UYH - Use Your Handwriting

App Title: Use Your Handwriting

Grade Level: any

Purpose: A   This app is a productivity app that I got for making lists and notes without the keyboard (plus it has lovely colors!!).

Program Functionality: A  It is easy to learn to use and has a tutorial that can quickly help you learn to navigate the options for these lists. The settings have options for left-handed and right-handed people and your preferences for how to erase, etc. When you write, it has an automatic scroll that lets you continue to write on the line.

Overall Educational Value: A  I love this for school! My first graders have used this for 2 years for writing their spelling words or practicing some high-frequency words. I love that at the end of their word study, they can just hold up their iPod and let me see their work.

Cost: free! There is a UYH Gold for $.99

Classroom Use Examples / Ideas: Limited only by your imagination! I can have children collect interesting words as they read on UYH. They are fascinated that their writing has this calligraphy style that makes even poor handwriting look great!
 
Developer Website: Gee Whiz Stuff

iTunes Link: Use Your Handwriting
 
Reviewer Name: Carolyn Wojtera
Reviewer Blog: Teach with Tech

 
Other: My students really liked the update with the Christmas paper. Their enthusiasm was renewed with the new view it provided.

 
Hey, check out our Ning (Online Community) devoted to helping teachers utilize these devices to the their fullest.  Please leave a comment if you agree, disagree, or have other creative uses for this app in the classroom, etc.

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.

Simplenote - Simple Synching

App Title:  Simplenote

Grade Level:  This one's primarily for the teachers. But could be used as a writing tool at any level

Purpose:  A

Program Functionality:  A

Overall Educational Value:  A

Cost:  $ - Free, (ad supported, one ad at the top of your list of notes, I rarely even see it) Also you can purchase a pro account for $9.00 a year(gets rid of the ads and give a few more features). I don't see this as necessary in any way though. Simplenote is a Univeral App so the same download gives you the iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad versions.

Recommendation:  I did a pretty awful demo of this app at the Bird of a Feather session, so I want to make sure I give Simplenote its proper due. Simplenote is one of my go to apps. I use it everyday for a variety of reasons. As the title infers Simplenote is just that, simple. The app itself is a one trick pony. It allows you to create plain text notes. Wow, you say, isnt' there a ton of note taking apps out there, and pretty dynamic ones. Yes there are, but again the key to this one is simple. Even at that the simplicity moves beyond the app because when you download and start using the app you create an account at Simplenote.com. Now what ever text you put into a note in Simplenote gets synched to your Simplenote account and you can access it from any computer. But wait, that's not all, Simplenote also syncs with several desktop apps on a Mac or PC. The one I use is Notational Velocity which is a free open source note taking app. You simply point the desktop app to your Simplenote.com account. So whatever I  put into Simplenote is available 3 places, in the app, in the cloud, and on the desktop.

Also wherever you access your notes they are fully searchable. you can perform a search and easily find notes or information within any note. This search works in all 3 places. 

Again, simple says it all, Simplenote and Notational Velocity do text only, but they do it very well. There are more robust apps like Evernote and the like, but for quick, easy, and yes simple, Simplenote is generally the first arrow I pull out of my quiver when I need to jot down a few ideas or take notes in a meeting.

Classroom Use Examples/Ideas: A great tool for teachers to walk around the room and take observation notes on students. A quick and easy way to file ideas. For student use, you can tie more than one device to a Simplenote account. So if you had a classroom set of devices, you tie Simplenote on each of the devices to the same account. Now a teacher could pose a writing prompt and have the students record their responses in Simplenote. The teacher and all of the other students would have access to the responses which would be great for peer editing or review. For a quick writing tool, I don't think Simplenote can be beat. The sync options however turn it into a true powerhouse.

Developer Website:  www.simplenote.com
iTunes Link:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simplenote/id289429962?mt=8

Reviewer Name:  Kelly Dumont

Reviewer Blog:  http://www.theeducationalmac.com

Other: Don’t forget to check out our Ning (Online Community) devoted to helping teachers utilize these devices to the their fullest.  Please leave a comment if you agree, disagree, or have other creative uses for this app in the classroom, etc. 

App Review: Outliner for iPad

App Title: Outliner for iPad

Developer Website: CarbonFin

iTunes Link: Click Here

Grade Level: MS, HS, College

Purpose: A+

Program Functionality: A+

Overall Educational Value: A+

Cost: $4.99

Description / Recommendation:

Have you ever needed to make a shopping list, to-do list, check list,  organize your thoughts, etc.?  If you have ever needed to do any of these things (and what person hasn't needed to do at least one of these things on more than one occasion), then you need to check out "Outliner for iPad".

Outliner allows the user to quickly make any kind of list (shopping, to-do, etc.).  What I thought was really great about it is checklists can be checked off in the program, without needing the list to be printed off, though that is an option, if sent to your email account.

Once you get used to typing on the iPad, making notes in Outliner becomes a breeze.  Be warned though, several users have complained about Outliners limited compatibility with external keyboards for quick formatting of outlines with indentions.  Using the onscreen keyboard poses no problems though.  I do not have an external keyboard and never plan to purchase one, so this is not an issue for me.  So if you are like me, you should find the $4.99 price tag very reasonable for this product.

Outliner works perfectly well in landscape or portrait mode.  In landscape mode you have the list of all created lists on the left side of the screen.  In portrait mode, this is available through a drop down menu at the top of the screen.

Click the plus sign (+) in this menu to create a new outline or list.  Then click the arrow/+ sign button at the top to add your first item.  By default the item is an empty checkbox, but this can be turned off by accessing the info button right next to the add new item button.  You can type a brief title for the description and then add more detailed information using the paper icon on the right side of the screen.

If you want to nest your next point in your list/outline, use the new item icon with the diagonal arrow.  Otherwise you can create a new item by using the regular new item button or by hitting return In the edit mode.

At any point you can change a bullet point into a checkbox or vice versa.  You can also change an unnested bullet point into a nested one by selecting the point and using the arrow buttons at the top right of the screen.  You can also reorder the points by clicking the crossed arrows and then selecting the post by touching and dragging the item by using the three bars image on the right side of the screen.

Outliner automatically saves the lists/outlines for you, but you must manually change the title for each one.  To do this, you must click the info button on the top right.  You should see the default title "Untitled" at the top. By touching the title, the keyboard pops up to allow you to change the name to anything you want.

You can also email your list either as text or OPML format (standard outline format, but requires outline software to read it properly).  I discovered that a text email is just fine.  To email the list, you can touch the menu button at the top middle of the screen and selecting to send an email.  You can also copy the entire outline/list or part of it using the menu button as well.  This allows you to make duplicates very quickly.

As I said earlier, this is a terrific outline/list creating app.  It is very easy to use and has all of the features you would want in such a program.  I highly recommend using Outliner for iPad.

Classroom Use Examples / Ideas:

This app could be used by students for creating outlines for book reports or other types of writing assignments.  They could also use it for creating checklists to help them monitor if they have completed ever part of an assignment or project.

Teachers could use this as a grading sheet for presentations or other projects.  They could quickly fill in notes about each category, checkoff completion of various components of the project, or for creating rubrics.  These rubrics could be mailed to students, or printed as needed by sending them to an email address to be printed later.

Other: 

If you are an iPhone or an iPod touch user, there is an Outliner app available for $4.99 for you as well.  Outlines can be shared between both versions of Outliner.

Images:

Click images to see full-size screenshots of Outliner for iPad in action.

App Review Made in Outliner for iPad (#1)

App Review Made in Outliner for iPad (#2)Outliner for iPad in Landscape Mode

*This app review was created by Trevor McGarrah and cross-posted on his blog at Edutechnophobia with permission.

Educate - iPhone / iTouch App for Teachers - Coming Soon!

Note: Coming Soon but we think this is something to look for!

Educate is an iPhone/iTouch application designed to support teaching professionals in schools, universities and colleges.

http://www.ikonstrukt.com/

Featuring inbuilt lesson planning, student tracking, teaching strategies and eLearning tools, Educate provides teachers with a holistic approach to engaging students in 21st century learning environments. Feel free to join their Facebook group www.tinyurl.com/EducateApp if you want to be the first to know when Educate goes live. They will also be giving away free copies of the app through this Facebook page so be sure to check that out!

Plan your lessons:

Educate's inbuilt weekly planner keeps all your planning in one place. Personalise your weekly timetable and plan for individual lessons all from a single interface.

Monitor student attendance and progress:

Quickly and easily track student attendance or performance in all your classes via ready made scales. Update records as you teach and export to your PC, Mac or Learning Management System

Engage with eLearning:

Post content to your Moodle learning space, anytime, anywhere. Also, access critical tools such as a voice recorder for anecdotal notes, a camera that allows you to tag images and a stopwatch for time-critical tasks.

Implement effective teaching strategies:

Access easy to follow strategies for engaging students in your lessons. Choose from a variety of individual or collaborative activities directly aimed at improving learning outcomes.

Collaborate with other Educate users:

Use your Facebook account to connect with other Educate users to discuss pedagogical practice, suggest application features and seek support.