can create set lists to manage your music. You have access to a metronome, piano keyboard, and pitch pipe to help you rehearse. ForScore can even be paired with a page turner to help those instrumentalists who need to use their hands to play. This is only a small list of this app's capabilities.

The forScore app quickly became my favorite music app. It costs $6.99 in the Apple iTunes Apps Store. Give it a try!

Turn your iPad into a Document Camera

For about $45 you can purchase an iPad stand that will allow you to use your iPad as a document camera. You can use the Camera app to show work to students just as you would any document camera. Or you can use an app like Stage to record and annotate over live images captures with the camera on the iPad.

When you pair this stand with AirPlay or AppleTV, you can project these images to your students in class.

This iPad stand can be moved around your room to a lecture stand or a student desk. That way you can teach from any location in your classroom and share your own images, student work, or have students share ideas with the whole class.

Stick Around

Stick Around is a fabulous new app by the creators of Explain Everything. This app allows you to play, design and share customized puzzles. The app comes with several preprogramed puzzles and lots of templates to help you start creating your own puzzles. This app can be used for any subject matter. Your puzzles will be as creative as you make them! Students love this app and the self checking feature.

Share the puzzles you create with students via QR code, Google Drive, Dropbox...and many other ways! Check out the video below for an idea of what Stick Around can do for you!

I used Stick Around with a 4th grade class at Altara Elementary this week.  I linked the puzzles in I made in Stick Around to QR codes and placed those QR codes around the classroom.  The students used iPad minis to scan the QR code and open the puzzles.  After solving one puzzle they would find the next QR code, scan it, and solve the next puzzle.  This activity was self guided and self paced.  The students loved it!  It was a great way to review concepts they learned throughout the year and ask questions when they needed help.  You can scan the QR codes below for a sample of the puzzles I created.

Guided Access for iPads: A MUST for ALL Teachers

Okay Teachers, look no further!  Guided Access is an iOS feature that will blow your mind!  It allows you to lock your iPad into a specific app.  This not only keeps the younger students from getting frustrated every time they click the home button and don’t know how to reenter an app, but it also keeps the older students on task and out of trouble.  What a novel idea!

This feature is very simple to enable. 

Just follow these steps:

Turn on Guided Access in Settings

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap on General.
3. Tap on Accessibility.
4. Under Learning, Tap on Guided Access.
5. Turn Guided Access On.
6. Tap Set Passcode and create a 4-digit passcode.

Enable Guided Access in the App

1. Click on your home button and enter the app you want the student to use.
2. Triple Click the Home Button.
3. Under the Hardware Buttons Options, you can choose whether you want the Sleep/Wake Button and the Volume Buttons to be enabled. 
4. You can also choose whether you want Touch and Motion to be enabled.
5. Circle areas on the screen you would like to disable.
6.  Click Start in the top right hand corner.

Disable Guided Access in the App

1. Triple Click the Home Button.
2. Enter Passcode.
3. Hit your home button to exit the app.

*If you do not turn off Guided Access in the Settings after use, you can Triple Click the home button to renter Guided Access Mode.  It may ask you to set the password upon entering.

For a video tutorial visit: http://youtu.be/FRTNiCnC-nw

Make managing images and videos on all of your devices easy.

If you are like me, you have a camera, a phone, and an iPad loaded with images and videos. Over the years I have found that the easiest way to manage these files is to use Image Capture.

Image Capture is a free program that comes with all Mac computers. It can be used to import photos and videos from just about any phone, camera, tablet, or SD card. It will also delete your images from your device once they are uploaded to your computer or hard drive. Just connect your device, open image capture and you are ready to go.

If you have an iPad or iPod lab, Image Capture makes it easy to collect all of the photo and video projects your students have created on those devices. Just connect your computer to your iPad or iPod storage cart or tray and import all of the photos and videos on all of the connected devices. When you are done collecting the files you need, you can use Image Capture to delete all of the images and videos from all of your devices. It's a great way to clean up classroom iOS devices.

Simplify your life and make managing photos and videos on all of your devices easier with Image Capture.

LucidChart and LucidPress

LucidChart and LucidPress are two products made by a Draper-based company.  LucidChart (iPad and web) creates collaborative flow charts and diagrams, and LucidPress (web only) creates interactive and collaborative documents such as newsletters, presentations, etc. Both programs have easy drag and drop features to add text, shapes, images, and even video.  

Click the image above.

LucidPress was used to create the Ed Tech Times Newsletters for January and February 2014 and was used to showcase a Video of the Week feature on Fotobabble.

Watch the videos below to learn how these great products work!  Teachers and students can sign up for these free programs using their CSDDocs account!

  

iOS for Admins

So you have an iPad! Now what?

An iPad can be a great tool for an administrator if you know what apps to use. As I have observed the many apps used by admins, I have noticed a pattern of how these apps are being used. The following infographic shows these categories and lists a few apps that accomplish the goals of each category. Give these apps a try, and you'll be well on your way to transforming your administration with your iPad!