FMS Tech

Sometimes you have to delete your Sent Mail and empty your Trash so you don't go over your allotted quota of 100Mb on the mail server. I used to login online to check my quota but I just found out a quicker way. If you right-click (control-click) on your Apple Mail Inbox and choose Get Account Info it will show you how much space you have available and where that space is being used up.

I like word clouds and I've written about them a few times. There's something appealing about the the way they look and the idea that you're creating a piece of art, of sorts, with your words and they can also show trends in text. Sorta like a poor man's Twitter. I read about Word Salad today which is a word cloud creator for the iPad. It's somewhat basic but it works well and does the job it's intended to do. The only odd thing about it is that you have to make your list of words in some other app and then cut and paste them into Word Salad to get it to work.

I don't know why I love collaborative whiteboards but I think the technology is cool and it's one of those things that makes me say, "How'd they do that?"

Today I found another with what happens to have a semi-weird name, Bai Board, but has a ton more features than Whiteboard Lite. It allows you to add text, speech bubbles, highlight, snapshots, web sharing, and much more. One of the coolest features is the chat feature, which allows you to record your voice and post it to the canvas. In all honesty, Bai Board blows the doors off of Whiteboard Lite so give it a try. There's no sign up necessary and students can create a board in seconds and even password protect it.

I like to use these when my students are working collaboratively on a project or responding to a read aloud. Not only does it get them to have to work together but more importantly it helps them to create some working norms within their group, sort of a self-policing mini-classroom.

Another cool feature is that there is a Mac app that allows you to collaborate on a Mac and iPad at the same time. Even better.

One trick I know you can use with Keynote is to bring up a laser pointer on the screen by pressing and holding your finger on your iPad when you're in presentation mode. This will show a red dot like a laser pointer would, on your screen. It got me wondering if there was another app that would do the same thing but in different apps besides Keynote. I found Pointer in the App Store and it works like I wanted it, with some limitations

For example, it allows you to use the pointer in a web browser (it also has a draw feature) but if you want to do it in another document, like Pages, you have to go to Pages and send the document to Pointer. What I wish is that I could have it running in the background on any app and I could use some gesture to get it to turn on when I wanted, but that might not be possible with the way the iOS is setup. But if I was giving a presentation outside of Keynote I would definitely use this app.

Here's another app I'm excited to use with my 5 year old, who is just starting to love to read. It's called Scholastic Reading Timer and it's basic goal is to promote daily reading practice by giving kids weekly reading goals and also using a timer so they can time their reading sessions. Here are some of the features:

My students study geography in 6th grade and they have iPads so I'm always on the lookout for apps that will help them to learn maps, spatial relationships, and geography. There's a paid app ($1,99) that is currently free called U.S. Geography * that gives them flashcards to study the states, US capitals, and also landmarks and landforms. I downloaded it and gave it a spin and I was semi-impressed. It's basically non-interactive flashcards about the states, etc. It asks you to find a state and instead of tapping on the map where you think the state should be you just tap a button to see where the state is and it shows you. It would be much more interactive the other way, but who am I to complain about a free app. It does keep track of how many of the cards you've seen and how many you've mastered. You keep track of what you get right and wrong by the honor system by tapping on a continuum bar from 1-5 on how well you know the state. It will then bring that card or more or less frequently by how well you tell it that you know it. Maybe not the best way for kids who really need to learn them but may not want to be honest about if they've learned them, but again, not complaining. So give it a whirl and see what you think.

For WSD users who have their devices enrolled in Filewave, I've put the app there, so if you need it sent to your device let me know (email).

Another cool app for iOS that I downloaded and played with today is called Find the Synonym. Don't be fooled by the name, though, because it also does Antonyms! Yippee! Plus there is a game called Test 20 where you have to find 20 synonyms and score as many points as you can. The best thing I like about this game is that it's one of those apps that kids will love to do and they may not even realize they're learning. Give it a spin...er should I say whirl.

I've played with a few flashcard apps on the iPad but most of them have you create the cards on the device. But one that I've used with my daughter to study her Kindergarten sight words takes the cake. Flashcards* is an iOS app that allows to easily create your flashcards on your laptop using Quizlet then anyone can search for them on their device and download them. As you can imagine there are a lot of flashcards created so I found it was easiest to search by the creator's name.

The steps are pretty simple:

1. Download the app here

2. Go to Quizlet and register for a free account

3. Create a 'deck' of flashcards

4. Go back to the app and search for the deck by creator's name and it should show up

5. Select it and start studying!

Since my classes have been going to the elementary school to read to the kids I've been looking not only for interactive book apps but also ways for them to show their comprehension. Today I found the Story app from Disney. It's a great app that works on your iOS device. What it allows you to do (like many of the create-your-own-book apps) is add pictures and text to create a scrolling book. My hope when we got to read on Friday is that after the kinders read to my kids the two of them can write a book together with their own pictures. I'll let you know how it goes.

Clear is an app that's been out for awhile that is a to-do app for your iPhone. It's supposed to be pretty good so when I saw it was free today I jumped on it. It does have a neat interface and once you get used to the swiping and pinching it's pretty easy to use. I don't usually keep my to-do list on my phone, it's usually my Mail inbox and Desktop, but if there's something that's cool and easy-to-use (and free) I'll give it a shot. You should too, but I think it's only free for a short time.

You can't download it directly from the App Store (it's $1.99) but you can use this link to download it.

Here's a simple app called Red Light, Green Light that just shows a traffic light that changes from green to yellow to red. It's programmable and maybe a little less intimidating than a timer and might be better for kids who don't do well under pressure but still need a little reminder. Oh yeah, it's free too.

Many times in class I'm trying to get my kids to quiet down (or know when they can be loud) and this app might help me (and them) to know where they stand. It's simply titled Too Loud? and it's basically a decibel meter that you can use with your iOS device. You have to calibrate it first to a quiet room (just press a button and move a slider to 25Db) and then the meter will go up or down based on how loud it is. I envision using this during a silent working time as a visual reminder for kids to know that talking is not allowed. It could also be used during filming to find a suitable location for a quiet shot.

• Ever wonder if the place you are in is damaging your hearing?
• Sometimes it is easy to take for granted how loud places are.
• This app allows you to see volume levels in simple numerical form and will warn you if you should be wearing ear plugs!
• The application now allows the user to specify a filter and an offset value. The filter determines how much the input is smoothed out; this is to filter out spikes from background noise and give a more accurate average reading.
• The offset value can be set to a positive or negative number to compensate for the differences between the different microphones on all the iOS devices.
• Features a live graph to visualize the data and a significantly improved algorithm for calculating the levels!

I wrote awhile back about Stick Pick, which is a paid app ($2.99) that allows you to pick out virtual popsicle sticks to choose which student to call on. It also has some other great features that make it worth $2.99. But today I found a free alternative called iLeap: Pick a Student. It's not as full-featured as Stick Pick but I honestly don't use all of the features of Stick Pick anyway. Basically you set up your classes and choose whether to pick students randomly or in order (until they've all been chosen). The interface is easy to use and adding students is very simple. Check it out!

Further Update: Although this app does a nice job of letting kids collaborate I found another called Bai Board that blows the doors off of this one. I'm not saying this won't meet your needs but Bai Board has a lot more features, and it's free too.

Update: My kids used this today in class and they love it. It's super easy for students to link their iPads and start drawing together. When they open the app and press the 'friend' button, for lack of a better term, it grabs the name of their iPad and throws it onto the screen. Other students who have the app open just tap on their name and they're instantly able to draw on the same screen. Pretty cool.

I'm always on the hunt for ways my kids can collaborate digitally. One I just read about is called Whiteboard Lite. What it allows your students to do is connect over wifi and collaboratively draw on the same screen. There is a Pro version for $0.99 that removes the ads. Here are a few items from their iTunes page:

Jake from OMS has created a good video on how to use and respond to the Technology Tech Support System.

Update: learn.ly has been renamed 121writing

Here's a cool tool from Learn.ly that allows you to add voice comments to a Google Doc. You've always been able to add a text comment to a Google Doc so that others can see what you think about a particular part of the document. By using learn.ly you can now add your voice. I can see this as a quick and easy way to give great feedback to students on their work.

Simply visit the learn.ly website and and click the "Connect to Google Drive" button. It will ask you for permission to access your Google Account. Accept the permission. Now when you right-click on a document in your Google Drive you should see an option under "Open with..." that says "Voice Comments". If you don't see this then choose the "Connect More Apps" link option and enable it there.

When you choose Voice Comments the document will open up and give you the option to select a section of text and record your voice as a comment. Don't forget to click on "Share with Collaborators" after making your voice recording. When a collaborator opens the shared document and clicks on "Comments" next to the Share button they will see a link to your voice recordings.

VideoNotes is a tool that allows you to load a YouTube video on one side of your browser and have a notepad on the other side for taking notes. I can see this as a useful tool for students who need to take notes on a video and then share them with the teacher or another student. When you go to the website you have to click on the "Create your notes" button and then VideoNotes will ask for permission to access your Google Drive.

Next paste the URL of a YouTube video into the window on the left and type on the right side. You have the options to create notes, save notes, open notes, and share notes.

Update: I've used this app over the last few days and it's pretty good. The only thing I've found it won't do is move photos or videos...yet. I emailed the developer (we live in a great world) and he (or she) told me he (or she) was going to make that option available in version 1.2.

Moving files to and from your mobile device is sometimes tricky and slow. I'm always on the hunt for something easy and painless. The latest one that I've been playing with is called Mobile Drive for iPad.

What you do is put in an address in your web browser and it will allow you to move files from your device to your computer and vice versa. It's pretty easy to use and if you can overlook some of the spelling errors in the app (I'm an English teacher, okay) it's a pretty good app. My goal is to use it to transfer bigger files so I'll report back if it works well for that.