iPad: Have I got to the end of my road app?

I think I may have come to a conclusion with my iPad: I've got all of the apps I will ever need. By this, what I really mean is I have all of the genres of apps that I need and I really can't think of anything else I need to do my job. For a bit of background, Google Apps is my platform of choice for document storage (and I teach and manage ICT across the curriculum).

Here is what I have:

Cloud

Google Drive
Dropbox
Evernote

Productivity/Collaboration 

Google Drive
QuickOffice (syncs with Google Drive)
Notability (syncs with Google Drive)
Explain Everything (syncs with Google Drive)
Book Creator
Haiku Deck
Splashtop (for accessing remote computers, both Mac and PC)

Social

Twitter
Flipboard

Teaching Tools

iDoceo (backs up to Dropbox)
Socrative
Quizlet
YouTube
iTunes U
mp3 Recorder

Digital Video/Audio

iMovie
Green Screen FX Studio
Coach My Video
Garageband

Computing

Kodable
Edhita
Codea
Hopscotch
Cargobot
Bee Bot

Browser

Safari
Chrome

Basically with all of these apps, I can create any sort of content I need to (written and multimedia), I can annotate and store documents in the cloud that are emailed to me, I can access almost all web based tools. I can keep my markbook up to date with grades, annotations, pictures and videos of student's work. I can access both my Mac and PC screens through my iPad. I can take and edit digital video and audio.

In some ways, this illustrates the brilliance of the iPad (currently) over other devices, that all of this functionality is squeezed into a small and accessible form.

So, I can do everything I need to with these apps. Am I missing anything? Am I missing any app genres that would make my electronic working life complete? Currently, I can't see myself downloading too many more apps in the very near future (in fact I have a gift card that is currently burning a hole in my pocket!). Any and all suggestions welcome.

Youtube: My new teaching assistant

I've had a YouTube account for a while, but never really used it that much until a few months back. Teaching ICT, I'm on a mission to make my learning as mobile and flexible for my students as possible, so aspects of the flipped classroom model appeal to me, such as the use of videos for education. I started using a combination of www.screenr.com to create video tutorials and YouTube to host them. What has happened to my student's learning and my teaching as a result of this?

The bottom line is this: The students in my classes using my YouTube channel are producing work a year ahead of the equivalent year group last year.

How did this happen? I am using my YouTube channel as a sort of teaching assistant. In other words I demo and explain the lesson, address misconceptions and questions from the students as normal, but then I have a few video tutorials of my demos on my YouTube channel. If they get stuck, I can refer them to the relevant video.

Before I used this method I would have students throughout the lesson asking for reassurance, help or guidance because they had forgotten how to do the task (maybe a reflection on my teaching). Now this doesn't happen I find that my time is freed up during the lesson to help students in a more in-depth one to one basis. I can also 'live mark' with my iPad, giving verbal feedback to students on a regular basis in the lesson, whilst noting down comments in iDoceo.

Because of this extra in-lesson time, I can push my students further and suggest more advanced things for them to try. One example of this is last year's Year 7s were making games in Gamemaker which were good, but fairly static with limited input, this year, the Year 7's are making scrolling shoot-em up adventure games. As a result their attainment has gone up and they are producing much more advanced work.

How do I make the videos? Very simple:

1 - Record a screencast with www.screenr.com. Max recording time is 5 mins (this is good, too long = too boring).
2 - Upload to your YouTube channel directly from Screenr.
3 - Put it into a playlist so your students can find it easily.

If you're interested to see some examples of how I'm using it, check out www.youtube.com/bgsict and go to the playlists. Currently the Photoshop, Flash and Gamemaker are the most active ones.

Also, why YouTube? Well, it can be accessed from pretty much any device with an internet connection, which fits my need for flexibility in learning. Also, as any one who has worked with digital video knows, it is a bit of a dark art. YouTube makes it easy to upload and stream without fiddling about with codecs.

So, does YouTube make me a lazy, or more effective teacher? So far I would say more effective, because of the impact it has had on my students and time management. I am conscious of the danger of just saying "look at YouTube" for today's lesson and as with all tech, as long as it is integrated into my lesson and not 'my lesson', then things should go OK. 

Maybe soon I'll be replaced with a hologram........

iPad as a content creation tool...are you mad?!

We are in the middle of an iPad mini trial at school at the moment and I was on a learning walk last week observing how our students are integrating them into their lessons. I had a strange, but enlightening experience in a Food Technology lesson that I observed.

The students were in an ICT room preparing presentations on some work they had done in the Food Tech lab. The ICT room is kitted out with PCs, with PowerPoint, Google Presentations, Prezi etc.. all at their disposal. As part of our 1 to 1 trial, all of the students also had their iPad mini.

Going back a few months, when researching in preparation for our iPad trial, I came across the old mantra several times of PC = creation, iPad = consumption, smartphone = soupcon. Having been an iPad power user since September, I didn't personally believe this as I can pretty much do everything I need to on my iPad. However, what about the normal teacher or student who isn't as sad and geeky as I am? I assumed they would follow the old mantra of get to a PC in order to do anything meaningful.

Going forward again, back to the Food Tech lesson, students were on the PCs and had their iPads as a second screen. On closer inspection, they were using the PC as a second screen to do the research, and the iPad to create the presentation (Explain Everything, Haiku Deck etc...). Interesting, I thought. This is turning that mantra, which at first glance looks like it makes sense, on it's head. I don't even think this is because they still have the novelty aspect of the iPads (they have had them for 6 weeks).

My reasoning behind this choice made by our students is that that portability wins over power and functionality. Students want the ability to take their work with them over snazzy animations, colours and pictures. Because they are working on their iPads, they can continue this work anywhere and at any time, which is in essence why the iPad works for me and many others. This is not something that the teacher asked them to do as they had free choice as to which tool would work best for them, and they chose the best tool in their opinion, which is ultimately what we are trying to achieve by integrating ICT into classrooms.

So, is that old mantra dead? Not yet, but the writing appears to be on the wall (or on the iPad).