Appy Hour

In our last Appy Hour presentation for the year, we had two apps that we wanted to demonstrate to our Administrators. For some background, our Appy Hour is a 15-minute block of time at our Monthly Leadership meetings where our Digital Learning team gets to share apps we know about that will help administrators with their daily tasks. Yes, I get that the title should be Appy Quarter Hour, but that doesn't roll off the tongue as easily.

Our first app we demonstrated was Post-It Plus. This app from the makers of Post-It notes allows the user to scan their paper Post-It note into their device to turn that piece of paper digital. Now their notes are stored and won't be lost in the paper shuffle. The app also allows the user to resize the scan size so it really isn't limited to Post-It note size. Teachers could use this by having students work in groups and write out on Notes and gather those notes as a group for evaluation.
Find the iOS App. It is free with some in-app purchases if you want to create notes in different colors.

The second app we showed was Voice Record Pro 7. This free app allows the user to use their iPad as a digital recorder. It allows the user to record voice memos and on-site sounds at unlimited length with configurable quality. Voice Record Pro 7 can record directly in MP4 (AAC), MP3 (MPEG) and WAV (PCM) formats plus convert function for all supported formats. The power comes from what the user can then do with the file. The user can export to Google Drive, DropBox, Microsoft OneDrive, Box, SoundCloud, post to Facebook and YouTube, and more. If you need a simple (ad-supported) digital recorder app this one works great. The in-app purchase removes the ads at the bottom of the screen. 

Interactive Math Glossary App

TEA has released an Interactive Math Glossary app for both iOS and Android. This app is meant for K-8 math vocabulary terms that teachers and students can see the definition and examples of what the term is describing. All vocabulary is used in the TEKS.

To download for iOS devices, go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/interactive-math-glossary/id1051404376?mt=8. To download for Android devices, go to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.texas.tea.math.glossary&hl=en.

TCEA 16 - Adobe

Ok, I realize I haven't been on in a while. Insert work thing, personal thing, life thing excuse here. 

So starting today, I wanted to start a series of posts from the learning I picked up at TCEA 16 this year. TCEA (Texas Computer Education Association) is a member-based organization supporting the use of technology in education. Their annual convention is usually around the first of February. If you have any interest in educational technology I highly recommend going to this conference. Here is the link to next year's convention. http://www.tceaconvention.org/2017/

So, 1st in the post a bit about the Adobe apps I learned more about. I had heard of and tinkered with many of these, but some were new. Here is a quick run down.

Adobe Clip -  easy video editor from your pictures and videos; can add sound from stock soundtracks or your own music

Adobe Capture - take a picture and capture the color theme of the moment to use in other projects

Adobe Draw - draw vector illustrations

Adobe Post - add text to your photos for easy to create social graphics

Adobe Slate - create parallax scrolling websites easily with this app; great for website, electronic newsletters, and invitations; easy to create and share

Adobe Voice - create animated videos from your pictures or stock icons, talk to record your story, and share with the world.

Out of all of these, I probably like Voice the best with Slate and Post coming in close 2nd/3rd. I am still big on digital storytelling as a means for students to create in the classroom. Voice is the project for that. Slate is easy to use and I can see it as a way schools could send out information and students could create presentations. Post is just a fun way to add text to my photographs before I post on social media. Plus, saving to the camera roll on most of these apps is a big plus in my book. I can decide what to do with the project instead of it just sitting on Adobe's server.

The drawback... you do have to have an Adobe ID login. You can use a Facebook account, but that may not help most students. The two presenters I went to handled this in three different ways. 

1. Have each student create their own account. Not particularly handy if they are under 13.
2. The teacher created an account using their email address and logged in to the classroom iPads with one account. The problem there is the lack of security as each project from the iPads shows up on every iPad. 
3. Teacher's created an id based off of their account. If you have a Gmail account you can add a plus sign and number in your email address, create the adobe account, and all email correspondence goes back to the original email address. For example, myaccount@gmail.com is my original email address. For my Adobe ID, I could create myaccount+1@gmail.com, myaccount+2@gmail.com...and so on and use those IDs on each individual iPad. If you want to know more about this watch this video (they use text after the plus sign, but you can use numbers if you want).

The other drawback... The images didn't seem to be filtered. Or at least some images got through that I would have though our district filter would have blocked. So you might use the apps with a word of caution. Perhaps using them personally before turning student's loose with them so you know what to expect.

So go ahead and try these Adobe iOS apps. I think you will like them. 

Microsoft Office Lens

There are several document scanners out there for the iOS devices and now Microsoft gets in the game with the release of Office Lens.

Lens works in conjunction with your free Microsoft account and works very nicely with the iOS apps that are now free. https://products.office.com/en/mobile/office

Lens will scan a picture, a document, or a whiteboard from  from a variety of angles, resize, straighten, and sharpen the image and convert the image to text. You can then export it to OneNote, Word, PowerPoint, or a PDF document. Right now it is for the iPhone, but it did work on my iPad mini as well. Looks like an Android app will be coming soon. 

Give it a try.  http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8329713/microsoft-office-lens-app-iphone-android

YouTube for Kids

YouTube for Kids is a new service from Google that is "Made for curious little minds." There is both and iOS version and an Android version of the app for phones and tablets.

At first glance it looks very simplistic. The app will display a selection of kid-friendly shows with is represented by a large tile that is easy for little hands to tap on.
There is also a search feature for students that can read and write, plus a microphone to search with the child's own voice. Of course this app is heavily filtered to keep inappropriate content out of sight.

There is also a parent's security feature to set a timer for viewing as well as turn off sound effects. The pass code is interesting as it gives you the code to enter. The numbers are written out. So I guess once you child can read they can set their own settings?!?

All of this seems to be a step in the right direction to help parents in this digital world show their child content and keep them from the inappropriate videos, comments, and advertisements.

Looks like Vine is doing the same type thing with their new app Vine for Kids. It is showing age appropriate six second videos with cute little characters and animations.

Videolicious

My friend Candace asked me if I have heard of the app, Videolicious.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/videolicious/id400853498?mt=8

I said yes I have heard of it and have used it (but it has been awhile). She asked, "Why haven't you told me about it?!?" I jokingly replied, "Don't you read my blog?"

I was pretty sure I have already talked about this app here, but turns out I haven't. So here you go Candace!

Videolicious is an app that will allow you to enter images or video into your video, talk about each picture, bounce back to the video of you, back to another picture... to create a video. Just tap the part of the screen you want to show in your video. So if you want your talking head to show, make sure the green border is around that. I you want your picture or video to be seen during that part of the video tap the little icon of that picture or video. Then just press the record button and start talking. Probably the most important part is hearing the student tell their story.

What a great tool for digital storytelling! You can also add in music, either using the build in music or music on your phone.








Some limitations:

• You only have 1 minute of video with the free version. So you will have to teach your students about brevity. But that is a good thing. Great for book trailers, a summary, teaching a concept, tour around the school...
• It only will save to Email, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter but not to the camera roll. Which means the video is going through Videolicious's server. So when the person receives the email it gives a link that takes you back to their website. 
• Sometimes the photos may not be centered or show the exact part of the picture you intended.

You can sign up for a free account. It will limit you to 1 user, 1 sound bite, 10 supporting shots (your images and videos), only 1 minute in length, and 20 videos stored on their site.  There are other pricing ($60/yr and $120/yr) that will grant you more access and longer videos. https://videolicious.com/pricing

Appy Hour January

Another Appy Hr (or quarter Hr if you read the last blog) for our district leadership team. Gave an update on the SAMR model and our district walk-through data. We have the Substitution level down pat. Now we need to move up along the framework.

Then I was asked to present some norms to use when using technology in the classroom. We had a brief discussion on classroom management tips that should be taken when using technology. Basically,
1. Place device on left corner of the desk until told to use the technology.
2. If it is a tablet or phone, screen side down.
3. If it is a laptop, screen should be at a 45° angle.
   

(elementary version of the norms, iPads on their Tummy and laptops open and close like a shark)

Interestingly enough, most administrators practiced this and I believe were asked to follow it for the rest of the meeting.

This video on classroom management tips was a good eye opener as well.

Talked about the M in SAMR an bit. M stands for Modification. We are now enhancing the task with technology instead of the S and the A where we are enhancing the technology.

Finally, to Appy Hour (now down to 8 minutes). I talked about the camera app and how more and more apps are utilizing the camera. We also got into a discussion about Augmented Reality and how it is becoming more prevalent in life of our students and the education world.. Here are the iOS apps I presented.



Camera Plus - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camera-plus-capture-remotely/id330803072?mt=8  - $1.99

Tripod -  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tripod/id304112111?mt=8 - $1.99

Photosynth - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photosynth/id430065256?mt=8

Groopic - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/groopic/id584710005?mt=8

Yelp - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yelp/id284910350?mt=8

Word Lens - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-lens/id383463868?mt=8

Aurasma - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aurasma/id432526396?mt=8

Photomath - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photomath/id919087726?mt=8

Anatomy 4D - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/anatomy-4d/id555741707?mt=8

Easy Measure - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easymeasure-measure-your-camera!/id349530105?mt=8

ARBasketball - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/arbasketball-augmented-reality/id393333529?mt=8

Action Movie FX - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/action-movie-fx/id489321253?mt=8