Can Apple Save Education?

Peter sent me a link to this infographic which was created by the hype generated around Apple's re-entry into education last month with the introduction of their interactive text books.

Via: OnlineEducation.net

Cnet: Why iPad's and iBooks are not a viable solution for schools.

I am big fan of the iPad and can see a lot of potential for it in education even if it is a little hard to define still after nearly three years on the market. 

In the past I have identified some of the short fallings in using iPad's as a mainstream educational computer but today Cnet published an intersting article about why Apple's latest innovation and reworking of the textbook may be just too much for schools to adopt in a financial and logistical sense. 

The article is here and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it as I know many schools have had mixed reviews of iPad's thus far.

3 iPad apps to assist teaching mathematics

Mathboard

Featured in the recent iPad TV ad "Learn".

This is the best integer practice app or program I have found in 34 years of teaching math. - Tim Seiber, Math Teacher

MathBoard is a stunning app for teaching addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems. The number of customization options available make this a brilliant app for making math fun for elementary school children. -www.androapple.com

MathBoard has charm without losing track of its fundamental purpose (Arithmetic drills). - MacWorld (4 out of 5 mice)

MathBoard is a fantastic math learning tool for your iPad. -- MathBoard is appropriate for all ages from kindergarten (with simple addition and subtraction problems) to elementary school where learning multiplication and division can be a challenge. You can control the range of numbers you want to work with, the amount of questions you want to answer and even assign a time limit per quiz. MathBoard will make learning math fun. 

MathBoard features:
- Random problem generation (up to 250 questions per quiz). 
- Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Squares, Cubes and Square Roots
- Number ranges are configurable from -9999 to 9999, including the ability to require certain numbers to be in each problem.
- Intelligent "wrong" answer generation makes guessing more difficult. Includes the ability to omit negative answers.
- A quiz can be timed, and timing can be set as a countdown timer or elapsed time.
- A quiz can be saved making it simple to replay a similar quiz or the same quiz at a later date.
- Wrong answers are reviewable with both the incorrect and correct answer visible (and equation displayed). You can even generate a quiz from just the wrong answers.
- Problem Solver for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division will explain the required steps to solve these types of problems.
- Quick reference math tables for Addition, Subtraction and Multiplication.
- LanSchool EdApp certified.
- Supports VGA/HDMI/AirPlay Output.

Wolfram Alpha Algebra Assistant

Taking algebra? Then you need the Wolfram Algebra Course Assistant. This definitive app for algebra--from the world leader in math software--will help you quickly solve your homework problems, ace your tests, and learn algebra concepts so you're prepared for your next courses. Forget canned examples! The Wolfram Algebra Course Assistant solves your specific algebra problems on the fly, often showing you how to work through the problem step by step.

This app covers the following topics applicable to Algebra I, Algebra II, and College Algebra:

- Evaluate any numeric expression or substitute a value for a variable.
- Simplify fractions, square roots, or any other expression.
- Solve a simple equation or a system of equations for specific variables.
- Plot basic, parametric, or polar plots of the function(s) of your choice.
- Expand any polynomial.
- Factor numeric expressions, polynomials, and symbolic expressions.
- Divide any two expressions. 
- Find the partial fraction decomposition of rational expressions.

The Wolfram Algebra Course Assistant is powered by the Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine and is created by Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematica---the world's leading software system for mathematical research and education.

The Wolfram Algebra Course Assistant draws on the computational power of Wolfram|Alpha's supercomputers over 2G, 3G, or WiFi connection.

 Includes tutorials, lessons, quizzes, flashcards, decision trees, calculators, and glossaries for terms, formulas, and symbols. 

◊ “This app is the best statistics tool I’ve ever seen.” 
◊ “This could very well be the future of university textbooks.” 
◊ “It's a great tool to go to for an easy answer.” 
◊ “I can learn anywhere or anytime.” 
◊ “The quizzes help ensure I comprehend the lessons.” 
◊ “It gives real-life examples in each lesson and tables so I can easily reinforce the information I just read. 

The app was designed by educational psychology Ph.D.s, statistics teachers, and software experts. Many of us learned stats the traditional, boring way – through books and lectures. We always wanted more interactive, visual, and engaging ways to learn stats. Statistics has many abstract concepts so we use real-world examples to anchor your understanding. 

 Statisitics 1 for iPad

Includes tutorials, lessons, quizzes, flashcards, decision trees, calculators, and glossaries for terms, formulas, and symbols. 

◊ “This app is the best statistics tool I’ve ever seen.” 
◊ “This could very well be the future of university textbooks.” 
◊ “It's a great tool to go to for an easy answer.” 
◊ “I can learn anywhere or anytime.” 
◊ “The quizzes help ensure I comprehend the lessons.” 
◊ “It gives real-life examples in each lesson and tables so I can easily reinforce the information I just read. 

The app was designed by educational psychology Ph.D.s, statistics teachers, and software experts. Many of us learned stats the traditional, boring way – through books and lectures. We always wanted more interactive, visual, and engaging ways to learn stats. Statistics has many abstract concepts so we use real-world examples to anchor your understanding. 

Math Game Time

Math Game Time is a great hub for flash-based games and videos revolving around math. There are a ton of appealing interactive games targeted at students from Pre-K to Middle School. The video section of the site has curated a bunch of quality YouTube videos. For those that have an iPad, paid app versions of some of the games are available.

5 iPad Apps Every Teacher Should Have

Just to wrap up our week of apps for teachers here are some favourites that will make your iPad a little more productive in the classroom.  Enjoy

iWork Until Microsoft release office for the iPad iWork offers the MS Works equivalent of a productivity suite for the iPad. Pages, Numbers and Keynote make for a fairly impressive productivity suite for $30, or $10 each.

Teaching & Classroom Resources @ www.theteachinglab.com

The Elements: A Visual Exploration: Sounds a bit pricey for a periodic table, but the vividly animated illustrations of every substance our world is made of more than make up for it. $14

Bento: Organize your Life

Mobile Air Mouse: Do you use an Interactive whiteboard and have wireless keyboards and mice floating around the place that either don’t work or you have to actually sit in front of a computer to type something on your IWB.  Download and install Mobile Air Mouse and you can use your  iPad to do everything on your IWB.   Now I sit with my students and run a lesson.  Media controls, Keyboard and Mouse.  My all time most used app at school on my iPhone.  Works through a wireless network and is pretty painless to set up.  Check out the video below.

DropBox:  I own a laptop, 2 desktop PC’s at home, have files on the network at school and now have some stuff on my iPhone and an iPad.   I was going crazy trying to keep track of it all.   Drop box allows you to sync everything without any hassle at all to every PC you use both locally and in the cloud and now best of all you can access all of your files through your iPhone.  Also you can create public folders for your students to access files from the web too.  It’s free - Absolute Gold

Pi83 Graphing Calculator A simple calculator isn't enough for most math students once they hit high school, so having a graphing calculator handy is always welcome. And since Pi83 Graphing Calculator, which mimics Texas Instruments' Ti-83 graphing calculator, costs just 99 cents.  Never be outsmarted by your students again.

WorldBook – This Day in History. This interactive calendar is powered by World Book Encyclopedia and features historical information for each day of the year.  Struggling for a lesson idea today or just need to fill in 10 minutes with some great facts from history.

Cram Cram is designed specifically to help students study for a big test. The app allows them to create multiple-choice quizzes and study guides with a flash-card-like system. The app even randomizes the answers to ensure students aren't memorizing a particular option.  Best of all for teachers it has a massive bank of online tests you can access and administer.  Don’t sit up all night planning or correcting a test again.

History: Maps of the World One of the most important tools any student can use is a historical map of the world to help them in both geography and history classes. That's where History: Maps of the World comes in.

After downloading the free app, users can view maps of all the continents at different points throughout history. The app features up-to-date maps showing current boundaries. But where it provides the most value is in its historical maps, which display boundaries and important places from periods throughout history. It's a great way to help students increase their effectiveness in geography and history class and a great discussion point in geography lessons.

Flash-Me - This educational iPhone App lets you use Cramberry (the amazing online flashcard maker) on your iPad. With Flash-Me, you can create, edit and study your flash cards on your iPhone.  These can be later shared with students in class.

Mathematical Formulas Mathematical Formulas is a must-see app for any math student. It not only helps users gain access to hard-to-remember formulas quickly, but it might also prove to be a handy studying tool.

Like me if you are not Rainman and your students hit you with something from left field in maths this is a great tool to get you out of what can be an embarrassing spot.

Anyhow I know some these are iPhone apps but I am sure that by next week there will be another thousand useful and useless apps that will take their place.  Enjoy your playtime over Easter with your iPad and let me know what you have found useful.

5 Best iPad Apps to Help with Education

I regulalrly put together suggestions for using the iPad in the classroom but I came across this video below with some alternative and fresh ideas for using the iPad in the classroom.  Hope you enjoy it.

What do teachers want from an iPhone, iPad App

We are currently in the process of creating an iPhone / iPad app for Edgalaxy so that we can better share our content with our mobile audience. 

And I have one very simple question for the teachers of the world.  What do you want from an app?  Please leave us a comment below and hopefully we can incorporate some ideas into our app.

Thanks

Kev

The Ultimate Guide to Using iPads in the Classroom

There is no doubt to anyone who has used an iPad or any tablet for that matter that they show a clear alternative to teaching learning in the classroom beyond laptops, screens and monitors.  The iPads simplicity of use and massive range of apps give it a great deal of appeal as a teaching and learning tool and the future looks bright for this trend to continue.  

Yes it does have a number of shortfalls in some areas - like any early technology so I am going to share some great resources with you that I have come across which highlight the benefits of iPads in the class room and hopefully they will be of use to you.

The DEECD located in Victoria Australia has some brilliant resources located at their iPads in the classroom trial website including.

The 21 Steps to iPad success which is a document created to assist schools to smoothly implementing their iPads in the classroom, and have provided each school with some support materials. The In Their Hands: iPads for Learning Trial; 21 Steps to 1-to-1 Success outlines four phases for successful implementation of 1-to-1 devices:

1. Planning
2. Preparing
3. Implementing
4. Evaluating

The Getting Started Guide can also be downloaded here and it has some great lesson suggestions and apps that you can use as both a teacher and a student.

More information about the DEECD trial can be found here

Here are some sample lessons that will give you an idea of not only how to integrate the iPad into your classroom but give you a great template for planning lessons that utilise a tablet.

Here are a nice collection of tips for teachers using iPads in education covering a very broad range of topics

Do you have a iPads in your school and need help putting together a user policy - download this one and see what GFW High School implement iPad use to teachers and students.

Here are some more useful resoruces on Ipads from Educause.  Generally quite broad again but worth a look.

Finally there are literally hundreds of educational app review sites popping up on the web but here is a great starting point for finding genuinely useful apps before you trawl the web.

Obviously there are loads of great iPad resources popping up on the web everyday.  If you think we have missed something important please leave a comment below and let us know.