Minutes+of+Meetings

Minutes of the PDP Group Meetings
October 14, 2011 This session consisted of sharing which apps are currently being used by our group. Steven has been using PollDaddy to create surveys regarding use of the iPads in his classes. His students will create presentations in KeyNote using the data from the surveys.

Planbook for iPad and Mac was described, noteable is that it can sync online.

OmmWriter – [//Sandy’s note: need to know who reviewed this? Was it compared to the other note taking apps already on the iPa//d//?//]
 * A really plain slate to take notes on with a clear typewriter and ambient music in the background.

How do you record a screencast from an iPad?
 * ShowMe may be an app that can do this with one photo at a time from the photo camera roll. and screenshots saved to the camera roll. Students can record their information, add multiple slides of pictures of their work, annotate the pictures and when done, a video is created which can be uploaded to ShowMe.com. Free app.
 * ScreenChomp also can be used for screencasting, works in a similar fashion, by TechSmith, developers of Jing and Camtasia which are screen casting software tools. No video recording of another app can be done on the iPad tablet. Free app. Should be compared to ShowMe to determine which one should be on our standard list of apps.
 * Airtask is another app which may do this - [//Sandy's note: unverified app//]

[|Classcards] [//Sandy’s note: has anyone taken the time to enter their students and use it?//] This app cost $4.99.

Jason reported on using [|Dropbox] and School Web Lockers to save science lab reports Can SWL webdav addresses be shortened using bit.ly? No one has tried yet. []

Airsketch [Sandy’s note: who has tried this?] You can broadcast a student iPad screen into the Smartboard by entering the IP address into your computer - there is a free version with limited features.

Sept. 27, 2011
Attending: Steven Brown, Kristina Erkenbrack, Katie Shirey, Jeff McCarthy, Jen Weidman, Kathleen Claassen, Matt Przydzial, Sharon Harris, Kevin Phillips, Jason Brodowski, Chad deMagistris, Sandy Munnell

Sandy reported on Joan's experience with WordPress. Joan had intended to use WordPress app for her 3rd yr students to respond to her blog posting for artist statement and biography, moving on later to using it to peer review each other's work. However, the WordPress app is the tool for the blog creator, not blog commentators. Joan then had to switch to Safari and use the webpage comments area.

Jen shared her experience with Socrative.com noting that their were difficult moments when the server would no respond. She found Join.me too chatty - the kids aren't getting over the chat feature so she's not going to try to use. On the plus side, she said she uses Splashtop Whiteboard app all the time. Likes being untethered to the front of the room to deliver a lecture or interact with the material on her computer. Jen has also found an app designed for the iPhone, but usable on the iPad that can help monitor class participation, Class Cards. Sandy will purchase this app for the group.*

Steve said his experience with Socrative.com is especially satisfying even tho the server has been slowing down during certain times of the day. He's emailed Socrative and the response from them suggests that they are working on fixing this issue as it occurs during the school day suggesting the growing popularity of this service. [translate that: in the future, it won't be free] One limitation of using Socrative is that the first response the student puts in is the only response, no going backward to change an answer. He gets a spreadsheet almost immediately of his student's responses.

Despite how chatty the students can get, Steve see a lot of value in [|Join.me]. It is a classroom management issue. Depending on your group whether, each teacher will have to decide their tolerance level and distractability of the class.He also uses the BlackBoard Mobile app to quiz students. Students are writing papers with Pages and doing presentations with Keynote. He created free accounts with iWorks which allows students to save their work where he can access it. Sandy reminded him about using School Web Lockers. No need to use an additional resource especially when the quarter ends.

Students in Steven's class use the iPad as part of their everyday experience. They walk into class and simply pick up their iPad. They return them end of period and Steve plugs them in. He says to make sure to leave enough time at the end of the class to put them away.

Jason reported that he's begun by using webquest activities. Using the iPad takes time to learn how to handle them. A certain comfort level needs to be reached. Said iPads don't replace the laptops because his students are still asking to use the laptops. Hopes the video project with his IB students will be valuable.

Everyone who has used them agreed on one thing: the immediacy of the device to simply look up something and just go is fantastic.