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Thinking about Chromebooks

For the past year or so, I’ve heard buzz come and go about Chromebooks. There’s a definite appeal… It boots quickly, batteries last forever, they don’t get viruses, setup is simple, and the pricepoint…

Just recently, the latest Chromebook was announced:

And did I mention it’s $249?

So, why am I not totally on this for our 1:1 program? Good question. We’ve had a laptop program for over 10 years, and our kids have been using tablets for the past five. Chromebooks rock with we based applications, but that’s only about half of what we do. The other half needs tools like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Audacity, Inspiration, Comic Life, Scratch, ArtRage… You get the picture. Yes, many of these have online tools with similar capabilities, but many of the online versions require kids to be at least 13 and have parent permission to register, and they don’t have as many features as the software versions. Swapping out Chromebooks for our tablets right now would be some huge cheese moving, teacher training, and might limit what our kids can do in the classroom and at home. If we never had a laptop program (perish the thought), this would be a great tool to implement. Tons of potential if done well, and I know many schools are.

Where can I see a fit? Right now I’m thinking these may be a good fit for our Lower School. We currently have small stations of convertible netbooks in the classrooms that need replacement next year. Most, if not all, of the use is web-based interactives and subscriptions. Tools like Wixie, Glogster, Edublogs, BrainPop, SumDog – totally made for Chomebooks. Add in Google Docs and a management tool like Hapara, plus access to iPads for multimedia projects and content apps, and kids have the tools they need for differentiated learning.

Any thoughts on Chromebooks for elementary classrooms? It sounds like one heck of a machine for $249!

On My Wishlist – iPads to maximize interactivity

June 5, 2012 1-1, iPads, tablets, Whiteboards 4 comments

For the past couple of years, we’ve had a couple of teachers requesting SMARTBoards for their middle school classrooms. The request has evolved a bit as teachers wanted the interactivity in their projection. Considering the evolving nature of our middle school teams (teachers change grade level teaching teams and classrooms fairly often), we’ve been hesitant to invest in the expeninstallation purchase and installation. Currently, all middle school teachers have tabletpcs and projectors in their classrooms, but we would still like toincrease our student interactivity options. Here are some of the pieces we’ve used or tested:

Various “notebook” apps with inking on our tablets. A few faculty used the SMART Notebook until SMART clarified its EULA to state using it without a SMART product was illegal.
Classroom management and screensharing software – Dyknow, SMART Sync, etc.
OneNote shared notebooks – we began using these several years ago and teachers who were early adopters are beginning to move beyond it.
Synchronous collaboration tools – IWB websites, Google Docs (more on this in the future)
Low-end IWBs – MIMIO, interactive projectors, Wiimote projectors
Document cameras
Wireless projectors

I think I’ve finally found what we’ve been looking for – iPads. I know – tons of hype and we already have tablet laptops for all of our kids, but the iPad offers something we haven’t had befowireless reliable wireless collaboration tool. Here’s what I want for each teacher exploring this concept:

An iPad
An AppleTV
An HDMI converter
SplashtopDV ($4.99 as of today – limited time pricing)
Projector and VGA cable (We already have these)
Content-area apps
Some of the IWB apps

Possibilities:

Teachers can use the iPad as a remote for their school computer while the computer is connected to the projector (VGA). This can help teacher classroom management as the teacher is able to circulate around the room. The iPad can be passed from student to student to demo/practice/share. I’ve tested Splashtop with OneNote on my school tabletpc, and it was pretty slick.
Teachers can use one of the many content-specific or presentation apps projecting remotely via the AppleTV. Again, this can be passed from student to student.

I think this configuration would provide more bang for the buck than a SMARTBoard, especially with middle and high school students. My theory has always been to choose the best most flexible and inexpensive tools for the job(s) at hand. This feels like we’ve found it.

What else would you add?

ArtRageous Bird Calendar on Lulu

June 2, 2012 1-1, hardware, iPads, netbooks, Software No comments

One of my favorite tools on student tablets is ArtRage and after this year, it’s becoming a favorite of my students as well. ArtRage has been on our student ClassmatePC tablets (Nobis) as part of the ClassmatePC ecosystem.

One of the major components in my middle school is service learning. In 6th grade, our service theme is birds. From our website:

Through art, technology and mathematics, students learn about birds, bird identification and bird migration in addition to the effect of climate change and environmental degradation on birds and their habitat. Students have members of the St. Paul Audubon Society visit and discuss birds of Minnesota and their habitat, challenges to birds and the basics of bird identification. They travel to Carpenter Nature Center to learn about migration and bird banding, keep journals on their Nobis about birds they’ve seen, and take raw data from migration tracking organizations for use in a graphing unit in their math classes. In addition, sixth graders will maintain a new bird feeding station outside Bigelow Commons. One of their choices for service activities in the winter will be designing a bird-enticing garden around the station to plant in the spring.

The project with which I’ve been most involved this year is the Birds of Minnesota calendar.

We wanted students to focus on a Minnesota bird of their choosing and become an “expert” about the bird. Using tools like All About Birds and the Peterson Bird Guides, Students learned about regional birds and learned how to identify their chosen species. They learned about migration habits, diet, and threats both in nature and from humans.

To create the images in the calendar, we:

1. Found an image of the desired bird online and downloaded it.

2. Imported the image as a layer in ArtRage.

3. Traced the image to a new layer.

4. Hid the original and, using various tools and techniques, illustrated the bird.

5. Added additional layers for the setting and whatever else kids wanted to add.

I taught the kids the basics, and one of our art teachers coached on more artistic techniques, but the cool factor was how kids discovered how to create various effects and taught each other. Very cool indeed. By the end of the projects, many of the students became so adept at ArtRage that they could teach others.

To create the calendar, I imported the images into Publisher (the easiest layout tool I could find) and pulled in public domain images for the backgrounds. Each month was exported as a 300 dpi JPEG to be imported into Lulu. We added cool bird facts, local migration info, and bird/nature websites to the holidays standard on calendars.

Although we used tabletPCs to create the images, you could easily do something similar on iPads with ArtRage or a similar tool. We use ArtRage 2.6, but there are other versions available, depending upon your needs. The basic program does everything we needed it to do. Two thirds of our 6th graders mastered ArtRage in the process of this project (and the rest were inspired to learn it independently after a solid overview in their tech classes and support from peers); it’s now a major part of their personal learning toolkit!

If you’d like a copy of the calendar, it’s available for $15+shipping on Lulu. See the preview and link below.

Recap: Today’s Apple Event

March 7, 2012 hardware, iPads One comment

Like many edtech folks, I spent my lunchtime today following the chatter about the Apple Event. As there wasn’t a real live stream from Apple for civilians, and the only “live streaming” I could find were people not cool enough to be invited to the event (like me) chatting about it while they followed Twitter and the reporters who were invited.

Implications for education:

1. iPad – better and badder than ever. Camera improved. Display richer. OS updated. iPhoto. Price holds, but older models still viable and much cheaper.

2. AppleTV – better and badder. Even more viable for education at $99with the new features.

3. iOS5.1 will have a microphone. Need to try this out. Hoping it becomes more friendly for speech to text. Lots of educational implications here.

4. New iLife apps.

That said, the best feed I found was at: Live Blogging Apple’s iPad Event – NYTimes.com

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/live-blogging-apples-ipad-event/?src=twt&twt=nytimesbits#wrapping-up-on-the-new-ipad

Notes (best read from the bottom of the page to the top):

The new iPhoto for iPad uses glass shelves as the metaphor for your catalog of photos.

The iPad 2 remains available. And it costs…$399, for Wi-Fi only and 16 gigabyes of storage. If you want 3G with your Wi-Fi, the old iPad costs $529.

All the standard apps have been updated to account for the new display and processor.

Battery life is nine hours on 4G, 10 hours on 3G. The new iPad will cost $499 at the low end, the same as the old iPad.

Capacities are 16, 32, and 64 gigabytes. Prices are all the same as the previous lineup. The new model will be available March 16, and pre-orders will be taken today.

Another feature: Voice dictation. A new key next to the space bar, with a mic icon, turns this on.

4G LTE wireless capabilities, for faster data connections when you are not on Wi-Fi. Warning: technical lingo follows. The iPad will support HSPA+, which maxes out at 21 megabits per second; dual-carrier HSPA, at 42 megabits; and LTE, which theoretically tops out at 73 megabits per second. That’s assuming you’re the only person on a network.

AT&T and Verizon

Details on the New iPad

The new iPad has a 5-megapixel camera.

Apple A5X quad-core chip

twice the graphics performance of the older chip

The new display is 2,048 by 1,536 pixels, or more than 3.1 million pixels — a million more pixels than a 1080p high-definition TV. There are 264 pixels per inch, and 44 percent greater color saturation, Mr. Schiller says. Four times as many pixels as the older iPad.

We’re moving on to the second feature of the new iPad: the iSight camera, with a 5-megapixel sensor. This is the camera on the back of the iPad — the front-facing camera is still a FaceTime camera, for videoconferencing.

The iSight has face detection too. Video recording at 1080p resolution.

A New Version of the iPad

The new iPad with a retina display.

The new Apple TV is $99, same as the old Apple TV. It will be available next week, and pre-orders will be taken today.

A new Apple TV, announced today, supports 1080p high-definition content and has a new interface.

ICloud will now support movies, something lacking in previous versions of iCloud. Movies and TV shows in the store will now be available in high-definition 1080p.

Apple sold 172 million such devices in 2011, and they brought in 76 percent of revenue in the fourth quarter.

iPads and K-2: Sent to K-2 teachers at my school this morning

February 28, 2012 1-1, iPads No comments

Sent to K-2 teachers at my school this morning:

As you know, I’m a self-proclaimed “Twitter freak” and as such, I tend to encounter some really good online resources. I’m not expecting you to go through these links, but if you have time or inclination, I thought they might be of interest.

A few I found recently:

The iPad As… – http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/teaching-technology/mobile-technology-apps/ipad-as

I know a couple of you have participated in webinars and/or coursework from this organization. Click on the learning objectives (none are specific to any academic content area) to find apps that are recommended for the task.

You’ve likely heard of the 1:1 kindergarten iPad initiative in Auburn, Maine. This blog post (http://multiplepathways.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/what-apps-is-auburn-using-and-other-advantage-2014-information/) gives info about the research results, apps being used, and other resources in place.

The Texas Computer Education Association has a number of good resources posted. From http://www.tcea.org/learn/ipadipod-resources :

We regularly try out new apps and list those that make the grade in the shared document available here for iPad and here for iPod touch/iPhone. Apps are categorized into 46 different subject areas and 14 different personal use areas. Apps that are free are listed in white…. Looking for free books for students in grades K-12 to read on the iPad and iPod touch? TCEA offers a list of recommended iBooks as well. Find the book title, author, a brief description, recommended grade level, and notes about any special features in the book.

App Recommendations (all in PDF form)

« Older Entries

Archive for hardware

Thinking about Chromebooks

On My Wishlist – iPads to maximize interactivity

ArtRageous Bird Calendar on Lulu

Recap: Today’s Apple Event

Details on the New iPad

A New Version of the iPad

iPads and K-2: Sent to K-2 teachers at my school this morning

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