Thursday, April 28, 2011

iPad apps to synchronize your class & school

Recently I was asked to present a few useful apps to teachers. I had the privilege of doing this presentation at the Apple Store in SoHo (Manhattan).

Apple is running a monthly series of Apple Store workshops for New York City educators. They want, of course, for the NYCDOE to buy iPads, in large volume. However, they are also offering great support and professional development on best practices through these workshops. Each workshop features Apple presenters on the basics of use, as well as NYC educators presenting apps they currently use in their school/classroom.

For the kick-off event in April, I was asked to present how I use iPads to wirelessly synchronize content and to connect to the Smartboard. This presentation was based on my previous blog post regarding my favorite everyday apps.




This Keynote presentation is also available on iWork.com, Apple's hosting site for publishing content created within the Apple suite of products.

Apps discussed:
Remoter - $0.99
Dropbox - $-free
PlainText - $-free for basic version (ad supported) $4.99 for full version
GoodReader $4.99

Drobbox companion:
DROPitTOme

I'm looking forward to attending the ongoing DOE iPad events, some as presenter, some as attendee. Hearing from colleagues is the best way to learn and I am looking forward to learning from others inside the DOE how they best use their iPads.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

2 hours to download the S. F. Examiner

I just finished watching a two minute YouTube clip that just might the most accurate description of the newspaper industry ever.

It is a news report from 1981 about the San Francisco Examiner putting their paper "online."



My favorite parts of the video are, in no particular order...
... "2-3 thousand home computer owners in the San Francisco area"
... genius old school modem, hooked up to a rotary-dialed phone
... the home user in the story is actually noted, via graphic, as "home computer owner" - how genius is that.

The most interesting quote, to me, is the S. F. Examiner editor saying "it wont make us money."

It's interesting to see the full circle of digital newspapers. From an experiment, to money making division with ads and paywalls, now slipping back to revenue-less experiments in relevancy.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

NPR, Apple, a new Chancellor... the reasons I don't write...

The web is an important tool for educators. It is useful in reaching out to colleagues beyond your own daily reach. It's great for finding resources. It's great for putting your thoughts to "paper." That last item is why I started this blog, to put some of my thoughts to paper in an effort to give them structure for myself as well as to "say them out loud."

Saying things out loud, in a form like a blog, is a great way to see your thoughts from a different perspective as well as possibly stumble upon others who share, or directly oppose, those thoughts. Agreement and opposition are great ways to learn and experiment with those ideas.

I have been very lax in putting my thoughts to paper. Since I last posted a number of things have occurred, conspiring to prevent me from writing...
  • I was interviewed by WNYC, the local NPR, regarding the $80 million dollar IBM designed data system called ARIS
  • iPads have been rolled out to our six 2nd grade teachers for conferring with and assessing students, and I have been running professional development sessions to train the teachers to use them
  • I prepared for and presented to 350+ educators at the Apple SoHo store regarding iPads in the classroom
  • A new Chancellor was appointed in New York City. This new Chancellor, Dennis Walcott, is moving over from his position as Deputy Mayor for Education. Chancellor Walcott had my Principal and student council executive board on hand for the press conference, and mentioned our school by name, adding his intention to come out and cook us pancakes.
Busy weeks...

In the coming posts I will elaborate on each of these events individually. Looking forward to putting my thoughts to paper, speaking out loud...