Classroom Technology Articles

Step by Step / Updated 03-28-2017

iMovie for iPad is a perfect tool for most video applications in education. Using iMovie, you can edit video, adding transitions and audio to create a movie from scratch.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

How should a teacher best manage iPads in a school classroom? iPad management in schools is likely to undergo some revisions soon, but these five tips should help make the task of iPad management a little easier for you in the meantime. Place restrictions on classroom iPads Whether you manage devices and profiles centrally or by individual device, you’ll want to put some thought into how to set the restrictions on iPad use. Of course, the restrictions will be different depending on the users and what they should be doing with the iPad. If you’re assigning restrictions directly on the iPad itself, go to the Settings menu, and tap General on the left. Tap Restrictions, and you’ll get the pane shown here. You’ll be required to set a passcode that can be used later to change or delete restrictions. Here’s a quick look at some of the most important restrictions: Disallow apps such as Safari (in case you want to use a different, filtered browser), FaceTime, and the iTunes Store. Disable the camera and FaceTime. Install and/or delete apps. Disable multiplayer games in Game Center. You can choose to prevent changes to the following settings and accounts: Location Services (a good idea if students are posting any data to the web that contains geolocation data, such as photos) Mail, Contacts, Calendars, iCloud, and/or Twitter accounts In addition, you can choose to prevent access to specific content types, such as music and podcasts, movies, TV shows, and more. Track missing classroom iPads with Find My iPad Activating Find My iPad can be a valuable tool for tracking down lost iPads on campus or off. You need an iCloud account to use it; then you can log in to iCloud on any browser, and it will show you the location of your iPad on a map if and when it’s powered on. Go to Settings on your iPad, tap iCloud, and enable Find My iPad. Then, if you misplace the iPad, sign in to iCloud from any web browser on a Mac or PC to display the approximate location of your iPad on a map. Find My iPad will allow you to play a beep, display a message, lock your iPad remotely, or even wipe your data off it. Manage classroom iPad updates and synchronization Everything changes so quickly, doesn’t it? Fortunately, you have two options for syncing content such as apps, books, music, and photos: Tethered syncing: You can sync by connecting an iPad to a computer with iTunes or connecting a cart of iPads to that computer, assuming that the cart supports syncing. Use iTunes on your computer to identify the devices and content to sync. Wireless syncing: It’s best to rely on wireless syncing only for smaller deployments because it will devour your bandwidth. However, if that’s your situation, it’s simple to set up, and it will save lots of time. Here’s how to set up wireless syncing: Connect your computer to a wireless network, and open iTunes. Tap to open Settings and then select General. Tap the iTunes Wi-Fi option in the right panel. You’ll see a list of all computers available on the Wi-Fi network. Select one, and tap the Sync Now button. If you don’t have iOS 6 installed, one of the best reasons to install it is that app updates no longer require an iTunes password. The huge advantage from an educational standpoint is that teachers can simply and immediately update classroom iPads as needed. Identify your classroom iPads Each iPad has a specific name. If you open Settings and tap General and then About, the name is the first item that appears in the pane on the right. However, when you need to quickly identify an iPad to hand out to a student, that takes too many steps. Sure, you can put a sticker on them (the iPads, not the kids!), but stickers fall off. Some schools identify iPads by creating an image with a number on it and setting it as the wallpaper. That way, as soon as you turn the iPad on, the number shows up on the screen. A nice idea. Why not take this idea a step further and use a little introductory lesson that is also educational? Why not use the opportunity to have the students tell you something about themselves or their interests? Have them find an image that represents something meaningful to them — a fun task that can be done at home with a parent or relative. Use an app such as Skitch (a free art app) to combine the image with text containing a fact or some identifiable information about the image. It might be something about the student’s favorite car, hero, or pet. Set the image as the iPad wallpaper or Lock screen. The students will be extremely motivated and identify more with their particular iPads. Managing classroom iPad content with e-mail iPads don’t have a standard login or file system, so it can be a challenge moving content off the iPad for submissions to teachers or backup. One tool that’s available in almost every iPad is e-mail, and it can always be used to move content whether you actually e-mail it to a teacher or to a cloud storage service. To enable e-mail, however, you need to ensure that each iPad has an e-mail account configured. Most schools prefer to restrict that account to outgoing mail. Set up each iPad with an outgoing e-mail account create one account an a custom e-mail signature that identifies the iPad (for example, “Sent from Norwood MS, 7th grade iPad #17”). Self-management of classroom iPads Managing tens and hundreds of iPads can be a difficult process with any tool. Some schools have decided to let older students manage the devices themselves. They are responsible for downloading and updating apps, updating operating systems, and more. Theoretically, you could still set the devices up with some limited restrictions if needed and then just hand them over to the students.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Assuming you want to setup a manageable group of iPads for classroom use (from 10 to 150 iPads), your best option is Apple Configurator. Use Configurator to setup new iPads, install iPad apps, and manage individual settings. iPad device management has three stages: prepare, supervise, and assign. Each stage has a corresponding pane in Apple Configurator. Prepare iPads for classrooms with Apple Configurator The first stage prepares a set of iOS devices. The most common practices are as follows: Create a master iPad. A master iPad has all the apps and settings you want to deploy. You use Configurator to back up this iPad and restore the backup to other devices. You can apply only one backup to any specific device. Create a series of configuration profiles, which are then deployed to devices and users. A profile is essentially a template that consists of a combination of settings that applies to a specific group of users, such as students, teachers, or administrators, or to devices, such as library iPads, Science iPads, computer lab, and so on. Unlike with backups, you can apply as many configuration profiles to devices as you’d like. For example, you may want to apply the library profile and the student profile to a group of iPads. Profiles can be used to set restrictions such as disabling app downloads and in-app purchases; disabling apps such as FaceTime and iTunes; and disabling the capability to change e-mail accounts, multiplayer gaming, and many additional options. Profiles determine and set e-mail accounts, wireless network connections, policy for passcode length, Safari preferences, common user contacts and calendars, and more. Also, you may create different profiles according to user. For example, you may want your teachers to have YouTube access and access to a wireless network that isn’t filtered. That can be easily accomplished by creating and applying a different user profile for teacher iPads. Additional options include the installation of a specific version of iOS and, more important, whether to supervise devices. If you elect to configure a device as supervised, it means you can’t supervise it or sync it with any other computer running Apple Configurator or iTunes. Supervise iPads in classrooms with Apple Configurator The second stage in the deployment of iPads in the classroom is supervision; you access the settings for this stage under the Supervise tab in Configurator’s main toolbar. Typically, you would have your computer connected to a set of iPads in a cart or powered USB hub at this stage. When you connect supervised devices, they are erased, and you specify which configurations to restore. You may supervise devices with an identical configuration that needs to be controlled and configured by Apple Configurator on an ongoing basis. Supervised devices can’t be synced with iTunes or Apple Configurator on a different computer. The first two columns list your devices — those currently connected through a USB connection and other supervised devices that aren’t connected. The iPads are listed in groups, and you can add and organize devices into groups as needed. A group is essentially a combination of settings and apps as defined by the third panel on the right. You would probably have a separate set of settings and apps for your science faculty than you might for the history faculty or for the students in third grade. Select the device you want to configure, or click All to configure all devices in the current group. Make any changes in the Settings and Apps panes and then click the Apply button. You can also make changes to devices that are not currently connected, but those changes will not take effect until the next time the device is connected. To add apps to a device or group, use the Volume Purchasing program. In Apple Configurator, click Prepare or Supervise, click Apps, and then click the Add App button at the bottom of the window. When you click the Apps tab in the Supervise pane, Configurator will display your purchased apps or prompt you for their location. Apple’s Volume Purchasing Program (VPP) enables schools to purchase apps in larger quantities at a discount. A spreadsheet is created with redemption codes for each purchased install. Add the paid app to Apple Configurator and then import the VPP codes for it by clicking the indicator next to the app with the numeral 0 in it. Select the Import Redemption Codes option and the spreadsheet containing the codes purchased for the app. Assign iPads to students with Apple Configurator This optional third stage enables you to assign any supervised device to a user you’ve defined within Apple Configurator. Supervised devices that have been assigned to users can be personalized with documents and data. User data is backed up and restored each time a device is checked in or out so that users can access their data no matter which device they use. The Assign pane in Apple Configurator lists users and the devices each user has checked out. You can use the Assign pane to check out and check in devices, create users and user groups, and install and retrieve documents.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Screencast iPad tutorials are useful for teaching your students and extending course content beyond the classroom for flipped learning. Screencasting iPad apps record whatever appears on your screen and enables you to add a voiceover narration during the recording or edit and add to it after the fact. Most screencast apps on the iPad give you a blank whiteboard interface and a set of tools to use during your recording. You can use these programs to create imaginative tutorials for just about anything that you can illustrate visually and explain. Ways to use screencasts in an iPad classroom How you might use screencasts in your classroom? You can certainly use them to create tutorials for students who require additional help. You can easily upload these movies to the Internet or a classroom website where students can access them at any time. Whether you’re explaining an algebraic equation or illustrating a concept in science, a screencast is an effective way to get your point across. Here’s another thought . . . “The best way to learn anything is to teach it to someone else.” Isn’t that what you’ve always been told? It’s also a great philosophy to apply in school. The iPad enables students of all ages to learn through creating their own tutorials. Here are some benefits from doing so: Students can teach you. Take math as an example. You can always have students work out a problem and return the answer to you. Instead, try having students record a tutorial explaining the concept behind the solution to a particular problem. Imagine the following situation: Your students have become proficient in single-digit addition, and now you’d like to progress to double-digit addition. You could take the traditional route of demonstrating a rule in front of the class, writing examples on the board, showing the students your method for solving the problem, and then sending them off to solve reams of problems using the rule you just taught them. That’s certainly the method most often used. Consider an alternative approach. Send students off with a double-digit problem and ask them to record a screencast detailing any approach for solving it. No instruction. Encourage them to learn math by thinking like mathematicians. This gives students an opportunity to develop logic by expanding on their existing knowledge of single-digit addition. Also, using a screencast instead of a paper-based response allows them to explain and verbalize their logic and thoughts. Students can teach each other. Students can create screencasts to help each other with homework or problems. Compile the best screencast tutorials that students build into a curated library that all students can access now and into the future. Students can actually teach anyone if given the opportunity. Display student tutorials on a blog or website and make them publicly available over the Internet to anyone requiring assistance. If privacy is a concern, you can always omit any personal information. How to use screencasts in an iPad clasroom iOS doesn’t allow both a foreground and background app to run simultaneously or interact with each other with full functionality. You can’t make a screencast from the iPad that records all the workings of another program running on the same iPad. Of course, as is often the case with technology, you can often find a way to work around limitations. One way to record a screencast of an iPad app is to mirror your iPad, which means to display the iPad screen on the monitor of a laptop or desktop computer. If you download and install software called AirServer from the AirServerApp website, you can turn your laptop or desktop into an AirPlay receiver for your iPad screen. You then can record the iPad’s screen interactions on that computer using software such as QuickTime. Pretty smart, no?

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Brushes iPad app is a powerful artistic tool that's simple enough for students to learn to use quickly. Students who use Brushes iPad app learn how to express themselves better through art. The brilliant thing about the Brushes iPad app is that it’s used by artists all over the world, yet it’s still simple enough for beginners. Brushes has multiple layers that you can work on separately and that can be used with or without a stylus, which is a bonus in an educational setting. Another unique feature is that it has a Playback function that allows you to see any art redrawn onscreen. Credit: Copyright 2012, Debbie Azar Get started with Brushes iPad app Tap the + button on the Gallery page to create a new blank painting. The first thing that you see when you open Brushes is the gallery. It displays your paintings and allows you to navigate between them. Simply swipe your finger to switch from one painting to the next and tap a painting to select it. The gallery is really a digital sketchbook and can be used as such. Why not create a series of paintings to create a storyboard for a video, a presentation, or to tell a story? Choose your color, brush size and shape, and begin painting. Paint by moving your finger across the screen. Brushes creates a painting on multiple layers. Each layer is independent of the others so you can work on a layer without disturbing the contents of the other layers. A navigation bar runs along the top of the screen, and a toolbar runs along the bottom. If you want more screen space, tap and hold the bars anywhere on the screen to turn them off. To name your masterpiece, tap the Settings icon on the top right and select Properties; type the name of your painting in the first line. The name of the artist (yes, that would be you) goes on the second line. When you’re finished, tap the Gallery button to return to Gallery. Your painting will automatically be saved. Brushes also allows you to share and export your paintings. Brushes' painting interface The painting interface offers the following set of tools: Color palette: Tap the white rectangle in the lower-left corner to bring up an RGB color wheel. Select a color from the boxes on the right, or mix your own individualized palette by using the hue/saturation color wheel on the left. Note that you can also change the darkness and opacity by using the two sliders underneath the wheel. Sometimes you’ll want to blend colors in your painting. Use the transparency slider to make any color more transparent and easier to blend. Eyedropper: Tap the Eyedropper tool or tap and hold anywhere onscreen to activate it. It reads the color under your touch, and makes it the active color. Note that after you use the Eyedropper, the active tool automatically reverts to the Paintbrush. Credit: Copyright 2012, Benny Ferdman Paint Bucket: Use this tool to fill an entire layer with color. Paintbrush. Select this tool to start painting. Brush Settings: Tap the brush icon to bring up the Settings menu. There’s a sliding selection of brush shapes in a row toward the top. Swipe through and tap to select a brush type. You can control brush spacing, size, and opacity with the sliders underneath. Although the iPad is not pressure-sensitive, you can make lines with varying thickness that will give you the tapered look of a natural paintbrush stroke. Tap the Brush Settings icon and turn on the options Vary Size with Speed and Vary Opacity with Speed. This enables you to create a truly organic-looking line. Eraser: This tool removes color instead of adding it. Use the Brush settings to control the quality of the eraser. Just make sure you’re on the right layer when you’re using it. Undo: Use the Undo tool to step back through the actions you’ve taken. Redo: It looked better before, didn’t it? Press Redo to reverse your Undo. Layers: Brushes allows you to create up to six individual layers that can be separately manipulated and worked on. Work on any one layer without disturbing the contents of other layers. This feature gives you a lot more control over the final result, and layers can be duplicated or discarded as needed. Layers can be rearranged, deleted, merged, and copied between paintings. You can also adjust the opacity of each layer. You might have a colored layer as a background, do your drawing in a dark outline on the top layer, and color it in on the middle layer. You can change the background at any time without altering any other layer. Tap the Layers icon to display the layers menu. Your layers will appear as thumbnails with the base layer to the far left. Some things you can do with layers include the following: To add a new layer, tap the + icon on the top right. To delete a layer, select it by tapping, then tap the Trash icon. Use the slider on the bottom-right corner to change the opacity/transparency of a layer. Tap any layer to make it the active layer. The selected layer will have a blue highlight around it. Change the order of your layers by dragging and dropping them. Paint a little blob of your favorite colors on a separate layer of your painting. That way, using the Eyedropper tool, you can quickly select colors from your palette by tapping and holding the blobs.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Using Google Classroom is fairly straightforward for teachers and students. However, there are some tips and tricks you can use to make your life, and the lives of your students, much easier. Use Google apps to create documents Because Google Classroom is based on Google Drive, all of the Google Drive apps (such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, and so on) are fully integrated into Classroom. So for example, when you create a homework worksheet in Google Docs, a student can open the document in Google Docs, complete the work, and turn it in. Then, you can open the same document, comment on it, grade it, and return it to the student. If you use a third-party application, such as Microsoft Word, you have to upload the document, and then the student has to download it to work on it. Then, the student has to re-upload the document and reattach it to the assignment before turning it in. Then, you have to download it to comment and grade it. Using Google Drive’s apps cuts out all that uploading and downloading and makes for a seamless experience. Invite students to your class using the class code You can save a lot of time inviting students to your class if you simply give them the class access code and, therefore, the responsibility of inviting themselves. Otherwise, you have to invite each student individually, which can be time-consuming. Just find your class code at the bottom left of your class’s Stream page, and then distribute it to your class in the most convenient way possible. Tell your students to go to classroom.google.com, sign in with their Google account, and click the plus sign at the top and choose Join Class. Choose to make a copy of a document for each student Most of the time, when you’re creating a homework assignment, you want to choose Make a Copy for Each Student, which allows each student to work on his or her own copy of the document. If you choose Students Can View File, then students won’t be able to edit it at all, and if you choose Students Can Edit File, then your students will be working on the same file. Join other classes as a student If you’re just learning how to use Google Classroom, you, as a teacher, can join other classes as a student to understand the student experience better and to learn from those who are more experienced with Google Classroom. Just get the class code from the other teacher and join the class the way one of your students would join your class. Clearly explain change of ownership for assignment documents to your students You should make students aware that, when they turn in an assignment, they can no longer edit the assignment, unless they “unsubmit” the assignment. After the assignment is turned in, ownership returns to the teacher, so that you can grade and offer feedback on the assignment. After you do so, you can return it to the student, after which the student can edit the document again. If the student unsubmits the assignment before you grade it, he or she must turn the assignment back in again when finished. Create documents from within an assignment Say you make an assignment in which you ask your students to write an essay on a certain topic. You haven’t added a worksheet or any materials for the students to work on. The best way for students to proceed is to create a new Google Doc from within the assignment by clicking the Create button and choosing the type of document they want to create. The document is automatically created in Google Drive and attached to the assignment, so students have no need to go to Google Drive. You can also use this method to create assignment materials.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Google Classroom has an app for both Android and iOS that you can download to your smartphone or tablet. With it, you can do some of the things you can do through a Web browser, but not everything. In fact, you, as a teacher, may find the app a bit limiting. Here’s the lowdown on what the app can and can’t do and getting started with it. Get started with the mobile app First, of course, you have to download and install the app from either Google Play for Android or the App Store for iOS. Then, launch the app and follow these steps: On the Welcome screen, tap Sign In at the bottom of the screen. If you have Google accounts already set up, you see those. However, your regular Google account won’t work with Google Classroom. You need to log in with your Google Apps for Education account. So, tap Add Another Account. Tap Existing. Type in your Google Apps for Education login credentials, and then tap the right triangle. Tap OK in the Terms of Service dialogue box. Google asks you to upgrade to Google+. For now, tap Not Now. Google then asks you if you want to stay up to date with news and offers from Google. Check or uncheck the box, depending on your preference, and tap the right triangle. Google tells you that it successfully signed in to your account. On that screen, you can choose what types of data are synced to your device. Best to leave them all checked. Tap the right triangle. You return to the list of Google accounts in Step 2. Tap the Google Apps for Education account you just added. Google shows you a few introductory slides showing the benefits of Classroom. Either tap through them or tap Skip. Finally, you’re logged in and can access your Google Classroom account. What can you do with the Google Classroom mobile app? When you launch and sign in to the app, you see your list of classes just like you do in a Web browser. Here’s what you, the teacher, can do: Create or join a class. Make announcements and post comments to assignments. Send e-mails to your students. Access your class’s Google Drive. View whether your students have completed assignments or not. Reset or disable your class code. What can’t you do with the mobile app? Unfortunately, like many mobile app versions of web applications, the Google Classroom app doesn’t do many of the key things that you, as a teacher, need to do. Here’s a list of what you cannot do with the app: Create an assignment — though students can complete and turn in assignments in the app. Grade assignments. Modify class settings. Archive a class or view archived classes. Google does say that they’re continually improving the app, so these features may show up at a later date. The best thing is to provide feedback for the app, requesting these features, to let Google know that you want them.