Architory - History of Western Architecture App for Students

For those with an interest in Architecture but don't know where to begin, there is a handy architecture app for use iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

Architory - History of Western Architecture is a reference app that efficiently indexes hundreds of architects, buildings and their locations along with thousands of photos and concise, informative descriptions about each entry. 

Squarely aimed at 1st year Architecture students; Architory introduces student to notable architects throughout history and explains the importance of their works and various styles. From Andrea Palladio to Frank Lloyd Wright; the Renaissance to the modern era, Architory guides you thru a sea of information and organizes it into easily digestible chunks for better memory retention. 

Architory, also offers a helpful glossary of architectural terms, their definitions and relevant images. In addition, Architory educational app gives student the ability to read the Twitter streams of the most popular Architecture-related blogs. No need to have a Twitter account, student can just tap on one of the blogs on the list (or add your own), sit back and catch-up on the latest architectural news or info being shared and discussed. As you learn about Architecture's past, you can keep up-to-date on today's events and issues that will no doubt affect Architecture's future.

Architory, is an app for architecture student and will help those that need a quick introduction to Architecture to help familiarize with notable architects of the past and their works in the shortest amount of time. Architory will also support student looking to create a solid foundation and broader understanding of architectural history. Architecture students will find this app useful and like its quick and easy accessibility to the most pertinent information.

Save Icon?

I enjoy learning things like this. Above is a screen shot of one of Office² HD's documents. Notice the floppy disk icon. I kept telling my 6th grade students to tap it to save their documents until I noticed that very few of them have ever even seen a floppy disk! Most didn't know what a floppy disk was and I didn't have one handy because I haven't used one in years! What icon should software developers use for Save??

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.

iBrainstorm

Title: iBrainstorm (iBrainstorm Companion for iPod Touch) Does not run as a stand alone app on iPod.

Grade Level: 2-12, students need to be able to type because the iPod (companion app) allows only text, drawing, although younger students could draw on the iPad.

Purpose: B+ A multi-device collaboration tool

Program Functionality: B- Allows up to four people to collaborate (somewhat) on a brainstorming diagram or group thinking process. Once the diagram or brainstorming has been completed, the diagram can easily be emailed to all participants. Must have an iPad for the iPods to be used. (ie. Teacher on iPad, students on iPods) As students type on the iPods, they just flick their finger and their ideas will be flipped over to the iPad. See YouTube demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKFpEMG3BF4

Overall Educational Value: B Fun and engaging, but some teachers may prefer just using Sticky Notes, slates, or student response systems for similar effect in the younger grades. I think older students (5th and up) would prefer this method (more anonymity, perhaps). 

Price: Free!

Recommendation: Need to delete when typing a note on the iPhone, could be cumbersome. Would be great to add some features like choice among drawing tools: pen thickness, colors, the choice of note color, and the ability to have multiple pages. Also the ability to export to other programs would increase usability. 

Classroom Use Examples/Ideas: Need to be on the same local wifi, but can be used via Bluetooth if you turn off wifi on all devices. Students could collaborate on a diagram add text, note-taking. Could be used in small groups: teacher writes something and students add to it on iPod Touches and flip it over to the teacher. The need for an iPad is a bit of a drawback. YouTube demo of use with multiple devices: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KumchuR5R1A&feature=related

Developer Site: http://www.ibrainstormapp.com/

iTunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibrainstorm/id382252825?mt=8

iPads in Science - by Al Gonzalez

(Click on any image on this post to see it full size.) This is a cross post that I started on my blog as a plan for using 12 iPads in the Fall of the 2010-11 school year with my middle school Science classes. I teach three 6th grade classes and two 8th grade classes. Here's what I'm planning to use on the 12 iPads. On the bottom dock of the main screen, next to the Safari, Mail and iPod links, I've placed a link to my 6th grade Moodle page, a link to my 8th grade Moodle page and a link to our classblogmeister blogs. Students can access my Moodle documents and links and resources as well as their blog accounts. With Cinch students can even create podcasts to load onto their blogs. Along with Cinch I also had to get Blue FiRe cause it's great for recording. Sadly, they can't create glogs or prezis on the iPads but that's why I'm glad I have iMacs and PC's for students to be able to do those as well. At least that's what I thought until @NMHS_Principal reminded us that CloudBrowse allows you to view flash content on the iPhone and iPad. We'll see if prezi and glogster will work. I'm planning to use twitter in class so I got Twitbird Pro. I love having class discussions where more than one student can "talk" at a time, especially the quiet, shy ones. Go backchanneling! I tried using Moodle chat this past year with students in their small teams and after a slight hiccup it became a huge success! For an RSS agregator I find Reeder to be fantastic. The Weather Channel Max (TWC Max+) for the iPad is awesome and kicks butt of the iPhone version. It's going to be great. I got my school a Google Apps account and with the Documents2 app students can access their Google Docs or share their work from Documents2 via FTP or via a web address. It's a pretty nifty app. Photo Pad allows us to share pictures using Flickr so I'm excited about using that app too. I'm sure students will find Dragon Dictation useful, my 7 year old daughter loves it but she enjoys all the errors it makes :). I also have a Science glossary, ScienceVL, and a regular Dictionary with Thesaurus (dictionary.com). Google Earth for the iPad, a calculator app, PCalc Lite, a timer app, iLab: Timer HD, and a unit Converter app, round out the main screen. [Addendum: After trying out Tweetdeck for the iPad I'm not happy with it. It crashes constantly and I can't add a Facebook column and I couldn't even figure out how to delete a column. Maybe I'm missing something. So I've deleted Tweetdeck. I've also decided against Read It Later, it's great for me but I'm not sure students will need it. Same thing with the Delicious Bookmark app. So those three are gone. Add to the list Dropbox. I would need to buy another app because I can't use Documents2 with Dropbox so I've decided to keep Documents2 and delete Dropbox.]

On the second screen I have some Science apps. One of my absolute favorites is The Elements app, which is the most incredible way I have seen to learn about elements in the periodic table. There are some fantastic periodic table websites out there but this app blows them away! The Star Walk and Solar Walk are also very cool and along with the moon phase app will be very enjoyable and helpful for students. The BrainPop app is pretty cool and I'm curious about the Bug Sim app (pictured below). I haven't tried it yet, but it's a simulation game (the only game I have on the iPad cause the learning apps I have are fun enough, right?) "for Darwinian Evolution, specifically through survival of the fittest." [Okay, so I tried Bug Sim. Not visually stunning, the bugs are multicolored one or two pixel square boxes. Fainter, smaller circles represent food. You choose how many bugs to start with, how much food, and how food regenerates. You can even add up to two gardens of Eden with quickly regenerating food supply. Then you let it run and see what happens with a graph showing population growth and decline. It also shows births, deaths, and mutations. I think i will try it with my 8th grade Life Science classes.] With Animation HD students can create animations to use on their blogs or wikis. Ezimba is a cool app for students to add effects to photographs. Another creative app. VideoScience has some great videos of science experiments and labs. So along with DNA Lite, Molecules, Insects HD, Animals HD, and HD Marine Life 2 I think students can do some fun learning (had to find stuff for my 8th grade Life Science students). MeAnderthal is just fun (too bad you can't take pictures with the iPad, we really need that feature added). GoDocs is good for viewing Google Docs (viewing only as I discovered after buying it). Then iBooks, Kindle and Stanza round out this second screen. After reading iPad in Education I added the Photopad app to this screen for photo editing to go along with Ezimba.

The third screen is as yet undeveloped. I have some apps here that I am using this summer but don't plan to use with students. HistoryMaps is cool so I'll keep it for my students who appreciate history like I do :) I added some more apps to fill up this screen after reading iPad in Education. I added Comic Touch Lite (the free version), Draw Free and Doodle Buddy to help students create what they need for their blogs or wikis. I also added 3D Brain, Brain Tutor and 3D Sun for some fun Science. And I gave in and added a game. The free version of Rush Hour. So I can't wait until October! :o) Please let know if I'm missing anything or if there's a cool iPad app I should try.

Since writing this post I've added a few more apps that I'm looking forward to testing on my kids to see how they work.

I've added 3D Cell Stain for my 8th grade Life Science classes.

I've also added the following:
GoodReader,
Qikcrossword,
GroupBoard,
iDraft,
Sundry Notes,
Idea Sketch,
Free Emoji,
Adobe Ideas,
Caster Free,
SparkVue,
Firefox Home,
GPS Tracker, and
GoToMeeting.

Those are the latest I want to try out. Don't know if they're must have or not. I'll see which ones work or are even needed when I start using them with students.

Apps I'm Traveling With: iPad for Content Creation

Fresh off a 12 day trip to Europe where my research team presented a paper at the SSSR 2010 Conference, I wanted to share the different iPad apps I traveled with. I loaded the device with a variety of apps and media that I hoped would allow me to be productive during the trip. It was my hope to use the iPad the entire time in place of the MacBook Air I normally rely on during travel. In the interest of full disclosure, I did have the Air with me. (Hey, you ALWAYS need to have a back-up plan!) Also important to note, while I did use a 3G model during the trip, the AT&T data service is not accessible in Europe, which limited the availability of some apps at certain times.

My iPad strategy for this trip was to use the iPad for both Creation and Consumption purposes. I really wanted to try to be productive during the 6-7 hours of both flights, not just spend the time watching movies and listening to music. I also wanted to diligently eliminate all that paper-based clutter (and weight) from my satchel, i.e., take text files with me rather than carry books, magazines, paper copies of articles and printed PDFs. I’ve created a Google spreadsheet to share direct links to the iTunes App Store of all the apps I will share. The spreadsheet also includes a brief overview of the ways I find myself using each app and the cost of the app. This time around, I really tried to keep things free, but I did decide to try a few Paid apps. Currently, I have around $12 - $15 invested in the apps that will be showcasing. This post, we’ll focus on the apps I targeted for CONTENT CREATION.

Many of you are probably familiar with Evernote, but I have to start with this app. This free resource is essentially a word processing app that syncs your files to your cloud-based account, making them available from virtually any and all devices. It is a must have. You install it locally on all the devices you want to access files from. It has a Mac & PC client, a web-based client, as well as mobile versions for Blackberry, iPhone and iPad. The nicest feature of the mobile app is that it allows you to edit while you're off-line and sync back up when you are able to connect to a wifi signal. It's really a nice productivity app and I found myself using the iPad edition quite a bit in the absence of a full blown Google Docs option. I took notes at the conference with Evernote, kept track of important addresses associated with travel, and even used it to jot quick notes to myself during thoughtful dinner conversation with my colleagues.

Next up is the Dragon Dictation app. This is another free application for iPhone and iPad. It's a speech-to-text app that allows me to dictate into the iPad microphone and then either copy and paste or e-mail the resulting document. I’ve been using this handy app quite a bit in conjunction with Evernote as I write blog posts on the iPad. The only real drawback with Dragon Dictation and the iPad is that with current OS, there is a lack of multi-tasking so you can not keep both Dragon the Evernote open synchronously to complete the CUT/PASTE regimen. It really is a bummer, but the convenience of dictating voice notes can be extremely useful in some situations. Because of the need for a network connection, Dragon Dictation only worked for me when I was connected to a wireless network at the conference center or my hotel.

For blogging purposes, I was set with the WordPress app. I’ve posted some thoughts about this app here, and I still find it a pretty decent blogging tool. The biggest problem I had on the trip had nothing to with the app and everything to do with motivation. I just didn’t ever really feel like blogging, so I didn’t. I think part of the issue I always have with blogging is the fact that I can’t write short posts. I always tend to be too focused too focused on writing a perfect post, with beginning, middle and end rather than tossing my thoughts out there on a series of short posts. For those quick hits, I normally find myself using Twitter and Twitpic on my Blackberry. Whatever the case, for blog post creation, I had intended to use the WP app. On my next trip, I’m going to try to blog at least once.

Perhaps a bit of a stretch for a creation app, but then again, perhaps not, textPlus was something that I found myself using a lot. The cost prohibitive nature of enabling my Blackberry for usage in Europe left me without text messaging and IM services, which I rely on heavily to communicate to my family, or so I thought. In the days prior to leaving, I heard about textPlus, and handy app that allowed me to send SMS text messages to mobile devices that were back in the U.S. You can import contacts from your iPad into this app, or add your own manually. I used this app extensively to communicate with contacts during my trip. It would have been even more productive if I could have accessed the 3G network.

The final app on the creation side is RDM+. This handy little app enable remote desktop capabilities. Basically, it puts all the creation tools I have on my desktop machine accessible to me via the iPad. This handy app allows me to access multiple workstations, like my home office iMac, work MacPro, laptop, etc. from my iPad as long as each device has installed the free companion RDM+ desktop software. I used this app frequently while at the conference and in the hotel to print a document for a co-worker back at the office, or locate a local file and email it. It takes some practice with the app to really get the hang of “clicking” and selecting icons from your remote machine, but I eventually figured out that tapping the screen activates your single left mouse click, and using a two finger tap allows you to right click. Once I mastered this technique, I was able to access and use Photoshop to edit a digital image and upload to my Facebook account. At the time I purchased RDM+, it was a mere $6.99. Since then, it has been raised to $9.99, but worth the investment.

So there you have it, five apps that I found very helpful for content creation on my iPad while I traveled. I’m happy to say that with a combination of these apps and the Safari web browser, I was able to use my iPad about 99% of the time I was abroad. In my next post, I’ll be talking about apps I used for CONTENT CONSUMPTION, some of which enable creation.

App Review: Frog Dissection (iPad Only)

App Title: Frog Dissection

Developer Website: Emantras

iTunes Link: Click Here

Grade Level: Elem, MS, HS

Purpose: B-

Program Functionality: B

Overall Educational Value: C+

Explanation: A great first attempt at a virtual lab on the iPad.  The app functions flawlessly as a simple dissection simulator, but lacks a few features that would make this app reign supreme and set the bar for all other iPad science lab apps in the future.

Platform: iPad ONLY

Cost: $4.99

Description / Recommendation:

A common activity for biology students to do is to dissect a frog.  However, this can be smelling, gross, and expensive for schools.  If you are an animal rights person, this could be considered cruel.  While there are many virtual dissection programs out there (like Froguts and The Digital Frog 2.5), this is the first attempt at one for the iPad.  Before the iPad's release, I wrote an article describing the possibly of the iPad acting as a virtual science lab.

Frog Dissection is a very simple, easy to use app for the iPad.  In fact, my three year old son surprised me by figuring out how to dissect the frog on his own using this app.  The app is very intuitive to use without reading the directions.  However, it does display step by step what to do as well.  The app indicates where to place the pins, draw lines, and make cuts so there is no possibility of messing up the frog, unlike in a real wet lab.

After placing pins, making marks with a marker, cutting with a scalpel and scissors, and using forceps, you quickly get to see the frog's guts.  A few of the guts (heart, lungs, liver, small intestines, and stomach) are labeled with blue dots, indicating you can touch those in order to learn more about that particular organ.  When you touch the organ it pops up a 3D model of the organ that can be turned left and right to see the general shape of the organ.  It also includes a written description of the organ and its function.

Overall I am satisfied with this app as a first attempt.  It shows a lot of potential.  I am thus willing to recommend this app, but only with the understanding that it is very simple and limited functionality.  That being said, everything it does, the app does quite well.  I wish the app had more functionality and features, but I do not think this should affect the rating of this app since it functions exactly as advertised.  That being said, I think the $4.99 price tag is a little bit too much for what you get with this app.  However, with the added features I mention below, even a price tag of $9.99 would be a bargain.

Possible Improvements

The app is very simple and easy to use, but is lacking a few key features that would make this a better app.  I have outlined a few of the features I would like to see added to this app to make it a true dissection substitute.  As it currently stands, this app seems overly simplistic to truly accomplish all of the objectives of a dissection.  The additional features I would like to see are:

1. The ability to remove organs from the chest cavity one at a time
2. The ability to dissect a few of the organs to gain a look inside the organs, especially the eye, heart, and lungs
3. The ability to dissect one of the legs to gain exposure to the muscles, veins, nerves, and bones
4. Pictures of an actual frog and/or organs along side the virtual organs as a comparison
5. Build-in comparison between the frog and human organs, including pictures (as this is generally one of the main objectives to dissecting a frog)
6. Various animations, including showing the flow of blood into and out of the heart
7. The ability to turn the organs in multiple directions in the 3D mode, not just left and right
8. The ability to zoom in and out
9. Include more organs, especially the reproductive organs
10. Include audio instructions or descriptions

The above mentioned items would make this app become an exceptional value in my mind.  It would have nearly every feature a biology teacher would hope for in a frog dissection simulator.  However, to make this app worth a $9.99 price tage, the developers need one more feature which would be a little bit more difficult to develop, but would make this app a definite frog dissection replacement.

All of the above mentioned functionality could be used as a tutorial on how to successfully complete a frog dissection.  What would put this app over the top would be a dissection game where the students would need to remember where to make the cuts, place pins, etc.  THEN, once they have the chest cavity opened, they would need to identify the various organs from memory in a matching game activity.  This game feature would truly make this app shine and set the precedent for future science simulator apps for the iPad.

Classroom Use Examples / Ideas:

As is, the Frog Dissection app is a very simple dissection demonstration and/or tutorial.  I do not think it could be a true dissection replacement because of the lack of features I mentioned as possible improvements, however, it could easily be used to catch students up if they opted out of the real wet lab or were absent the day of the actual lab.  This app could also be used as a very quick review for the steps to dissect a frog.

Images:

Click images to see full-size screenshots of Frog Dissection in action.

Opening Screen of Frog Dissection AppThe Frog in Portrait Mode (also works in Landscape)Open Chest Cavity3D Model of Lungs

* This review was created by Trevor McGarrah for IEAR.org and is cross-posted on his personal blog with permission.