i-o Dock update

My Grades 8, 9, & 10 fine arts music classes concluded the final term with a composition assignment. Students had to collaborate to compose, perform, and record their music. An array of recording equipment was available, including personal lap tops, Zoom H2 portable recorders, and Alesis i-o Dock equipped with the iPad & Garage Band. The iPad set up had the steepest learning curve; however, the simultaneous multi track capability offered a feature that was not available on the other portable devices. Having said that, the iPad version of GB is limited to eight tracks, which is not too restrictive, given that George Martin achieved all of those great Beatles recordings on a 4 track! Moreover, the "smart" instruments in GB enabled non guitarists, pianists, drummers, etc., to include these sounds in their recordings if they elected to do so. In short, the iPad set up was in high demand.

As for the connectivity of the i-o Dock, I personally feel is restrictive; however, I am fortunate to also have the Yamaha O1-X and the MOTU 828mk3 units, connected to Cubase. So, for small, quick, portable projects, the i-o Dock gets my thumbs up, and the students love the friendly operation.

In a previous post I wrote that I got a card reader to swap data in and out quickly; well, the cheap reader that I bought on ebay for $3.49 didn't work; however, I was disappointed to discover that the card reader is (if it works) great for transferring pictures onto the iPad, but nowhere did I read of any evidence that it was much good for anything else, like transferring off the iPad, extra memory, etc. Not to worry, I got a refund!

One more note about Garage Band songs on the iPad, while I think of it: the device won't let you export your songs to anything but YouTube, soundcloud, facebook and iTunes. That's a setback, but perhaps I've just not got that part figured out properly yet. To get around that, I just connected it to the line in of one of the H2 recorders and recorded the finished projects that way. I am not particularly interested in a cloud or social media for everything.

In the days ahead, I hope to find new and better ways to operate this equipment and software.

Cloudon

Do you like Microsoft office, and can't seem to get the knack of pages and numbers?  The Cloudon app connects directly with dropbox and emulates Microsoft office.  It's free so its definitely worth a look.

Note taking apps

There are a lot of free note taking apps out there for the ipad.  Many free ones may be all you need.  So check them out before you pay.  However, if you need one that is more functional, Notability may be the app you want.  On sale for 80% off at the moment, it has a very high rating.  It's updated for the new ipad.  You can save to dropbox directly.  You can open files from you email.  You can record audio along with the text, zoom in and out, and there is also an adjustable place for your palm.  You can even organize your files within the app.  Check it out.  I've been impressed so far.

Academics, Sports, and Angry Birds

Successes:

• Attendance: Very useful for taking attendance, both in class and in sports practices. For track, I simply handed off the iPad to a student who could check off the students as they entered the room (using the program, “Numbers”). I also used the iPad to take attendance prior to track meets.
• Statistics: We tested the athletes at the beginning of the season and used the iPad to record and store the data.
• Video: This has proved to be the most useful aspect of the iPad. Using “Coaches’ Eye”, we recorded athletes as they high jumped, long jumped, hurdled, threw, and ran. This program allowed us to teach the athletes about proper form and to give them useful tips or improvement. We also recorded many of the events at track meets and were able to quickly convert the video files into movies that could be hosted on the KES youtube channel. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVMXxiitLvk&feature=g-all-u.
• Textbooks and other documents: the math textbooks, and other documents such as the IB data booklet or miscellaneous assignments, could be stored on the iPad under iBooks. This allowed for easy storage and transport. Also, if tutoring a student, I could quickly access these important documents.
• General efficiency: The iPad simply made me more efficient. I could quickly access documents, the KES website, the student directory, etc. I think it is a very valuable tool for a teacher’s day-to-day tasks. 

Other reflections:

• I have not yet figured out how to appropriate the iPad into my classroom teaching to make the classes more interactive and interesting. I briefly tried “Splashtop”, but did not see how it would allow functionality better than a chalkboard or paper and pencil. I will continue to explore various iPad applications.
• I am now addicted to Angry Birds.

Coach's Eye

Loaded and tried the coach's eye with two students in the gym. Both liked it and looks like both may buy it for their phones. The slow motion options were great as were the drawing tools. Easy to use and intuitive controls too. AD

iPad and Smartboard

Tried using the iPad with Splashtop and the Smartboard running clickers yesterday. It allowed me to run the assessments and work with the class from all over the room and not be tied to the front of the room. I had to stop running the board through the the tablet when it froze and this may just be a function of the age of the laptop or too much running. Further testing will need to be done. AD

i-o Dock & Garage Band

Since I've married up the iPad with the Alesis i-O Dock, it's been in the hands of the students on a steady basis, given that all fine arts student are composing and recording their collaborative works. Although limited to only two inputs at a time and a maximum of eight tracks, it does exactly what it is supposed to do with relative ease. Moreover, the Garage Band sounds are amazing and the "Smart" instruments is a very cool feature that enables non-players of those instruments access to inclusion. Ultra portable and easy to use, this setup has has become the 'go to' DAW in my department. I doubt that my other hardware / software DAW's will see much action from now on.

On a related note, I have purchased a usb & card reader adapter on eBay for $4 that attaches to the iPad, in order to exchange data and expand the memory beyond the internal 16GB.

Summary of Trial

Final blog entry: How far did I get with the iPad, based on my initial plan of investigation?

Use by students
 For self-evaluation: use camera and microphone to record student responses and dialogue work in French class;
[very positive and useful]
 Collaborative assignment preparation;
[very positive and useful]

 Hands-on grammar and vocabulary activities to strengthen French comprehension;
[useful for activities involving typing of words; otherwise, the Smartboard was more useful and easier for students to use when an activity required dragging elements across the web page]

Use by teachers
 Provide specific feedback to individual students, based on student responses and presentations that have been recorded on iPad;
[very positive and useful]

 Explore Mobile Mouse app for controlling Smartboard;
[Splashtop app was used for running my laptop and Smartboard from the tablet; very easy to set up and use]

 Use iPad as daily planner/agenda and update with all key dates and deadlines in the term;
[did not replace my student agenda or my phone; a KES agenda app with 8-day cycle, holidays, and an easy-to-use interface to do attendance may provide a user-friendly bridge with WhippleHill]

Use by teachers for records and record keeping
 Create a more extensive and thorough record of formative evaluations;
[useful for recording marks when doing prep checks but did not replace paper and pencil most days ]

 Keep attendance on WhippleHill;
[not attempted]

 Keep attendance in boys’ dorm on duty days;
[an attempt was made to set up an attendance document using the tablet version of Numbers, with little success. E.Kershaw has produced a functional document using Excel and there may be merit in having a Duty Tablet in addition to a Duty Phone, at some point]

Research and testing of ipad applications
 Explore a variety of apps French language learning and instruction;
[some free French apps were examined, but nothing stood out as a must-have at this stage]

 Use Dropbox to store and access all documents online
[Dropbox is proving to be very useful when I use my laptop and phone; I ran into an issue when installing it on the tablet and did not pursue this after several unsuccessful attempts]

 Explore the effects of the touchscreen experience on student learning
[students quickly familiarized themselves with the tablet and enjoyed being given the opportunity to use it as a tool in the classroom]

Camera

There were occasions during class when I wanted to show the class something from the textbook on the Smartboard. When connected to the Smartboard the iPad functioned very well as a document camera; I either took a picture of the textbook page or I used the rear camera to display the page. PH

Language Lab

At University, the language lab was a vital part of the process of acquiring the requisite listening comprehension and pronunciation skills for effective communication in a second language. The iPad’s video and audio recording capability proved to be a very useful tool for providing meaningful and immediate feedback to students in a number of ways:

Grade 7A French students wrote and prepared dialogues, and then used the iPad to record themselves. By listening and watching their recording they had an opportunity to self-correct, pausing and replaying any passages that were challenging for them;

I was able to work with one pair of students while another pair recorded a dialogue; as a result, I could provide meaningful commentary on the efforts of this latter pair after the fact. This provided me with greater flexibility with my class time; I could replay the recordings at any time – in class or during a lunchtime tutorial, for instance – and still provide individual and relevant feedback and instruction;

The students enjoyed using the tablet to record themselves and were motivated to do a good job. They were able to assess their performance and were able to re-record their dialogue until they were happy with the final version.

PH

Minding the Gap

“Mind the Gap” is the automatically voiced instructions for London’s tube riders to avoid tripping over the gap between the platform and the subway car. Essentially, it’s a warning to be extra careful in the transition spaces of the public transportation system. As technology moves from specialized rooms in the 60’s, the cubicle in the 70’s, the den in the 80’s, the living room in the 90’s, and here we are today with real computing power and interface tools that do real work anywhere.

What used to be segue moments in my teaching day: waiting for the next class to settle in, moments in a class where some students are completed a set of questions and others still working, waiting for a meeting to start, these moments are now made productive with the iPad. Using SplashTop to control the computer that is connected to the projector, I can pass the iPad to a student to type of freehand in a solution to a problem. On the other side of the coin, when students who have trouble with a solution they circle the area that they find difficult, and it helps to focus the class and help “clarify the difficulty”. Identifying and being sure of the area of difficulty is a great first step to build a conceptual path to a solution. While not the main workhorse of the class (at this point!), the iPad does provide an excellent tool to pass around and add to the level of communication in a class.

In the sports world, the iPad has several apps that I have taken advantage of. Collecting and recording basketball stats has been a boon for letting the team know exactly how they are doing. The feedback is supplied during and after the game – this is used to make both offensive and defensive adjustments depending on shot percentages from certain locations, fouls, and turnover stats. The portability of the iPad is key for all this as it enables the stat collecting to happen from the bench, as opposed to the scorer’s table. This allows for feedback for the coach and player to happen in real time, and not just at the end of quarters or play stoppages.

There is more to follow, but as of now I no longer mind the gaps in the teaching or coaching moments, as these are now converted to productive times!

DB

The duty dog bites

I have built and trialed a spreadsheet that I built in numbers for male duty. The spreadsheet has:

• Pictures of the students (and their geographic location in dorm)
• Drop down menues for student status (in, out, away, sick, ect)
• Effort grades for each student
• Sports choices
• Phone List
• House parents e-mails

The following are cogitations that I wrote after the first duty trial:

Blog Notes: Duty

Last night I trialed my duty spreadsheet during duty.

There were a number of kids away and. It was nice to be able to check them off of my spreadsheet during the day so that I would know that they were gone when prep started.

I need to have a few more drop down menu options for eventualities, though more options will mean more clutter when I am trying to quickly check them in.

I would like to be able to reset the drop downs or store the info I collected and then start a fresh set of data. This will involve linking the spreadsheet with another sub table, but would be worth it's I think.

I am in the process of getting a sports list that would allow us to keep track of what sport each student was in. This would come in handy at 2:30-3:30.

Of course it would be great to have this pad update something more accessible to all online, I will look into shared online formats of spreadsheets for the iPad.

I would love to have the house parent e-mails hyperlinked, but "numbers" seems to be unable to do that.

I would like to have a way of resetting the check boxes for future uses on future duties.

I hope to streamline the formatting a little too, so that there is no lag when I open the effort grade spreadsheet (ie remove unwanted/unneeded fields)

Anyways for those of you who would like to have a look at it follow the link below ... Ooops. If you would like to check it out, come and see me, there is sensitive information on the spreadsheet that shold only be accessed by KES staff. Gee, self publishing certainly makes it easy to put lots of personal info out there really quickly and easily. All you have to do is click "share with the world".

Ruminations as a first time user (Jan 16) *Rejustified*

So far the transfer from excell to numbers seems to be going fairly well. Some of the previously unconsidered advantages of a digital dorm attendance will include:

-quick search for names to find a students room quickly -drop down menus for quick attendance/qualifying of students where abouts.

-Links to house parent's emails for quick notes a to them.

I have used the pad quite a bit this week. The portability of the device allows me to type this bog entry from the front seat of the bus (barring minor car sickness). Some of the technologies I had not considered using it for that cam in handy include -chess timer -quick document camera for capturing pages from a book and then displaying them on my white board -movie playing remote. I was able to stop and start a movie repeatedly from the front of the class, without having to go to my desk each time.

-a interactive manipulative (math) for students that, with the help of splash top, can be easily projected so that the whole class can watch it. It is also handy to plug it directly into the projector and display it that way.

-notes display for myself at the front of them class. I write my notes out on the white board and I find that I can do this a lot faster using the pad, via splash top, when I am writing.

-quick referencing facts a via a search engine. I can quickly and easily search a fact for my students from the front of the class.

-homework check allows me, again with splash top, to enter my grades directly into my spreadsheet as I rove in the classroom.

After having used to for a while now, I don't even mind the keyboard. The interface, zoom/pan is also excellent, though it would be nice to have better control of the fine motor adjustments on the screen. Perhaps a stylus ...

Students really enjoy seeing the new technology in the class they get quite excited by the possibilities that it presents. One student recommended that I use splash top with my laptops web cam to "spy" in the class while I was out for a moment. Since I used splash top in the class, about a dozen students have also got the program. In a few weeks time I will have to ask them if they use it regularly and if so for what? 

The technology certainly has made me more popular, but how can I maintain this high ... I suppose I will have to continue to ask for the latest technologies to keep me current and "with it" as the kids say. All joking aside the use of these technologies does send a clear message to the kids in my class room. "you should have one of these if you want to participate fully in all the fun" ... I hope apple is giving us a deal for all the free advertising we are giving them. Even my use of apps will influence students choices and buying habits. In short we are role modeling the use of this technology to students, the more we misuse it or use it ineffectively (for the sake of itself) the more we pass those choices on to our students.

somethinghasgonehorriblewrong

I have just learned another valuable lesson. Justifications created in Notepad do not transfer to this blog page

Ruminations as a first time user (Jan 16)

Blog notes: so far the transfer from excell to numbers seems to be going fairly well. Some of the previously unconsidered advantages of a digital dorm attendance will include: -quick search for names to find a students room quickly -drop down menus for quick attendance/qualifying of students where abouts. -Links to house parent's emails for quick notes a to them. I have used the pad quite a bit this week. The portability of the device allows me to type this bog entry from the front seat of the bus (barring minor car sickness). Some of the technologies I had not considered using it for that cam in handy include: -chess timer (for chess club) -quick document camera for capturing pages from a book and then displaying them on my white board -movie playing remote. I was able to stop and start a movie repeatedly from the front of the class, without having to go to my desk each time. -a interactive manipulative (math) for students that, with the help of splash top, can be easily projected so that the whole class can watch it. It is also handy to plug it directly into the projector and display it that way. -notes display for myself at the front of them class. I write my notes out on the white board and I find that I can do this a lot faster using the pad, via splash top, when I am writing. -quick referencing facts a via a search engine. I can quickly and easily search a fact for my students from the front of the class. -homework check allows me, again with splash top, to enter my grades directly into my spreadsheet as I rove in the classroom. Other notes: after having used to for a while now, I don't even mind the keyboard. The interface, zoom/pan is also excellent, though it would be nice to have better control of the fine motor adjustments on the screen. Perhaps a stylus ... Students really enjoy seeing the new technology in the class they get quite excited by the possibilities that it presents. One student recommended that I use splash top with my laptops web cam to "spy" in the class while I was out for a moment. Since I used splash top in the class, about a dozen students have also got the program. In a few weeks time I will have to ask them if they use it regularly and if so for what? The technology certainly has made me more popular, but how can I maintain this high ... I suppose I will have to continue to ask for the latest technologies to keep me current and "with it" as the kids say. All joking aside the use of these technologies does send a clear message to the kids in my class room. "you should have one of these if you want to participate fully in all the fun" ... I hope apple is giving us a deal for all the free advertising we are giving them. Even my use of apps will influence students choices and buying habits. In short we are role modeling the use of this technology to students, the more we misuse it or use it ineffectively (for the sake of itself) the more we pass those choices on to our students.  

Alesis iO Dock

Ok, I must admit that I was only lukewarm about the iPad when I first got it back in October as part of our school pilot programme. As the weeks went by, I started to find Apps that are really geared toward music productivity; see my older blogs for more detail. So, needless to say, I was kind of bummed out at the end of the first term to discover that I would be turning the iPad over to another teacher after the holidays. I was just starting to get into the functional features of the device and the various useful Apps that I had found. During the last few days of the Christmas holidays I learned about the Alesis iO Dock. This thing, when combined with the iPad & GarageBand, is capable of doing what my other expensive Digital Audio Workstations do.
Check out this video clip for a quick overview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBfojDxpZLY and you will see why I immediately made an appeal to have my trial period with the iPad extended.

My appeal has been accepted, and I have ordered the iO Dock; I'm excited to get it into the classroom, especially my IB class, in which all candidates must compile a portfolio of compositions, arrangements and recordings. My fine arts classes will probably mob each other to get their hands on it too!

The $200 Alesis iO Dock won't replace our full-feature DAWs, but it is powerful for its size and cost, and it will also integrate with them via its USB port. It should be here next week.

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On a different note, I have been using the Splashtop XDisplay http://www.splashtop.com/xdisplay to extend my laptop desktop display; a convenient option when multiple windows are needed.