Welcome iPad Insight - New Sponsor

Some of you may have noticed a new advertiser appeared on Free Technology for Teachers this week. iPad Insight provides reviews of iPad apps, iPad accessories, and iPad tutorials. As I don't always have enough time in my day to review web apps, Android apps, and iPad apps iPad Insight is a good partnership for Free Technology for Teachers.

Here's a recent video overview of Keynote for iPad produced by iPad Insight.

Calameo - Multimedia Publishing to iPads and More

Calameo is a great way to publish your documents in a manner that makes them accessible across a wide variety of platforms including the iPad. Peter Vogel told me about Calameo a couple of weeks ago. I finally got a chance to try it out this week and I really like it.

Using Calameo you can publish your documents in a flip-book or magazine style with page-turning effects. You can add a background soundtrack to your document. You can also specify the sounds that viewers hear when they turn the pages in your documents. Your Calameo documents can be published and shared using Calameo's HTML5 embed codes (makes your document iPad compatible). Published documents can be annotated by content publishers and viewers (that option can be disabled).

I've embedded a sample document below. I did not use the sound effects option for this document.

Google Maps Instructions

Publish at Calaméo or browse others.

Applications for Education
Calameo offers a nice way for students to showcase some of their best works. The annotation option could be good for having students comment on each other's works. You could also use the annotation option to compliment students on something that they did particularly well.

Bunsella Bedtime Stories - An App for Narrating Stories

Bunsella Bedtime Stories is a free iPhone and iPad app for creating and narrating bedtime stories. I learned about the app through an email from its developer, who built it as part of her dissertation work in universal design learning technologies.

Bunsella Bedtime Stories features claymation-like characters to which you lend your voice to tell a story. You can upload your own images through the app too. Completed stories can be shared through email, Facebook, or YouTube. Watch a sample story in the video below.


Applications for Education
Bunsella Bedtime Stories was originally designed for parents to narrate stories for their children. The app could also be used by students to create and share stories. If you had a classroom set of iPads you could have students exchange stories and respond to each other with a "part II" or response story.

Using Show Me to Create Lessons on iPads - Guest Post

As the technology integration teacher for Seymour Public Schools in Seymour, CT, I get to spend a lot of time exploring new tools which make teaching and learning more engaging and ultimately more successful for students. Earlier this year, I discovered one of these tools called Show Me, which is an online learning community for students of all ages.  My initial thought was that it was just another Khan Academy.  The difference, I quickly discovered, was that on Show Me you can also create your own lessons...not just watch.  This makes Show Me a very powerful educational tool.

As a student looking to learn about a particular topic you can search Show Me by topic and subject.  As a teacher, you can create your own videos or assign one from the community for students to view.  If you would rather share your knowledge with your class (or the world) a la Khan Academy, you will need to download the free iOS app.  Currently there is not an app available for Android device but Show Me has plans to develop one in the future.  Once you have created something on Show Me you can share it with the world or keep it personal.  Sharing is made easy with one click posting to Facebook and Twitter as well as through the use of the embed code for websites.


Moving forward, Show Me seems to be in the initial stages of building a database of SAT preparation videos.  This would be a tremendous resource for high school students and also can be used as an exemplar for how to create an effective tutorial on Show Me.  On the website there is also a link to their blog called the Show Me Voice which has some great information for teachers looking to integrate Show Me into their classroom.  I found a “How To” section and some featured videos from the public community to be very useful.


Using Show Me, teachers and students have the ability to both teach and learn from the community of videos.  Used as a student directed activity, Show Me empowers students to think about a topic and how it should be presented.  As educators, we know that the highest level of understanding is achieved when a student knows the material well enough to teach it.  Show me give students that opportunity through the use of technology.  Below is an example of a simple lesson on the parts of the tuba created by a Seymour High School student in @Brandt Schneider’s class:







Now What?
If you have some iPads in your classroom it’s time to get recording!  Use Show Me to assess your students rather than using a paper and pencil.  Creating an account on Show Me is free and will have you up and running in seconds.  A tip for beginners is to use a stylus with the iPad to have more control over your drawing.  Also, In order to create more advanced videos you can pause your recording and then clear the canvas which will simulate a multi-page file.  Have fun!
About the Guest Blogger

Mike Oberdick is a Technology Integration Teacher for Grades 6-12 in Seymour, CT. His blog is Tech Messages and he Tweets at @mikeoberdick

Blog  |  Website  |  Twitter

A Nice Primer on Google Apps for the iPad

Google Apps for the iPad is a small site built by Google Certified Teacher Jill Galloway. The site addresses a lot of common questions about using Google Apps on iPads. Additionally, you will find some helpful tips for first time users of Google Apps on iPads. If you're just getting started using an iPad, Google Apps for iPad is a good reference to look at.

Win Technology Prizes for Your School

Full disclosure: the sponsor of this contest is an advertiser on Free Technology for Teachers. Even if they weren't an advertiser there is still a good chance that I'd mention this contest.


The Worth Ave Group is currently sponsoring a contest through which schools in the United States can win technology prizes worth up to $25,000. Here's how it works: a teacher is nominated by a community member and is then placed on the contest's list of eligible nominees. The teacher who receives the most votes will win a $25,000 technology prize package for his or her school. The contest will also award smaller prizes to five runners-up. Voters will also be entered into a random drawing for iPads. The voting is open now through the end of March, 2012. You can read the full contest rules here (link is to a PDF).