Excellent iPad Tips,Tricks, and Resources for Teachers

August 23, 2014
I received a couple of requests over the last few days to feature a post about tips for managing iPad classrooms. I know several of you, if not at the start of the school year then at least at some point during this school year will probably be drawing on iPad as a teaching resource to scaffold students learning. To this end, I went ahead and compiled this list hoping you will find it helpful. Enjoy

iPad Management Tips and Tricks

Techchef4U has this wonderful cheat sheet that features some important guidelines and tips on iPad management. You can download this document in PDF format from this link.

Places to look for educational apps

Here are some of the trusted platforms where you can search for educational apps to use with your students.

• Teachers with Apps
• Fun Educational Apps
• Bridging Apps
• APPitic
• Smart Apps for Kids

 iPad Apps Evaluation rubrics

Here are some wonderful rubrics to help you and your students better evaluate the apps to use in your class.

• Tony Vincent's App Evaluation Rubric
• Mobile Application Selection Rubric
• iPad App Evaluation Guiding Questions

 iPad Posters for your class

There is a section here in Educational technology and Mobile Learning where I feature iPad posters that teachers can use in their classes. Here are some samples I selected for you.

• 5 Awesome iPad Posters for Teachers
• iPad Responsible Use
• iPad Oath
• Basic iPad Task for Students

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4 Great Resources for Using iPad in Your Classroom

May 7, 2014
One of the wonderful Ed Tech resources I have been checking regularly is Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything. This website features a wide variety of guides, tips, tutorials, links, presentations and many other resources related to educational technology. All the content is neatly organized into different categories ; clicking on each category will take you to a page where you will find a plethora of resources related to that category.

Today as I was checking ' iPad in Classrooms' category I came across some great slideshows on iPad basics, tips and tricks for teachers. I selected some of them to share with you below.

1-  iPads in the classroom 

Ipads in the classroom from belindakayehill

2- Creative Uses for iPad in the Classroom

Creative Uses for iPad in the Classroom from Mike Amante

3- How to use iPads in the classroom 

How to use iPads in the classroom from Lebarone

4- Teacher Productivity with iPad

Teacher Productivity with iPad from Mike Amante

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Great iPad Tips and Resources for Teachers

April 29, 2014
Below is what I have been preparing for you over the last weekend. I have gone through all the archive of posts I have shared here and consulted several other external resources to compile this guide. The purpose behind this work is to help teachers and educators better tap into the full educational potential of iPad and make a good use of it in their instruction as well as in their professional development.

I divided this guide into 5parts:

• iPad Technical Tips
• iPad Management Tips and Tricks 
• Resources for Finding Educational Apps
• iPad Apps Evaluation Rubrics
• iPad classroom posters

iPad Technical Tips

1- Take a screenshot 
To take a screenshot on your iPad just click on the the Home button followed immediately by clicking on the Sleep/Wake button. You will hear a click sound after the shot is taken. All the screenshots are saved in your iPad's Photo's Gallery. From there you can can email or share them on popular social media.

2- Print Docs from your iPad
My favourite way to print docs from iPad is through using AirPrint. AirPrint enables instant printing from iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Mac without the need to install drivers or download software. Simply select an AirPrint printer and print. It's that simple. AirPrint is compatible with most of the popular printers ( Canon, HP, Brother, Epson, Dell…etc). Check out this article to learn how to use AirPrint.

3- Double Click the Home button
When you double click on the Home button you will be able to :

• View and launch recently used applications
• Lock screen orientation, adjust brightness, play media, and adjust media sound.

4- Creating folders for apps
To create a folder for your apps.Touch and hold icons until jiggling, then drag the app on top of another and a folder will be created  to hold both of them. You can add more apps to this folder by dragging other apps to it. Give the folder a  name the folder then  click on the home button to save.

5- Check the open apps
To check all the apps that are open on your iPad. Click on the Home button two times then a thumbnail of the apps that are opened will be displayed. Swipe right to left to go through them. To close any app, jus tap on it and swipe it upwards.

6- Activate Guided Access
Guided Access keeps the iPad in a single app, and allows you to control which features are available. This is great when working with students. To start Guided Access, triple click the home button in the app you want to use. Check out this visual guide to earn more about  how to use Guided Access.

7- Copy/Paste
To copy and paste a portion of text on iPad, just tap and hold down and then select the text you want to copy then click on copy. To copy the whole paragraph, tap four times. To paste your text, just tap and hold down then click on paste.
Check out more iPad technical tips from this page and this page.

iPad Management Tips and Tricks

Techchef4U has this wonderful cheat sheet that features some important guidelines and tips on iPad management. You can download this document in PDF format from this link.

Places to look for educational apps

Here are some of the trusted platforms where you can search for educational apps to use with your students.

• Teachers with Apps
• Fun Educational Apps
• Bridging Apps
• APPitic
• Smart Apps for Kids

 iPad Apps Evaluation rubrics

Here are some wonderful rubrics to help you and your students better evaluate the apps to use in your class.

• Tony Vincent's App Evaluation Rubric
• Mobile Application Selection Rubric
• iPad App Evaluation Guiding Questions

 iPad Posters for your class

There is a section here in Educational technology and Mobile Learning where I feature iPad posters that teachers can use in their classes. Here are some samples I selected for you.

• 5 Awesome iPad Posters for Teachers
• iPad Responsible Use
• iPad Oath
• Basic iPad Task for Students

 Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

iPad Apps Aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy and SMAR Model

April 20, 2014
Here is another wonderful conceptualization of how iPad apps can be aligned with both Bloom's Taxonomy and SAMR model. Doug Loader from iSupport has created this terrific Venn diagram featuring the 3 Cs activities : Consumption, collaboration, and Creation. Doug contended that the apps that  we use fall under one of these Cs. For an effective educational use of iPad apps, Doug recommends that teachers make a concise balance between the apps and the 3 Cs posing questions such as :

• Which apps are you consuming (researching, learning specific facts) with?
• Which apps are you collaborating (sharing, building, assessing) with?
• Which apps are you creating (combining, presenting, concluding) with?

As is shown in the diagram below, Doug provided various examples of apps to be used with the 3 Cs. He also assigned the appropriate Bloom's thinking level to each of these categories. In a second diagram, Doug aligned the two models of Blooms Taxonomy and SAMR model with iPad apps. You can check this diagram here.

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