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.