App of the Week: Scribble Press

This week on the MacReach Show, we checked out a great free iPad app: Scribble Press, an awesome way to easily make books on the iPad! Highly recommended for elementary school!

We brainstormed nine different ways to use the Scribble Press app with students in the classroom... but we need help with the tenth. How could you use this app in the classroom?

1. Create simple drawings. The drawing tools are worth the price.
2. Author simple storybooks using the themes and templates.
3. Make greeting card books for the holidays, or even to research the holidays.
4. Find books to read by other kids.
5. Study genres of books.
6. Peer edit before publishing.
7. Play BINGO!
8. Document a process or provide directions.
9. Create social stories, task analyses, or visual schedules.
10. IEAR community... what do YOU think about Scribble Press?

iCreate vs. iConsumption

Many argue that the iPad is the premiere consumption device at this time but it isn’t very good at creating. Is that accurate? I tend to believe that the iPad is an amazingly creative device and the user is the only limit for the device. Creating on the iPad is different but it is an effective creation device. The very nature of the device itself and how we interface with it provide for a uniquely creative environment. Effectively creating on the iPad requires a different workflow from traditional computers. Once users get proficient with that workflow, the iPad's truly becomes unlocked!

This was my presentation for the K12 Online Conference this year. Please push my thinking, advance upon my logic, or simply disagree with a positive conversation. Hopefully, my point comes across to think differently.

Office2 HD

I was reading a post from Adventures in Teaching and Learning by Mr. Keenan, Why the iPad IS for Content Creation in Education {iPads in Education, Mobile Learning, 21st Century Learning} and I splurged and bought one of the featured apps in that article, Office² HD.

Office²HD, $7.99

I decided to buy it for one main reason that I just couldn't resist: it allows you to edit your Google Docs documents! Not just edit, you can create a document and save it as a Google Doc! I was already resigning myself to have my students create written content on their iPads and then either email them to the desktop computers or use Dropbox to get the documents to the desktop where the documents could then be uploaded to Google Docs. Now we don't have to! The one shortfall I have come across so far is that I can't find where or how to view comments left on a Google Doc on Office². I'm still working on figuring that one out but I can't find anything. It doesn't help that when I add "comments" into my search I get mostly hits on blog comments. Maybe people haven't noticed the problem or maybe it's just me.

While searching to see if anyone else has noticed that you can't view comments or if someone has figured out how to view comments I came across this blog that describes Office² very well and gives tips on how to set it up to view your Google Docs documents and spreadsheets as well as your Dropbox files. Viewing and editing those files has been working very well for me. The blog is Editing Google Docs with Office2 HD, from MobileContent Today. It's worth the read if you plan on buying this app.

This app was definitely a good purchase.