The Shift

It's very easy, when iPads first come into a school to get caught up in the device. It is, after all, a very cool device. As much as you talk about it just being a 'tool', it takes a real shift in thinking to realise what that means. When we first got iPads and I started reading about how other schools use them I read of some schools who did not download any 'content' or ' consumption ' apps. I really wanted to follow that idea but I was not that brave. It is really cool though that those teachers in our school who have achieved that shift in thinking are definitely the ones who use their iPads the most and are also the ones who have deleted all of their consumption apps. Many of the apps we use most frequently at KPS are the ones we have used from the start and there are some very cool newer ones. On my previous blog www.ipadsatkps.blogspot.com. I listed apps quite often - many of those apps are still favourites. We still make QR Codes, create ePubs and workflows but the use of technology is just so much more embedded into many classrooms. One of the coolest things is that teacher and student made games are replacing pre made apps. I have been trying to get people to do this for a long time but, finally, people are discovering the value of it.

Now that iTunesU courses can be made on iPads, I think that opens up a whole heap of opportunities. I am hoping teachers will create and share courses or even collaborate on courses for their students. I recently created a course with phonological awareness, phonics and sight word activities for students from Kindy to year three and shared it across the school. I am hoping teachers will take this idea and tweak it to create what they want.

iMovie is still the main movie making app we use and now that I have actually bothered to learn how to detach the voice, our movies we create to show parents look far more professional - starting with an interview and then continuing the interview with different images.

Keynote is still my favourite slideshow app for presentations, choose your own adventure stories and games.

Book Creator is still my favourite app for making books, portfolios, ePubs and choose your own adventure stories  as it is just so easy to use.

Other apps that I still love are PuppetPals, SonicPics, Strip Designer, PicCollage, Tellagami, Explain Everything, Educreations, Haiku Deck, BaiBoard, TinyTap, Socrative, Nearpod. Some of the newer apps and tools, some of which I did blog about, include:

Thinglink - interactive posters and just so easy to use
Adobe Voice - slide show presentations with voice and cool formatting
BaiBoard and Padlet - sharing ideas on a wall
Stick Around - making games that are fully editable
Hopscotch - drag and drop coding to make games
Stop Motion - stop motion animations and claymation
Aurasma - my personal favourite right now because it creates magic
Glogster - multi- modal lessons and activities
GreenScreen by DoInk - speaks for itself

I am certain I am forgetting some apps but I will be back.