NYSCATE - Join for FREE!

I highly recommend all of you join this great organization. When you join (it's free) you can select groups that you can be a part of. There is a 1:1 group currently, not sure if they've added an iPad group yet. They have great resources, a magazine, emails, etc. You can choose which features you want. One note: most of their emails get sent to your SPAM summary so you have to release them.

Next year I would like some of you to present at the conference! Nicole (and Molly?) are presenting this year. Me too!

Here's the link, then select "Join for free".

G's First Impressions

Here's a brief breakdown of my experience with these devices for the past 1.5 weeks:

Rollout:

• I spent quite a bit of time installing all of the Apps I thought I'd like the students to have access to (detailed list to follow later). Updating the iOS, installing Apps, setting up Mail, and then setting (and resetting) the permissions prove the most time consuming. I guess I'd call it just initial startup time I should expect.
• Each student was assigned an iPad which I tracked on a spreadsheet. This way students can self-police each other ("hey, who messed up my iPad?") and I can narrow down the list of culprits.
• The first couple of times the students had the iPads, I didn't give them any instruction - to let them get the play out of their systems. Photobooth is definitely popular!
• After a couple of days, I introduced them to just a couple of Apps (Campus Portal Mobile, Evernote, Goodnotes). I let them play with them and/or take class notes with them.

Advice:

1.  Dive in! –

• Let the students mess with them. Maybe show them an App or two and turn them loose. After the initial Photobooth / Siri infatuation, they'll settle down and use them more like the tool they're designed to be.

2.  Don't obsess about constant updates! –

• If you have the same Apps on your teacher iPad, just look for 'big' updates before you go trying to update them all.

Initial Apps:

• GoodNotes - I can't say enough good things about this app. Students can import photos and PDFs to this App, they can take notes (using their fingers to write or a stylus), and they can then export those notes to either their Email or DropBox (they have to set up an account). I've attached a picture of an example of this free app. (a paid version is available also).

• EMD Periodic Table of Elements - This is a highly interactive table of elements. Students use it to look up all things from atomic mass, to an element's classification, it's boiling point, trends in atomic radii, etc. There's even a molar mass calculator if they need to double-check things.

- Carl