Creating content

At present I am exploring the pros and cons of our MLE (Fronter) in creating courses (learning paths) and the iTunesU Course Creator.


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Making marking quicker....

I have been playing around with the voice recording function in iAnnotate PDF and it should be able to speed up marking, particularly for coursework. Students need to email work as word or PDF files, teachers annotate and send back unflattened for students to open in an app such as Documents for Readdle (free) that can support sound files in PDFs. No more trying to decipher handwriting!


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Apple TV and video

Had a frustrating experience with appserver when trying to stream a movie file- on the other hand Apple TV worked flawlessly at the staff meeting with a number of us able to mirror in turn.
I am currently on a learning curve with video and Fronter. I can upload photo roll items to Fronter but can't view them on the iPad if I then try to open the subsequent Fronter file. I have been unable to view any QT files in Fronter on my iPad though I can open wmv movies as I get an 'open in' option when I try. There are a number of free apps that can open these files.
I also wanted to import a video from my dropbox into Keynote and couldn't figure out a way that didn't use hyperlinks. PhotoSync provided a neat solution to this.
And finally on matters video, I bought a 'premium' app on the strength of a Creative Cow newsletter TouchEdit that promises pro video editing on my iPad.
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New Apps

A couple more new apps: MailShot that is great in that not only does it mean that I can send group emails from my iPad but also because it just works; ClassAct looks as though it has potential, though as a drama teacher it is possibly not as useful as ClassOrganiser.

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New Focus

I think that, rather than reflect on deployment in our school, I should write about my own personal journey instead. Much of what happens on an institutional level is frustrating and that is not the stuff of a public forum and that has limited this record of the journey of the last 9 months. So, here goes...
I was reading an article in the FT about finding the quality writing on the web and ended up downloading The Browser app which does just that. A top end A level student would find much of interest. I have also discovered that the latest update of Explain Everything has video capability, which is great. As I want to use it try and put as much Inset as possible online to encourage the idea of the flipped meeting!



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Updating

I have spent some time this week updating the wiki, partly inspired by other wikis, but also because I felt I needed to share the 'How I Use My iPad ' responses.
One of the best uses I came across this week was in the delivery of a PSHE lesson on healthy eating which involved students having to download a free app. Brilliant!


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A mixed week

I seem to veer from the optimistic to the pessimistic about our adoption in about equal measure. More people are discovering new ways to help inform their teaching/learning but there are just as many who still consider it an expensive distraction.
The most frustrating thing though has been the continued lack of bandwidth making it difficult to get online in some parts of the 6th form area.
The most positive is the 'discovery' of iTuneU and podcasts by the Humanities faculty....


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