Teaching and Learning with iPads

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iPad as Interactive White Board

Activities using iPads (teachwithyouripad wiki)

Can an iPad replace a SmartBoard?

66 Interesting ways to use an iPad in the classroom - that's the title of the presentation not my personal opinion. Not all of the 66 ideas are that interesting. Some have merit and worth trying out though.

iPad schools (wiki) - some pretty useful links/ideas

Here's a complete list of all of the Education Apps on iTunes.

Apps you MUST have on your iPad

iBooks - Apple's ereader. (Free) or, Kindle App, or Nook App
DropBox - Online storage. Great to transfer files between desktop/iPad (Free)
Pages - Word Processor for iPad. ($9.99 - worth every penny)
MyPoint - PowerPoint remote (Free)
Jumbo Calculator - the iPad has no installed calculator app. Grab one. Lots are free. For a simple calculator grab this one.
Google Earth (Free)
Bamboo Paper - take notes, draw pictures, etc. using your own handwriting. (Free)
Common Core Standards - Math and ELA K-12
EZ Common Core - also includes History/SS

Free Apps 

History
World Maps
My Congress
World Book: This Day in History
Life for iPad
NYPL Biblion - 1939 World's Fair
Declaration of Independence
The Constitution
HistoryTools
National Archives Document of the Day
American Revolution

Class Tools
TeacherPal
Groovy Grader

Photos
PhotoChop
Photo Mess - easy collages
Photo Crop - easy photo cropping

Misc.
Prezi Viewer
Dictionary/Thesaurus
Wikipedia Mobile
SlideShark - upload, convert, and present PowerPoint with iPad

Tips and Tricks

Screenshots - press power (on top) and home button and the iPad will take a screenshot and put the image into your photo library.
Organize your apps into folders - tap and hold your finger on the icon of an app until the icons start to jiggle. While jiggling you can drag one app onto another and it will create a folder with both apps inside. You can create as many folders as you like and group similar apps in each one.
Side Switch - above the volume buttons is a tiny slide switch. This can be used to either mute the iPad or lock the iPad's screen orientation. Click Settings, General... and chose how you would like the switch to be used.
CAPS LOCK - Double-tap either Shift key to turn on Caps Lock.
Copy/Paste - tap and hold over text. Copy/Paste menu pops up select copy. You can drag and resize the are you want to select for copying. To select the entire paragraph tap 4 times. Switch to another app and tap and hold again for menu and select Paste.
Hidden Keys - some keys on the keyboard have hidden keys you can activate. For example, rather than switching to the second keyboard each time you need to type and apostrophe you can tap and hold the ! key. The hidden apostrophe will appear. Simply slide you finger up to select it. Experiment with the other keys and discover the hidden keys. ("quotation marks" hidden on ? key)
Navigation shortcuts - 
  • swipe with four fingers left or right to move between open applications.
  • swipe with four fingers up from bottom to see all open apps
  • while in any application pinch together all five fingers to jump back to home screen
  • double click the home button to see all open applications
  • swipe from top down to see current notifications

Privacy - Want to clear your browsing history? Launch Settings, click Safari, click Clear History. Also you can Go to Settings, Safari, and turn on Private Browsing if you don't want to leave a trail...

Apps I've Purchased and Recommend

DerManDar - nice, easy panorama pics. ($1.99)
Civil War Today - ($5.99)
WW2 Posters - 275 posters ($1.99)
AirSketch - turn your iPad into a wireless whiteboard. It's a bit pricey (10 bucks). Try the free version first and see if it works for you. ($9.99)
Penultimate - take notes with your own handwriting, create notebooks, add photos. ($1.99)
U.S. Historical Documents - huge collection ($.99)
Mobile Presenter - still playing but it seems to have some potential ($3.99)

Apps I've Purchased and Regret Buying

Planbook - Sounded great, looked good but I wasted 10 bucks. Not worth the price. Too complicated to set up and use. Save your money, avoid this one. ($9.99)
Easy Gradebook - only 2.99 but didn't like it. Gave up halfway through setting up the first class. Never went back to it. ($2.99)
Teacher's Attache - bought it, started setting it up, got bored, haven't touched it since. Wasted 5 bucks. TeacherPal does everything I want in an app and it was free. ($4.99)