Google Apps for Education and iPads - ACTEM 2014 Session

Yarmouth Elementary iPad Roundtable

Today was the first of what we hope will be a series of iPad Roundtable conversations. About thirty educators from area schools gathered at Rowe School from 3:30-5:00. Tara Maker, the regional Apple Sales rep., and Jim Moulton, K-12 Education Development Executive at Apple, provided snacks and managed the registration. We had determined three topics for possible discussion:
 • Using the Book Creator app for students and teachers to make books that are read via iBooks - getting started!
• Using 1:1 iPads - what apps work well, what ideas can we share?
• Using iPads at stations in grades K-5

Groups formed around the three topics with some people moving between groups. There were a mix of technology integrators and classroom teachers from grades K-5. I learned some new tips about using any iPad as well as some good app recommendations.

Apple Review of iPads in Schools

• Exploring the impact of Apple's iPad on schools & schooling.
  tags: iPadApps iPads elementary

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

New England Apple Tech Update Spring2012

• Class Widgets - Custom Widgets for iBooks Author
  tags: iBooks gadgets Apple
• New England Apple Tech Updates
  tags: Apple tech 2012

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

It's been a few years since I attended an Apple Update. Mike, Alice and I all chose to attend this one due to the agenda items. It was helpful to hear about the development of management tools for iPads for schools adding large numbers of iPads. As long as we are adding a few iPads at a time we will be manually setting up iPads with either personal, institutional or hybrid accounts for each iPad. It is somewhat complicated as exploring apps requires access to iTunes cards or Apple Voucher provided apps. Another item on the agenda was the new option to create multimedia texts in iBooks. The limitations are that books can only be created by teachers and they belong to the teacher not the school. This is going to take some working out as we see what the potential is for iBooks and other epub options. In Yarmouth we are often looking for a tool that students can use as a multi-media creation tool. Most teachers are using sites, wikis and blogs for their own curriculum development online.

Leveraging Learning: the iPad in Primary Grades - Auburn - Nov 2011

This three day institute had four strands: Curriculum, Pedagogy & Assessment, Leadership & Professional Development,  Data/Research and Technical Project Management. It was hard to split myself between the three strands and I was envious of the school districts that had larger teams attending the Institute. I got an introduction to each of the strands and coordinated with the parent from the Yarmouth Elementary Foundation. I met people from other districts who were looking at iPad implementations in a variety of forms and I attended some sessions with colleagues who are first grade teachers in Cape Elizabeth. The most powerful piece of the three days was visiting a Kindergarten classroom and talking with students using the iPads. The apps they were using for Math and Literacy learning showed the unique opportunities that an iPad can offer for engagement, problem-solving and immediate feedback.