You knew it was coming.  

There was no way I could make it through my first month back in the blogosphere for Sharp's without having some sort of baby-themed post.  C'mon - my days are pretty much spent chilling with my 6 month old, dressing him in cute clothing and adventuring into the land of baby food/talk/diaper changing.  

One thing my family jokes about is how likely our son is to be a bit of a techno-geek.  Currently, I have to put the remotes and iPhones out of his reach, and the TV needs to be off if I have any chance of getting his attention. *Sigh*  And so it begins.  I can't even imagine the world that he's going to grow up in.  For the record, I didn't have my first cordless cellphone until age 19.  Yes, I'm that old.

Since it's almost the end of the week, I thought I'd ease you into the weekend with a couple cute YouTube videos.  First up? Baby masters iPhone:

Next, I give you "Baby Gives Tutorial on Mac Computer":

And finally, a word of warning about letting your little one mess around with your phone.  See what happened to these parents, and why I would HIGHLY recommend you always put your phone in "airplane mode" before letting them get their grubby little hands on it:

Vanessa

The blog title for today accurately reflects what I'm asked to talk about, teach and work with every day.

I love my iPad, I literally don't go anywhere without it. I love it's possibilities for education - certain a 21st Century Learning too that kids already instinctively know how to use it!

I get asked about 2 things: how to I get my iPad content on the SMART Board. Vanessa just posted about using the Mac HDMI adapter/dongle. There is also the VGA dongle, if you have an older projector. A few weeks ago, I posted a video about how to use Apple TV to mirror, and what I love about that option is that the iPad is now wireless & you don't have to be tied to your projector with a cable. As with all Apple products, usually the newest, coolest feature means having the newest operating system (i.e., sync those bad-boys with you iTunes for your free update, if you haven't synced since November). Here's the Apple TV video:

As previously discussed, the mirroring just displays your content - your SMART Board won't have touch. (as there is no way to get your SMART Board connected through the USB cable...soon, I hope, there will be a way to have touch on the board!) The advantage of this option, though, is that you don't HAVE to have a SMART board to show the iPad content - just a projector. 

This is particularly useful with the new iTunes U, iBooks 2 that went along with the big Apple Education announcement in "the big apple" last week (yes, pun intended). Almost all of the discussion on the Apple page about iBooks 2 is that there are currently no textbooks being offered in Canada through the iBookstore. I'm hoping that changes SUPER fast...I'm sure our Canadian publishers are all over it!

The second thing I get asked about is: how can I see my Notebook lessons on the iPad. There are lots of apps out there to 'take control' of your computer & use inking features, like Splashtop & Doceri (search whiteboard in the app store...ahhhh!) lots of 'VCN clients'. (VCN - Virtual Network Computing)

Having played around with many - I still feel the SMART Bridgit iPad app is the best option. Especially looking to even a school-wide implementation - this is cheaper than buying a whole lot of iPad apps & the desktop versions of the apps, it's pricey in comparison to a Bridgit license & the app is free & so is the desktop version. Here's a video on how to use the Bridgit app so you can see your SMART Board content on your iPad & 'take control' of the board from the iPad:

I was reading through my way too long list of Ed Tech articles to catch up on & there was an article saying exactly what I've been talking about with districts & schools: the inking feature isn't a replacement for student interactivity on the board.  There could be potential for the kids to be back at their desks all day, instead of up at the SMART Board. Inking doesn't equal interactivity, but it's sure a wonderful sight to see my SMART content on the iPad. 

While none of these solutions are perfect, yet, we still have come a long way in a few months. Who knows what tricks SMART and/or Apple has up there sleeves to give us all we want - Notebook on the iPad and iPad apps to be used on the SMART Board. Ah, a girl can dream.

Here are some links for using iPads in the Classroom...I could add a million a day! - 

As always, it's just fun to bring this type of learning into the classroom, no

In this digital age in the classroom, one of the most talked about technologies that is entering the classroom is the iPad.  Teachers that I know that have one, want four; if they have four, they want ten; if they have ten, they want a class set.  And why not?  The app store is filled with a gazillion apps geared for all ages, levels, subject areas and learning styles.

In the interest of saving money (cuz really, how many classrooms have a full class set at their disposal for the entire day?), one of the questions that I get most often from teachers is "Can I project what's on my iPad/iPhone?"  Until recently, I had to shake my head yes while telling them that legally there was no way to do so.

Well, no more mixed message sending.  With the dawn of the iPad2 and the iPhone 4S came a new era -- the era of mirroring.  With a little device sold in the Apple Store Canada for $45.00, you can easily mirror your iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad or iPad2 on a TV.

So easy. So many possibilities:

Demonstrate an app, have a group of students collaborate on an app with a larger viewing surface, surf the web, rent a movie on iTunes -- the list is as limitless as your imagination.

Wanna have some fun on your down time? I hear Angry Birds is super fun played on a big screen ;)

Vanessa

As should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following Apple for any lenght of time, these guys sure know how to hype people up for their events.  

Today was no exception.

As promised, Apple held their education event this morning, making some major announcements to their products that they feel could start to overhaul certain areas of the education system.  Specifically, this is all tied to access to information and keeping said information up-to-date.  Can't say that I'm not impressed!

In a nutshell, here are the 4 major topics discussed at the event this morning:

1.) iBooks2 - textbooks for iPad

Gone are the days of toting a gazillion heavy, out of date textbooks around in one's backpack.  With the announcement of iBooks2, Apple is set to change the course of history with slicker, more convenient versions of today's paper models.  It's about time.  One argument that many teachers have (myself included) against traditional textbooks is that by the time the textbook is printed and shipped, it's basically out of date (subject dependent, of course).  This changes all that.

One cool feature that was demoed today was the textbook's ability to be more interactive -- for example, a student can highlight a word and get an instant definition of it.  Tie that in with slick navigation features and embedded multimedia and you've got a great product.

RIP Traditional Textbooks 1614-2012

The one major drawback? These puppies could literally fill an iPad in minutes.  Some of the textbooks available are rumoured to be upwards of 2 GBs...hopefully the iPad3 addresses this in the future with the ability for an external hard drive or memory card slot.

2.) Partnership with textbook companies -- textbooks available for $14.99 or less 

Holy jumping batman.  $14.99 or less??? My last Social Studies textbook for Grade 10s cost us $46.00, with a minimum purchase amount!!  I think this announcement pretty much speaks for itself.  Go to the new "Textbooks" category in iBookstore to see selections from McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.  So far, sounds like high school textbooks are available in most of the Science subcategories.

3.) iBooks Author

I gotta say, this one looks fantastic.  Want to create your own textbook (or other book, for that matter)? The new iBooks Author looks quick, easy and slick letting the average person become a publisher in no time at all!  The demo today showed seamless integration with both Word and Keynote as well as other fancy-dancy features like widgets, interactive image galleries, multimedia, embedded questions, etc.

So. Cool.

What could this mean for your classroom? Each student could be an author with little techie know-how.  How amazing to be able to collaborate and demonstrate their knowledge in a new platform.  And don't forget about yourself! I remember spending hours trying to compile an interactive webquest-type activity...basically this is new version of an old compilation.

This app? Free. As in zilch, nada, nothing, zero, no cost to you.  

Excellent.

4.) iTunes U App

Obviously, iTunes University is nothing new, but today launched the iTunes U app for iPad along with an expansion of what content is available.  Previously, you could go onto iTunes U and download content to peruse or listen to, but today's announcement essentially states that you can now take full courses through this app.  Content, assignments, lectures, the whole works.

As always, someone has already done a fantastic job creating a little overview video. I highly recommend going to http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apple-itunes-u-hands-on-video/ and both reading their description as well as watching the video they've created.

Bravo, Apple, bravo.

Vanessa

Initially, I thought I was going to be an innovator and start this blog post with an explaination SOPA in layman terms, specifically for use in discussing the importance of the protest today in your classrooms.

But many, many, MANY people beat me to the punch. And their explanations are WAAAY better than mine was going to be.

So I'm simply going to provide links to some of the better ones out there, starting with my old favourite, Gizmodo:

Here's one written by a teacher (@rachelcinis) for her middle school students:

So here we are, in the middle of the protest by bigwigs such as Wikipedia, Reddit and Google.  Can't say you weren't warned. The internet communities have been buzzing with conversations regarding the protest, and many sites, such as Wikipedia, forewarned their readers of the impending blackout.  Here's a screenshot from last night on Wikipedia:

And now, when you (or your students) attempt to access Wikipedia, here's the message you get.  The phrase "Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge" is even a trending topic on Twitter.

What I find interesting is that Wikipedia is showing a blackout for all of its English viewers, but only putting a banner across the top for the rest of international community.  Google.ca doesn't even mention SOPA, and because of my Canadian IP address, I can't even see what google.com is showing.  Granted, it IS an American bill, but due to the fact that in a globalized world major bills such as this could have an impact on decisions made by other nations, I'm surprised that at least us, as the "US's little sister" aren't privy to some of the protests.

As a former Social Studies teacher, I love a good revolution, and even more so, a grassroots protest.  So I highly recommend that even though many readers of this blog are in Canada, and therefore not directly impacted by SOPA, that you spend some time today discussing this phenomenon and debating the use of copyrighted material on the web.

Vanessa