iPad picture sharing frustration

I have been trying to use the iPad for blogging in my classroom, and my students take advantage of every opportunity to use the iPad everyday, so I am very frustrated that uploading pictures to the blog is so difficult. 

I can't upload pictures taken with the iPad to the blog, or through Hotmail, or even through Facebook. I'm not sure why this is. 

What I had to do was use the app "Instagram" and go through the pictures I had taken on the iPad and then share them either through Hotmail or Facebook, open them on my computer, and then save them to my computer.  After I had done that I uploaded them to the blog, but not using the iPad. 

Has anyone else figured out how to upload pictures on the iPad? 
-Kali

BYTE

Dang it!  While I was busy enriching my mind, watching the Oscars, Lois and Christine were stealing all my ideas and writing them down on this blog before I had the chance leaving me with less to write about.  Wait a minute that’s okay  according to the keynote speaker, Joan Badger, who based her inspirational talk on this guy, Austin Kleon.

Frankly, this was one of the better PD sessions I have been at, and by better I mean that I came away with ideas to share from every session to use in my own classroom as well as with colleagues. 

 

My first session led me to the website www.blurb.com, which okay seems to be a more useful resource for publishing a printed book for the iPad or iPhone.  Are there other options?  Yeah, Mixbook, Picaboo, Photoipress, Shutterfly, My Publisher, Smilebox  etc.  etc. etc.  The big difference between this site and others is that you can use free bookmaking software to work offline and when your book is ready, you can upload to Blurb’s site and purchase a hard copy.   It can also be made public to read online.   Don’t worry Mr. Macbook this works on both mac and PC.  It is also really easy to navigate through because you can go to the dropdown menu to find training videos.   The final product is a professional looking book, which will impress everyone, even your dog.

During my second session I was a pop star!  Okay maybe not quite a pop star, but  I was photographed with three other participants by all that attended the class and then the instructor showed all the ways you can alter photos with different iPad apps.   (Photosynth, Dynamic Light, Pizel works and Effects Cam) I was disappointed it did not make me thinner, however it was helpful in that the photographs can be altered to make people think you are a professional photographer!  It really went along well with the first session I attended and gave me ideas that I could use in the classroom. 

My third session was about a girl who lost her memory after a car accident and …. wait a minute that was the movie I went to on Saturday night (one of the perks of being in the city).  It was about using the iPad in the classroom.  Although it was not what I expected since the focus was for resource/speech teachers using the iPad with specific students.  Christine already wrote about it in her blog and probably addressed it much better than I, so read on!

My last session was with the Mimio.  The instructor, Catherine Strifling was incredible.  She uses her mimio all day long in the classroom and was able to give us some great tips on organizing the classroom and files for the mimio. One great tip was to visit the staff development page under Lesson Plans and Activities for ideas and resources.  You can find her listed here  http://www.mimioconnect.com/users/cstrifling .  All in all, it was a great day and I am already looking forward to next years BYTE conference.

I took a "Byte" out of technology too!!!!

Like Lois I attended the BYTE Conference in Portage La Prairie.  My highlight....... seeing my Maid of Honor from my wedding at the conference, there is nothing like seeing old friends!!!!!  But on a techie note, my  ah ha moment/idea was listening to how teachers pin point 4 or 5 specific goals from a child's IEP, choose 5 or 6 specific apps to target only those goals, and share the ipad among funded students to meet these IEP goals.  (We could make a good/working  plan with the ideas I learned there).

Like Lois, I attended 4 different sessions.

Session 1:  My school got an Ipad, now what?

I had great hopes for this session.  I thought it would address the issues of sharing the ipads, apple id's, using only a few ipads with many students....... all the things we are struggling with.  Unfortunately, it addressed none of those.  In my opinion it was advertised wrong.  It was a GREAT session for resource/speech people.  It walked us through 8 student's Ipad plans and the the apps targeted to meet their IEP goals.  It previewed some awesome apps and gave me my ah ha moments, but it was not what I was expecting.  I have tons of great apps to share from this session, mostly geared at primary or special needs students, many are pricey but come highly recommended.   I'll attempt to post the list at another time or on my teacher blog.

Session 2:  Digital Art resources for the classroom

This session was alright if you are not familiar with some of the great online art resources or if you are not familiar with wikis.  Unfortunately for me, I am extremely familiar with both.  I did get a link for an art wiki created by PCI's art teacher.  Her hope is to create a Made in Manitoba sharing site for great art ideas and a gallery of student work.  Here is that wiki link:  Art Wiki    Feel free to check it out as it is a public wiki.  I did "wow" the instructor a bit with my art wiki page and she is going to link my page to her wiki, so that was a bit of a bucket filling moment for me!!!!!

Session 3:  Apps For Special Needs

This session was GREAT!  The presenter worked for the Open Access Resource Center in Winnipeg.  She had come LOADED with a presentation full of apps and accessories to help special needs children, particularly those with Autism.  I have previewed some of the accessories and links to the accessories, particularly the cases on my own blog .  I also linked to a great video using the app proloquo2go.  Many of the apps from this session were tried and true apps, some are quite pricey, but I walked away with more than one good idea.

Session 4:  Apps for my iclassroom

This session was jam packed with practical apps for the regular classroom.  Leslie Dent Scarcello was the presenter and many of her students helped her give her presentation by reviewing the apps for us by using vimeo (videos made and posted with a flip camera).  The link to her blog  is here.   She has tons of great apps perfect for many grade 1-6 classrooms, you can view her vimeos and see for yourself.  She also provided links to some of the bloggers she follows for great ipad ideas and inspiration!

And with that our day in Portage La Prairie came to an end.  We did not win the amazing door prizes, but we left inspired and ready to SHOP!   lol!  Our 45 minute drive back to Winnipeg was pd in itself as we all shared the highs and lows of our sessions, and then late into the evening (after indulging in the luxuries the city provides) we shared our own Ipad apps, learned about icloud and imessaging, and brainstormed future tech projects for our classrooms.

We are already anticipating next year's BYTE conference in Neepawa!

Byte Me--lol

Byte Conference 2012

{This is not totally iPad related but we felt this was a good spot to post for others to view and refer back to.}
Held in Portage La Prairie-one full day consisting of a Keynote Speaker and 4 tech sessions. This is an absolutely fabulous inservice. Each session is about an hour long and gives you a taste of a variety of types of technology for classroom use. There was a large variety of choices of sessions to attend. Here's my 4 choices and the highlights of what I learned. If you'd like to know more info. please let me know!!! I'd love to share more.

Keynote speaker: Joan Badger

Nothing is truly original-- We all borrow and remix other people's ideas whether it's thru books, magazines-blogs-inservices etc etc. That's what we do as teachers and that's what makes what we do so good. She wanted to share some of what she does with tech so we could go away with something to use ourselves-so here's what I BORROWED from her talk.
The Daily Create- This is a site where there's an assignment each day to practice spontaneous creativity with a short exercise.
Newspaper Map- This is a site where you can go to read Newspapers from anywhere in the world. If it's in yellow it's in English-but all can be translated to English if it's not.
Black out Poetry- Taking the important details from a newspaper article or story etc. and creating poetry with it.
WONDER
Creating wonder to help our students learn-- Students creating wonder to learn-- Wondering about our students--lol--

Session 1

Kiss It -Keep It Simple and Smile-Informational Technology-the writing process
David Juce-consultant
This presenter kept getting off topic but that was ok because here's what I took from his presentation:
The iPads can be hooked up to the LCD wirelessly by Apple tv which runs for about $100. and then--get this--you can use your mimio with it. You have to download an app Splashtop.This is just what he said--I haven't researched it at all--but I did say--" Are you sure? " soooo---- I know that for $19.99 you can purchase Splashtop with a whiteboard feature that brings up tools like the mimio or you can purchase Splashtop with a remote control desktop for $4.99 and this is the one that interacts with the mimio--I think.hmmm
He also said you can make a document camera stand for the iPad so you can use it as a doc camera.

Another site he recommended for doing mind mapping such as Inspiration--Kidspiration is called:
XMind which is free unless you want the pro version!!
Visuwords is a really cool visual dictionary and I recommend you try it out. It is an online graphical dictionary and would be so helpful for writing and researching.
He recommends you do a SAFESEARCH on Google when you are getting kids to research and it eliminates many of those nasty sites you don't want the students to view.
Trackchanges- this allows more than one person to make changes to a word document
The 5 W's of Cyberspace ---Knowing What's what and What's not-- an awareness of the internet
well worth looking into for those upper grades who have students searching on the internet
So, even though Mr. Juce tended to get off topic--he did give out loads of great information. Hope you find time to check out some of the sites above. It'll be well worth it.

Session 2

Comic Life-Presenter --Ron Nordstrom

Comic Life is a storytelling tool for all ages. Comic books are created and can be single pages or multiple pages. If you have the program installed you won't need internet connection. There is a cost but Ron says it's minimal and one of the well worth it investments for the school. A single licence is about $20.00 . There also is a free one month trial.

Here's some ideas of how to use Comic Life although this didn't come from the conference

If you don't have Comic Life downloaded on you computer you can make a pdf file 

Ron mentioned a pdf converter that's a free download called dopdf  so we can print these comics to share or post. Great hands on session and easy to use tool.

                                       Session 3

                   The New Copyright and You-- John Finch

Alternatives for posting work rather than copying others

• Create it yourself
• Public Domain-work [ie. a song] enters the public domain 50 years after the death of the creator 
• Ask permission from the creator- it really can be done quick and easy- often a response is sent within 24 hours
• Use Creative Commons
• Fair Dealings-- which always is interpreted differently from individuals and if it ever goes to court it's up to the judge and his interpretation

linking the URL is also an alternative

Google Search-- use the advanced search and check out the usage rights

Session 4

Mimio Tips and Tricks

This was probably my favorite of all the sessions just because there was so much to take back to the classroom. She was so willing to share and WOW is she organized. I loved the hands on way she approached the session and would love to go watch her teach. In any case, it's well worth checking out her site for ideas of your own.

https://sites.google.com/site/cstrifling/

Updating purchased Apps--Toontastic

A New Discovery
Updates
If you want to update purchased apps you will have to go into settings-general-restrictions- enter your passcode and allow In-apps to be purchased. This is shut off because supposedly it will allow updates to be purchased without using the passwords and we don't want students purchasing those tempting extras that pop up every now and then. In saying that, when you've finished updating, shut it off again.
Toontastic Updates
If you have Toontastic and bought the extra backgrounds and "toys" then after you complete the above -go into the Toy Store and it will allow you to update your new features. Have fun!!!

Here is a link to a friend's blog.  I went to university with Leslie, and she now works in Winnipeg as a classroom teacher and in a position similar to Lois'- she is the techy person, as well- and Lois even went to one of Leslie's workshops (was it SAGE?)! 

Her blog has some great ideas, but she has created a page all about apps she uses. 

missdentsclassblog

-Kali

Toontastic pdf tutorial for teachers

Wow what a great tutorial!!  To create the cartoon there is a whole story arc with a setup--conflict---challenge---climax and resolution.. In this tutorial there are even suggestions for questions for each of the stages for the story. The Tutorial is viewable online or you can copy the pdf if you're a hard copy kinda person. When I use it in my class for the first time I'm going to walk them thru the stages and have them make up a story so they have an idea of what the story is going to be before they create it on Toontastic.  I won't get them to read their story but to use the storyline to help them remember it as they go along.
I'm excited to go into Christie's class tomorrow and play around with it too with a selected group of students. We'll post our stories on the blog for  you to view tomorrow and give you feedback on how it goes.

Toontastic

So now you've made all those videos but you're not sure what to do with them. Here's what they suggest so they can be privately viewed:

I'm a teacher and I'd like all my students to be able to upload their cartoons for the class to see without making them public to the world. Does ToonTube support this?

In a word, YES! ToonTube is first and foremost a Global Storytelling Community, but it can also serve as a private sharing space for teachers and families. Try the following:

1. Create a ToonTube account for your entire class by inputting your email address into Toontastic
2. You will receive an email instructing you on how to create an account -follow the link and instructions
3. When setting up the account, use a password that can be shared with all your students/children
4. Once your account is setup, click on the "Login" link in the top right corner of ToonTube
5. Click on "Videos by USERNAME" in the top right corner
6. All cartoons created with this account will appear onscreen, private until approved for public sharing
7. Families and teachers may use this private space to share cartoons within select communities.

Toontastic

Here is a video that explains what this app is all about. 5Jedele

Thursday's Lunch Meeting- Ruth Betts

This months focus--explore

• -book creator for iPad $4.99
• -imovie $4.99
• -educreations-has lesson plans and is an interactive whiteboard for you to make lessons or students to create with-free app.
• -interactive telling time lite-free but has lots to do
• -make change--money math game

{It's always good to choose 1 or 2 apps and get comfortable with them rather than to get overwhelmed.

• EA support
• tips and tricks

blogging-I've given all that come to our iPad meetings admin rights so feel free to blog right on this school blog. This is your spot to browse--share and learn. If you would like to blog and aren't sure how--just let me know and I would love to help you.

Welcome to Lana Nagy who would like to join our group. She works with students with Special Needs at Hapnot and has a pod of iPads she uses with them.

Patti Korchinski would also like to attend just because she enjoys technology and is interested in seeing how the iPads work in the school. Welcome Patti. It was great to have you here today.

Have fun and let me know if I can help out in any way to make this new adventure and exciting one!!!!

Accessories

The blog name really is suitable for iPads. They are a wonderful tool but when you buy the iPad your still need to purchase more to make them a feasible tool to use in a classroom. For instance, we've purchased covers and protective cases, money for apps--which we will need more of I'm sure--and now we feel a few hdmi adapters are needed within the school. These cost about $45.00 and then the cord for connecting the hdmi adapter to the lcd costs another $20.00. This cool accessory allows the iPad to be interactive with the lcd--more so than VGA adapter which doesn't allow certain apps to work when displayed. It also works with the iPhone apps and suppose to work with ipod touches--although we couldn't get the iPod to connect to the lcd.  I use it to display work the students have done and to introduce how to use a new app. I've gone on Youtube for teaching as well which is so fast and easy-and isn't blocked--oops--better be careful what I share. I can see where having some hdmi cords would be very valuable--maybe not needed in every iPad classroom but a few at least.

Check out If you give a teacher an iPad for more details.

Wednesday's Lunch Meeting- McIsaac

STORYROBE  AUDIOBOO   IMOVIE

• Let's give feedback on what we've done over the past 2 weeks and discuss the pros and cons with the apps we've tried.
• What would you like to try next or would you like to continue with what we've been doing.
• Other concerns? Tips?

Feedback:

Storyrobe: 

• simple and easy to use---the students could handle using it on their own once they've been taught
• publishing was easy for some and glitchy for others
• worth keeping and continue to use in the classroom
• Check out Teddy Talk about the iPad for more details

iMovie:

• a little more complicated to use but with that comes more options
• music can be put in the background
• storyrobe can be put into imovie--although this area has to be explored a bit more --might be a nice option for publishing the easier to use storyrobe into the wikis.

Audioboo:

• simple and easy to use--again the students could handle using it on their own once they've been taught
• had to go to a computer to upload it to the class wiki 
• picture won't embed from the iPad but will with the computer
• worth keeping and continue to use in the classroom
• check out for If you give a teacher an iPad as well as Michelle's post on this blog for more details 

New Plan:

• continue using the above apps
• Toontastic will be purchased and Lois-Christie--Michelle--Susy will explore over the next 2 weeks
• Christine will be checking out Strip Design