QR Codes with Voice

http://qrvoice.net/

Just when you thought QR Codes were easy enough, audio appears. Go to http://qrvoice.net/ , type or paste your text and choose the size of the QR Code that you want... oh and don't forget to choose which language you want it translated into. Print off your code. Next, get your smart phone, iPod Touch, iPad 2 or whatever you like and scan the code. The results - you get a pretty clear audio of the text that you input. I smell differentiation!

iPhone Configuration Utility 3.4 - PROXY!

YEA!!! 3.4 is here. I just knew someone would listen... especially with iOS 5 and OS Lion out. Really, the only thing I cared about in the new iPhone Configuration Utility was the ability to add a proxy to the WiFi part. Now it is available. As you are configuring your profile, simply change your proxy setup to manual, then add your proxy settings. This is a good thing for Wake County Public Schools and other schools that are behind a proxy setting.

.epub - The Electronic Book Format

No, .epub is not the best place to get your favorite electronic cocktail.
Yes, .epub is the industry standard for the electronic book format.
And yes, you can create your own electronic book without going through a publisher. Using the .epub format will let that document be readable by apps such as iBooks on the iPod Touch or iPad and other eReaders. I discovered this information here. Basically, you make your "book" in Word or better yet, Pages (for Mac). There are some formatting issues that you may want to look into such as floating pictures or ones that move with the text. Anyway, save the file as a .doc or .docx. If you are using Pages, there is an export feature that will automatically save it as a .epub. If you have a .doc file, go to http://www.2epub.com/ and convert your file there. There is a 25Mb limit, but that shouldn't be a problem. I did a trial run with Pages and it was soooo easy. Give it a try.

Swiffy - Flash for iPod Touch / iPad

Swiffy - a Google tool that converts .swf to html 5 and makes it viewable for the apple mobile devices. I tried it with something that I created, but I made it with Action Script 3.0 instead of 2.0. It mostly worked. I may try to switch it to 2.0 sometime soon and see if that works better. Otherwise, I've heard good things about it so far.

A New Kind of Paperback

Your regular old paperback book, just get a 21st Century upgrade as you begin to paste these newfangled QR Codes in them. If you haven't checked out QR Codes, you can learn about them and create your own codes at QRstuff.com. So you take any book, find some closely related video clips, websites, question set, or some other multimedia enrichment activity and make a QR Code for that. Print your code, after shrinking it of course, and paste it in your book on the page that you want some enrichment. I can't claim to have created this idea. I give credit to this article that I read by Cyndi Danner-Kuhn. Thank you for sharing this great idea.

Make an App link directly to the iTunes Store

If you have ever wondered how to create a link that takes the user directly to the iTunes store, go to iTunes Link Maker. Here, you can find the App, Audiobook, Music, Podcast, or whatever you are looking for. Once you find it, there will be some basic information about it and a link. That takes you to a page where you can copy an paste the direct link, or create a small/large icon or just the text. Then all you have to do is cut and paste that information and use that on your website.

Find my iPhone

Do you worry about these little $200+ devices slipping out of sight? Well I do and here is a partial solution that I found. Ok, so it is a little late since iCloud is right around the corner, but you can use Find my iPhone to track your iPod Touch's. Go to Settings (or straight to mail if an account hasn't already been set up)/ Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Then click Add Account... and choose MobileMe. If you have iOS 4.2.1 or later, it will ask for you username and password. I put our school iTunes account information in and that worked. Then it prompts you to turn on Find my iPhone. Say Yes. Now go to any computer and go to https://me.com/find. Use the same iTunes account to log in and voila! You will see a map with pretty accurate details as to where your iPod Touch / iPad is. You can do this for several devices at once. I have about 20 so far and no problems. The device has to hit WiFi for it to be tracked. If nothing else, it could be a very good deterrent for sticky fingers in a school. Enjoy.

iOS 5 just around the corner

I just read a nice article about the new iOS 5 coming this fall. It seems like some helpful items for the classroom my be in store as long as the network and proxy's will cooperate. Being able to upgrade and sync straight from the device may remove that extra step which can be confusing if you've never done that before. Although many of the updates are phone specific, it does seem that there will be a new chat feature that could be used for some collaboration... your in the classroom and you student wants to go to the library. Well, send them a chat that it is time to come back ; ) Ok, maybe not so good for bathroom breaks. My favorite update on the list... click and hold any word - anywhere - and access its definition. I can be typing in notes, click on the word that I just typed and get the definition to see if that is the word I really wanted to use... fantastic! I hope there is a thesaurus attached. There are some new Twitter integration aspects that might be nice. There could be a tweet job for a student(s)... "Just learned about subtracting fractions - don't forget to have common denominators." Tweet a quick picture before the teacher erases the board and your golden! The iOS 5 TBA is this fall of 2011.

Discovery Education and the iPad meet

So Discovery Education has a mobile version of their website, however it was built specifically to fit an iPad. If you try to access it from an iPod or iPhone, you will see the page... well, part of the page at least. Anyway, go to http://mobile.discoveryeducation.com/users/login and use your regular login and password and enjoy Discovery Education in the palm of your hands.

Updating to the latest iOS doesn't take as long as you think anymore

So I got this from a source from a source... anyway, IT WORKS! Save some time when updating your iPod's/iPad's and check out the information below that I got from here.

“It turns out that actually updating the iPad (or iPod touch) doesn’t take very long at all. Maybe 10 to 15 minutes per device. The trick, though, is to download the iOS update image once and keep it around on a USB stick or portable hard drive.”

You can also keep a copy on the one computer you use for syncing all the devices, assuming you’re making sets with identical configurations. But please, make a backup of the iOS file before you begin updating multiple devices. After you update the first iPad or iPod touch, a copy of the update file will be saved to your computer.

“iTunes saves the update image in ~/Library/iTunes/iPad Software Updates.”

For the iPod touch, this folder is ~/Library/iTunes/iPod Software Updates

1. Connect the device and let it back up.
2. Decline iTunes’ offer to download the update.
3. Hold down the Option key and click the Update button in iTunes. This presents you with a file chooser dialog box. Navigate to where you saved the update file and select it.
4. Wait for the update to complete.
5. Let the device restart and sync
6. Install any updated applications

“The slowest part of the process is downloading the updates for the apps (and there will be many of these in the coming weeks). Saving the iOS update on local storage will save a ton of time and bandwidth. You really don’t want to be downloading 115 * 500MB over a school DSL connection!”

Even doing a few dozen devices with that same update downloading each time can slow your network considerably. This method for updating multiple iOS devices will save valuable time and bandwidth.

You can find Fraser’s original post at:
http://speirs.org/blog/2010/11/23/rolling-out-ipad-42.html

Windows Users: The ALT key generally substitutes for Mac Option key. However, I believe the left Shift key works in this case. For the location of the update file on Windows computers, see this Apple support document. Look for the folder name iPad Software Updates

iPhone Configuration Utility - Working

The iPhone Configuration Utility allows you the ability to "image" the settings for the iPod Touch. Until now, I have been unsuccessful at creating a Configuration Profile and loading that profile onto an iPod Touch. My problem was in the General section under Name and Identifier. Apparently, neither of these allow capital letters. This utility allows you to put a profile on the device which allows you to customize things like wireless network settings, passcodes, and other restrictions. Hey, it is worth it just so you don't have to type in your wireless code for each iPod.

QR Codes... Amazing!

So you have a video, website, picture... that you want your students to see. How do you set up bookmarks for all of these for each iPod Touch? With the iPod Touch (4th gen) it's a cinch. You need the free app, i-nigma 4 to scan the qr code, and go to http://www.qrstuff.com.  At the qrstuff website, put your text, website link... in and print the code. If you want to keep that code long-term, then download it for later. Now the kids use their iPod Touch to scan the qr code with the i-nigma 4 app and are immediately directed to the content you have linked it to. Watch this video to see it in action.

StarWalk with iPod Touch Camera

From Ms. Sonntag...
"My students love star walk and they are always on it, but sometimes the camera gets activated when they are using it.  That makes it hard to see what is on the "sky" and we could never figure out why it happens.  A student and I were investigating this problem this morning and realized that when you flip the ipod upside down facing the ground and quickly turn it back to its normal position, it turns on the camera.  The app then allows you to overlay the app sky over the real sky if you were really outside at night." Is that wild or what. Keep it coming app developers!

SMART Response Breakthrough!

If your school is anything like ours, you have some SMART Boards and maybe some SMART Response devices. Those clickers are wonderful, but expensive. Soooooo... why not use iPod's / iPads? SMART Technology developed a way for mobile devices to link to your SMART Notebook presentation with questions. It's called SMART Response VE. When you start your question set, an assessment ID appears. Students use their mobile devices to navigate to http://response.smarttech.com/ and enter the Assessment ID and their Student ID. They answer the questions and you get the results right there in your SMART Notebook lesson. The versatility of the iPod Touch still continues to amaze me and it seems to grow each day.

So what was the big "Breakthrough"? I have been trying to get this to work for months with no success. I finally stumbled across some documentation that told me to change my setting to VE (beta) in the SMART Response Setup Tool (search for ve). You have to change your setup tool to match the clicker device that you are using. Since I was using the SMART Response PE clicker, I never got the Assessment ID option. Anyway... breakthrough complete. Now it is time to take it to the class for some action research ; )

Bumps Along the Way

Now that it has been about 9-10 months since our first iPod Touch's arrived at school, I thought it might be helpful to get some of our bumps that we ran into posted online for others to consider. However, looking back, these bumps seem like grains of sand amidst the beach of success stories that we have experienced.

1. Depending on how many iPod Touches you order, plan on spending a fair amount of time unpacking and setting up each device. Yea, a big box of iPod Touch's... here is the more realistic story... unpacking each one from its spandex tight plastic case, bar-coding each one, placing a silicone case and individually numbering each one, laying a screen protector on each one (ahhh), sync each device one at a time to the MacBook (this means naming each iPod, clicking the same check boxes, saying no to the same spam questions, and so on), repeating this last step for each device as Apple releases the latest iOS the very next week, and then figuring out a way for teachers and students to check them out. Whew! Oh wait, now it is time to set up the wireless for each device. Don't forget to change the proxy : )
2. We ordered one of the Bretford PowerSync Carts so that we could store, charge, and sync the iPod Touch's at the same time. We have one cable on the cart go bad and will not charge. It has not been an issue yet since each cart holds 40, but we stocked it with 30.
3. There has been one instance where an iPod was damaged because it was not plugging in correctly. The prongs inside the iPod where you plug it in has a few bent pieces. I just found this out and will soon find the resolution.
4. There have been two incidents where students were accessing inappropriate content. We treated it the same way as if they had brought it from home or accessed it on the school computer. This information is easy to erase.
5. Applications... We are trying to stay away from the basic drill type of applications. You cannot believe how many different ways you can practice your times tables on the iPod Touch. This is a tool and we are trying to find ways to push this tool to address lots of problems, not just to help me learn my states. Also, there are a few fabulous apps that work fine at home, but on the WCPSS network, they don't. Specifically, Dragon (a free speech to text app), and Remote (a free remote that controls your iTunes library). I cannot think of any other applications that do not work though. Finally, there is the issue of purchasing apps. The best way that we figured to set this up was by using iTunes gift cards rather than a credit card. Make sure to buy several small cards so that you don't leave much on the account. If someone figured out the password, there goes all of your money. You will also need to investigate the Volume Purchase Program for getting non-free apps onto multiple devices.
6. One final bump that we have yet to figure out is how to get the iPhone Configuration Utility to work. In iTunes, you can customize the applications, songs, photos, movies and more, that sync with each device. What the iPhone Configuration Utility does is to customize the settings for each device. You can control some settings manually under the Settings area, but this lets you create a specific configuration (say just for students) where you can be very specific about what the user has access to and what is initially displayed on the device. Remember me saying that it was now time to set up the wireless for all of the devices? Well this utility would have done that. Anyway, we have yet to successfully configure a device but are determined to do so in the near future. I am sure that there will be a post specifically dedicated to that.

4th Generation iPod uses

With the upgrade of the camera, internal microphone, better speakers, and brilliant clarity on the 4th generation iPod Touch, this device truly becomes a collaborative tool for the classroom. A first grade teacher has her students progress monitoring themselves as they record themselves reading. Next, they replay their voice memo to listen for errors. The camera can scan a QR code (printed from an app) and quickly link them to a file, webpage or something else. Another teacher is using her document camera to record short mini-lessons in a video format and then loads them onto the iPods for a center. We are amazed at how many different ways this tool can be used in the elementary classroom. It is truly the screwdriver in our digital toolbox.