Guide to using iOS on the iPad (2 / 3) for teaching

Originally posted to my website here: http://chrissilva.net/guide-to-using-ios-on-the-ipad-2-3-for-teaching/

Here is a guide on what I have found out works best when using an iPad (2 / 3) for teaching, but first I’ll start off with some pros and cons. A lot of these things can be applied to the iPhone (4 / 4S) as well, but for the sake of information overload, I’m going to concentrate on the iPad since that seems to be most user friendly. If you want to use a lot of these on iPhone (4 / 4S), they (apps and adapters) should work just fine.

Pros:

Lightweight

Battery lasts forever

Quick touch response

Good output resolution via VGA (video mirroring, audio through headphone jack) or HDMI (1080p, best quality Audio and Video, can charge while in use)

Apple has a bunch of good information here: http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/

Cons:

On screen keyboard, makes it hard to keep passwords safe if you need to log into things, you can always unplug the iPad or freeze the projector though

Limited functionality in real time editing, shouldn’t be a problem in class though

No Adobe flash, most things are not flash anymore, so usually no problem there

Hard to charge while using VGA, although the HDMI adapter has a connector so you can leave it plugged in while using

What you’ll need:

link: iPad 2 or iPad 3

link: VGA Adapter or HDMI Adapter

link: Apple Smartcase (its what I use)

link: Extra Power Adapter

link: iPad Bluetooth Keyboard (you may want to pick this up, not needed, but useful)

So with that being said, here are the apps I would recommend:

Keynote: This is Apple’s equivalent to MS Powerpoint, you can create presentations right on the iPad (or your home mac) or use powerpoint presentations that you made have already made.

Developer website: http://www.apple.com/ipad/from-the-app-store/apps-by-apple/keynote.html

iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/keynote/id361285480?mt=8&ls=1&v0=www-naus-ipad-appstore-apple-keynote

2Screens: This is a more intricate presenter for the iPad that has a separate interface for what you are seeing vs. what is on the projector. This is good for visual art cause you can highlight things in images and talk about them more clearly. Watch the Youtube video to see what I’m talking about. You can even download a remote for it to use on your iPhone so you can walk around without having to carry your iPad.

Developer website: http://www.elpstudio.net/2screens/pe/about.html

iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/2screens-presentation-expert/id370913954?mt=8#

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YER9EvFG2Uw

iAnnotate PDF: Great app for reading papers and correcting / making notes. You could essentially have the students email you their papers instead of submitting hardcopies and edit/read them all right on your iPad, it has all kinds of service integrations so you can upload and save all of your work without having to jump through any flaming hoops. I think the only limitation is that you can only work on PDFs in it.

Developer website: http://www.branchfire.com/iannotate/

iTunes link: http://www.branchfire.com/getApp/

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Hbm9fOJSg

Attendance2: This app will make it easy to take attendance in your classes and keep all of your classes organized. It create reports and has a ton of options for organization.

Developer website: http://www.dave256apps.com/attendance2/

iTunes link: http://itunes.com/apps/attendance2 

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvzqvmXGqnc

Evernote: This app allows you to take notes, pictures, sounds, or basically anything that can be captured on your iOS device for you to access later across all of your computers through the syncing to whatever service you choose (like Google Drive, Dropbox, Email, or many others). This can be good for taking notes or documenting student projects so you can recall them later. They also have an app for your home mac so you can see all of your notes that you took earlier, works great for remembering meetings and such too.

Developer website: http://evernote.com/

iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=281796108&mt=8

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_3kpqBhKfc

Dropbox: This app is a cloud storage system that a lot of people use to share large files or to share between multiple devices. Need to get that Powerpoint presentation over to your iPad for class tomorrow? Great, save it to your Dropbox folder and it’ll be there automatically when you connect to the internet on your iPad. I recommend it even if you aren’t going to use iPad for teaching. It is a great way to easily share the files you want between your non networked computers quickly.

Developer website: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTY4NTEwNjE4OQ?src=referrals_fb_post9 – Referral link, I get more space if you sign up with this link, if you don’t feel like helping me out, the non-referral link is: http://www.dropbox.com

UCSB University of California Santa Barbara teaching iOS teach education apps ipad 1 2 3 4 mini iphone 3G 3GS 4 4S Youtube learning itunes university Chris Silva art college institution library technology in the classroom class student students

03 Sep This entry was published on September 3, 2012 at 7:08 PM. It’s filed under Teaching and tagged 1, 2, 2screens, 3, 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, attendance2, chris silva art, class, college, dropbox, education apps, evernote, iannotate PDF, institution, iOS, ipad, iPhone, itunes university, keynote, learning, library, mini, PDF, student, students, teach, teaching, technology in the classroom, UCSB, University of California Santa Barbara, Youtube. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.