Digital Presentation Project

In my Rise of the Rise social studies elective, I do a digital presentation project. Students use iMovie or Doodlcast Pro on their iPads to create presentations and upload them to YouTube. For homework, they watch each others' videos. During the next class period, we have a scored discussion based on the content of the videos. This project combines cooperative group work, research and writing, technology integration, and the flipped classroom model. It provides an alternative to live student presentations. Feel free to use and adapt the resources below. Please contact me if you have questions.

Resources:

-Project overview and instructions: Word
-Rubric: Word
-Scored discussion follow up activity handout: Pages
-Student work sample
-Google Doc submission

Using Doodlecast Pro to Make a Tutorial Video

Have you ever wondered how to make a tutorial video entirely from your iPad?  I recently made a video tutorial for students using an app called Doodlecast Pro.

For this tutorial, I took screenshots of each step, added the screenshots to a blank Keynote, and then exported the Keynote to Doodlecast Pro.  From there, the work was easy--I used the record feature to talk through each step, adding my own writing at times to make my instructions as clear as possible.  When I made mistakes, I'd stop the recording, rewind until I found the error, and then erase that part of the recording.  When I finished my recording, I uploaded the video to YouTube so students would be able to access it.

QR Code Workshop Video

Check out this video of my mini-workshop for teachers at Mitty. You may have seen a QR code (that square barcode) in magazines or on your cereal box, but did you know that anyone can create a QR code? In this workshop, I share how I use QR codes to design engaging class activities and get you started creating your own. All it takes is a QR Code generator (such as http://delivr.com/qr-code-generator), the URL of a website you'd like to share with your students, and the Scan app for your students' iPads (which is available in Self-Service).

Project a timer on your iPad for your class

A simple and useful idea: Open up a TIMER app on your iPad and project it for the class when they are doing something for a given amount of time (group work, quizzes, transitions, labs, etc). It helps students budget their time, while freeing you from being the time-keeper. There are lots of free apps, including the "Clock" app that is on your iPad by default. I personally like the app called "Timer+" (available on Self-Service) because it allows you to store and label different timers, so you can quickly select ones that you use on a regular basis.

13 Ways to use iMovie in the classroom

Here is an article that describes 13 ways to use iMovie in the classroom, and at the bottom is a 5-minute introductory tutorial video on how to use iMovie. This tutorial is thorough enough that if you were to show it to your students, it would be enough to get them started on a project. Go ahead and skim through the list of ideas - there's something for everyone! Many are obvious ideas, but there are a few that I wouldn't have thought of (like microscopy!)

http://edapps.ca/2011/11/13-ways-to-use-imovie-in-the-classroom/

Socrative: Best Practices

The Socrative app is useful for conducting a variety of activities using iPads. Several of our teachers use it for practice quizzes, exit tickets, and the ever-popular Space Race game.  You can import existing quizzes, create new ones, or simply ask students open-ended questions. There are a wide range of possibilities across disciplines.

Your students have the "Student" Socrative app available in Self Service. You can download the "Teacher" Socrative app via the App Store. Students and teachers can also access Socrative via Safari on a computer or iPad. Students simply visit m.socrative.com. Teachers visit socrative.com and click on Teacher Log In.

Here's a "best practices" video of Jennifer Salmon using Socrative in her Spanish classroom:

And here's an introductory video from Socrative's website:



If you're interested in using Socrative, please don't hesitate to ask for my assistance!

Monarch Madness

Veteran faculty know that a well -fitting set of earplugs is essential  during the evening festivities.
  But just how loud is the cheering from the competing classes?
  Help is at hand.

Decibel Ultra is a free iPad app that measures " loudness" through sound pressure measurements .

 The app will measure up the 125 decibels. 

As a guide:

Normal conversation   50dB-    Moderate Level

Lawn Mower              80 dB-   Very Loud

Disco / Concert music 105dB   Extremely loud

Monarch Madness 2013.....................TBD

The Explain Everything App in a Math Classroom

Chett Garcia uses the Explain Everything App to create Khan Academy style videos for his math students. This is a great way to differentiate instruction and facilitate learning outside the classroom. Check out his demonstration in the video below.

The Explain Everything App is an app for creating screencasts on your iPad. For more on screencasting and its potential for your classroom, see our previous post on screencasting. As always, email your department chair to request an App on your iPad or your students iPads.

EZ Seating Charts with SMART SEAT App

The Smart Seat App for iPad is an easy way to create your classroom seating charts breaking classroom doldrums and  recreating the learning environment for the students.

Check out the video for some of the features -the iPad app is a little different from the app shown in the video.  On a daily basis you may use Smart Seat to make notes by clicking on a student name, for example" absent needs to take test" or " good participation"  or "homework missing".

 It's efficient and simple

Set up your classes- select New empty Class-give it a title

Copy class roster from Attendance on Compass

and then paste into Smart Seat

and hit "Done"

Now you need to arrange the seats /desks- hit MORE- and then seating charts. Use your finger to pan up/down and right /left to increase and decrease the number of seats.

 You can project the seating chart from the reverse perspective so students can find their new seat easily upon entering the classroom.  Then email the chart to yourself and print out for a substitute teacher.

 And best of all, the next time the students ask " can we change seats"- with the swipe of a finger or a daring click of the random button- it's done.

Board Cam (Using your iPad as a document cam or whiteboard)

Board Cam is an app that basically transforms your iPad into a document camera or a white board. By using AppleTV to mirror your iPad on the projector, you can show a live feed from your iPad's camera, and then write on top of the video image, or show a pointer to direct people's attention to a certain part of the screen. There is also the option of recording the session so that you can post a video of it on MyMitty for your students to reference later.

Here's a video that I made using Board Cam:
 

HOW MIGHT I USE THIS IN MY CLASSROOM?

1) Walk around the classroom with your iPad, projecting examples of student work for the rest of the class to see. You can use the pointer or pen to discuss certain areas of the work.

2) Set up your iPad at your own desk, point it at something (a worksheet, a book, lab setup - anything you want to show the class that they may not be able to see from their desks at the back of the room). Then you can demonstrate how to do a part of a lab, or project, or work out an example problem on a worksheet. Record the session and post it on MyMitty so that students can refer to the video again later.

3) Use the Board Cam app to "freeze" an image. This basically takes a picture for you, and then you can write on top of the still image. This might be helpful when you want to show impromptu examples to the class. Just aim your iPad at the example, take a picture of it, and then use the pen or pointer to discuss or work out a problem for the class to see. You can also use any picture in your Camera Roll as a background image and write on top of it.

4) Use the White Board feature to transform your iPad into a white board. You can now take your iPad anywhere in the room, and still be able to write on the board, or use a pointer to point to different areas of the board.

If you'd like to check out this app yourself, go to Self-Service on your iPad to download the app. Enjoy!

Creating Screencasts with the Doodlecast App

Doodlecast Pro (Click here to see in iTunes; $0.99) is a great app that students and teachers can use to create screencasts on the iPad. Here’s a quick demo:

I’ve used this app in both World History AP and Rise of the Rest (a Social Studies elective for seniors). I assigned each student a term from class and asked them to create Doodlecasts where they defined and stated the significance of their terms. Students uploaded their Doodleasts to Youtube and linked them to a GoogleDoc on myMitty. When it was time to study for the exam, students had a “Doodlecast glossary” where they could watch screencasts made by their classmates.

Here are a couple of examples from Rise of the Rest:

There are other apps that students and teachers can use to create screencasts on their iPads, such as ShowMe (click here). A huge advantage of ShowMe is that it’s free! Functionally, it’s essentially the same as Doodlecast, although there are fewer editing options. Click here to see a ShowMe created by one of my World History AP students. On the other hand, a major downside of ShowMe is that the only way to share these screencasts is through posting on their website, showme.com. This means that if showme.com seizes to exist, student work will be gone, too. With Doodlecast, students can save their videos to their iPad camera rolls, and then upload to myMitty or Youtube.

If you’re considering trying screencasts in your classroom, you might want to start with ShowMe because it’s free. If it goes well and you’d like to be able to save videos in the long run and provide more editing options for your students, then you could ask your department chair to have Doodlecast purchased for your students.

I think creating screencasts has a lot of potential across disciplines. How might you use these in your classes?