Jan 26 2012
Microsoft Office on the iPad?
With the help of a couple of recently released apps, iPad users can now access Microsoft Office applications for free on their mobile device. How? Let’s find out.
The first option is called CloudOn. It links to your Dropbox account and lets you create, view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files right on your iPad through an Internet connection to CloudOn’s servers.
After you get over the initial shock of seeing Microsoft Office on your iPad, you will find that it is in fact quite functional, but you do need an internet connection, and the iPad keyboard/Microsoft toolbar does take up a good two thirds of your screen. Still, it is free and could be a good option to have on hand.
A second option is the OnLive Desktop app. It functions in a similar way, but gives you a virtual Windows 7 desktop, complete with a folder that can hold up to 2Gb of your Office files. This desktop folder syncs with an online account that you can upload and download files from.
In my tests, OnLive supported a much better streaming resolution and had a better overall user interface for creating and editing documents. It can even stream video files and play touch optimized games, but an internet connection of at least 1.5mbps is required.
So, if you just can’t let go of that Microsoft interface and you want to edit Office files in their native environment, these two free iPad apps are worth checking out.
Jan 25 2012
Crocadoc: Collaborative Document Annotator
Here’s a great collaborative tool that you might not have heard of – Crocadoc.com. This online productivity tool lets you upload and view PDFs, Office docs and images. Once they are up in the cloud, you can add comments, drawings, highlight text and a number of other annotations.
However, the real selling point for this app is the real-time collaboration feature that lets you work on the doc simultaneously with other users. It could be a great way of sharing and commenting on documents at in-service days, or even for use with students because the finished document can then be embedded into a blog or a website, complete with annotations and comments. You can also download documents, with or without the markups.
Google is obviously the market favorite in real-time document collaboration, but Crocadoc has many features that Google does not give you yet, so it is well worth a look if this is the kind of thing that you think you would like to do at school.
Crocadoc accounts are free and you can sign up here to get started.
Jan 21 2012
Screencasting Apps for the iPad
Recently, there has been a rash of screencasting apps appearing on the App Store – each one vying for a place on your home screen in place of the competition. They are great for creating tutorials and how-tos with students but teachers can also use them to differentiate by recording additional lesson content and showing it on the iPad or by linking to it online. So, I here is a quick roundup of the four that I think are most worth your time and effort.
1. Screenchomp – Created by TechSmith, (developers of titles such as Jing and Camtasia), Screenchomp is a useful free screencasting app that has a super simple interface. As such, it would be a great choice for elementary teachers to use. It will record your voice, and what you draw on the whiteboard. It also lets you import pictures from your iPad to annotate. Finished screencasts are uploaded to Screenchomp.com where they can be shared or downloaded as mp4 video files.
2. ShowMe – This is useful alternative to Screenchomp, but it has much of the same features. The interface is a little more grown-up, and the smaller icons give you more screen space to record and annotate your screencast. Finished projects are uploaded to ShowMe.com and although you can’t download your movie yet, (ShowMe say this is coming soon!), you do have privacy options that let you choose whether your screencast is public or private, and embed codes for websites are also available.
3. Educreations – To my mind, this is the best free option available. It has little things like undo and redo buttons that just make your life easier, but more useful things like the ability to record your screencast over multiple slides instead of just the one screen you get with Screenchomp and ShowMe. Images can be added from the camera app, from your camera roll, and even from Dropbox. It includes the option to set up an educator account where you can have your own online classroom at Educreations.com, and add students that you would like to have access to your screencasts.
4. Explain Everything – As good as Educreations is, my favorite screencasting app is definitely Explain Everything. It costs $2.99, but the extra functionality that you get makes it well worth the money. Adding images is great, but with this app you can also import PDF, PPT, XLS, RTF, Pages, Numbers and Keynote files from Dropbox, Evernote, Email, the iPad photo roll and iPad 2 camera. It has a shape tool with lines and arrows, a text tool, and even a laser pointer that you can use when recording your presentation. Again, multiple slides can be used, but they can also be rearranged in the slide sorter view. Finished projects can be exported to your Photo Roll (for further editing in iMovie), YouTube, Email, Dropbox, or Evernote, and you can choose to export all your slides, or just a chosen selection. So, although it does cost $2.99, the options you get from Explain Everything mean that you can create some very professional looking screencasts, and you never need to upload your work to an external website.
Jan 19 2012
Apple’s iPad Education Announcement
Apple’s long awaited education-themed announcement was finally brought to light today. Essentially, it was a three part deal – iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunesU – and it could have a dramatic impact on the way we use iPads in the classroom.
Apple has partnered with three of the largest textbook publishers who will all soon be releasing iPad versions of academic textbooks. These textbooks will sell for $14.99 or less and will be accessed on the new iBooks 2 app that is free for all iPad users. The books themselves look set to include 3D animations, image galleries, and quizzes while also being able to take advantage of the new annotation options that are built-in to iBooks 2.
Are you concerned that these new textbooks may not quite fit your curricular needs? Well, Apple released iBooks Author today – a desktop publishing app for the Mac that lets you create your very own iPad textbook. These books can be published on the iBooks store where you can offer it for free, or charge up to $14.99 for all your hard work. iBooks Author is a free download from the Mac App Store.
Finally, iTunesU finally makes its way to the iPad where you can access all the same content you normally would on a laptop or computer via iTunes. The advantage here is presumably learning on the go, but hopefully it will help raise the profile of iTunesU too so that more content is added to this useful resource.
Jan 17 2012
Is CX.com the New Dropbox?
Educators love Dropbox. It has been around for several years now, and has been making our lives easier in so many ways. However, if there is one complaint people have, it is the 2GB limit on free accounts. Today, that is just not as much as it used to be. Enter instead, CX.com.
CX.com is a new service that, from the outset, works very much the same way as Dropbox, but it comes with 10GB of free space to get you started, instead of just 2GB. There is a desktop client for Windows or Mac computers, a slick iPhone or iPad app, and an Android app coming soon.
CX.com has some interesting features. First and foremost, you have the sync capabilities that sync files between all your devices and the cloud. However, you also get public and private file sharing options. You can even create collaboration groups and invite members to edit files, add new files, or have a conversation about a given project.
Privacy is ensured with a 256-bit encryption service on all CX accounts, and the founders themselves are keen to allay any fears about compromised data on their website stating, “CX will never share any of your data with any third party for marketing the products. Your stuff is your stuff — we just help you keep track of it, keep it safe, and get better access to it. In that process, our team and engineers cannot even see your files. The search mechanisms built into the system are for you only to search through your own files and data.”
So, if you are in need of some extra storage, and you want to try out this new kid on the block, you can sign up for a free account, (paid options are available too), by visiting the CX website. Alternatively, if you sign up with this link, you can treat us both to an extra 300MB of space, because the CX referral program, (just like Dropbox), gives a bonus for referrals. 
Do I like CX.com? It’s early days. I have not had a chance to play with it for too long, but I like what I see so far and everything has worked exactly as I had hoped. I’m not dumping my Dropbox account just yet, but I will run them side by side for a little while and see how things pan out. Feel free to leave a comment with your own experiences.
Jan 11 2012
How to Add Group Contacts on the iPad
Necessity is the mother of invention, right? For a while I was annoyed that I could not find a way to create group contacts on the iPad, but I fret no more.
After some searching on the web I came across this useful workaround, so I thought I would share it in case you too would like to send an email to multiple people on the iPad, with just the one contact entry. Here’s how to do it.
Go to the Contacts app, and create a new contact by clicking the plus button. Name this contact with a description of the group you want to create, e.g. Science Teachers. Then, in the email field, add all the email addresses of the people you want to be a part of this group contact in the following format:
<name1@email.com>, <name2@email.com>, <name3@email.com>, etc.
It is important that you use the < > signs and separate each address with a comma. If need be, you could type out these addresses in Notes, and copy and paste them into the email field in the Contacts app.
Although the process is a little tedious to begin with, once it is set up, all you need to do now is select “Science Teachers’ when sending your next email, and it will wing its way to all the people you added to that group contact.
There are apps available at the App Store that will create group contacts for you, but this method is free, and will work if you follow the format above. With any luck, Apple will include this functionality in a future build of iOS 5, but until then, this will have to do.
Do you have group contacts on your iPad? If so, how did you set them up? Leave a comment below with any suggestions or improvements to this workaround.
Jan 11 2012
A SMART Board Minus the Board
SMART has followed up its announcement from yesterday with another new product launch – the LightRaise 40wi interactive projector.
Interactive projectors have been around for a little while now, but the release of this one from SMART could herald a new change in direction for one of the most popular manufacturer’s of interactive whiteboards.
The ultra-short throw LightRaise 40wi interactive projector will let you project your computer’s image onto any surface and give that surface the same kind of interactivity that you get with one of SMART’s interactive whiteboards.
It comes bundled with SMART Notebook software, and is being heralded as a more cost effective option than a traditional interactive whiteboard. However, although it does cost less than a traditional IWB setup, $1699 for the projector, software and interactive pen is still not an insignificant price to pay.
For more information on the LightRaise 40wi interactive projector, click the ‘read more’ link below or visit http://www.smarttech.com/lightraise.
Jan 9 2012
SMART Notebook 11: Release Date Confirmed
Today I received a press release from SMART that confirms the imminent release of version 11 of SMART’s popular Notebook software. It looks set to receive a major update and feature boost that will be a welcome addition to educators everywhere. What can you expect from SMART Notebook 11 when it lands in the Spring?
Well, the biggest new feature seems to be the ability to embed a web browser right into a Notebook page. If done well, this could obviously be a very useful feature, and negate the need to switch between applications whenever you want to use some web content. Other features include:
Activity builder – Creates activity objects that react to actions with animations or sound
Embedded web browser – Inserts web browsers directly onto a SMART Notebook software page
Enhanced contextual toolbar – Responds to actions by giving users the required tool choices when they choose a certain object
Crayon – Creates authentic crayon drawings on a SMART Board interactive whiteboard
Customized creative pen – Builds a unique creative pen from any image
Reset page – Brings SMART Notebook software page back to its last saved state to instantly start again
Gesture recognition – Supports four-touch interactivity for the SMART Board 800 series interactive whiteboard and the SMART Board 8070i interactive display. Also recognizes new shake gesture to group or ungroup objects.
Audio recording – Records sounds directly into a file
Shape image fill – Adjusts the size of an image to fit into a specific shape
Updated tables – Supports scaling, moving and interacting within tables more easily
New text engine – Provides improved text formatting and consistency
Fade ink – Fades any regular ink
Full-page frame – Allows borders of the page layout to be displayed
SMART Notebook 11 is compatible with the latest versions of Windows and Mac OS X. For more information, or to read the press release in its entirety, hit the ‘read more’ link below.
Jan 8 2012
The GWAEA 21C Skills Facebook Page
As regular readers might know, I don’t have a Facebook page for this blog. However, if you are looking for a good fan page to follow, I would recommend you check the 21st Century Learning Institute page from Grant Wood AEA.
I am one of the admins on this page and contribute whenever I can. The others who contribute are all Technology Consultants like myself, and have years of experience at using and uncovering the best technology tools for the classroom.
Something new is posted here every day or two, so you can be sure of finding some innovative and thought-provoking resources. You can take a look at the page here, and ‘Like’ us if you want to participate in the discussions and sign up for regular updates.
Grant Wood AEA one of nine area education agencies in Iowa. AEAs are state funded resources for hundreds of school districts in Iowa. You can find out more about the Grant Wood AEA here.
Jan 7 2012
Learn to Code with Codecademy & Scratch
One of NY Mayor Bloomberg’s New Year resolutions, according to the BBC, was to learn how to code. So, he has promised to sign up with a free online service called Codecademy.
This online JavaScript class has a variety of well-structured, tiered lessons that introduce you to the basics of JavaScript programming, in a fun and interactive way.
There is not always a great deal of programming taught in the K-12 schools that I work with, but something like this may be a good introduction to learning a new programming language. It could be used alongside another popular coding platform – Scratch – which was produced my MIT to make coding a more user friendly experience.
So, do you do programming at your school? How important is it for preparing students for the 21st century workplace?
