Tech Chick Tips

Tips and tricks for teaching 21st century students using 21st century skills from two Texas educators obsessed with anything digital! RSS Subscribe to RSS

Posts Tagged ‘apple’

Episode 37–aka TwitterCast

(Note-we should have called this the TwitterCast since so many of our links came from our awesome Twitter network! Thanks all!!!)

Thanks again McAlister’s for great food and free wi-fi!
Go Cedar Valley Podcasters!
MacWorld 2008–We WANT the new Time Capsule!!! And Apple TV!! and…ahhh….so many toys, so little money…

PollEverywhere (follow-up)
http://polleverywhere.com
Trying to figure out how to help educators with our lack of money. :) But they’re not free. And expressly forbid using multiple email accounts to get more free votes. Check out their blog for details on new features.

ClassTools
http://www.classtools.net/
Thanks BarbInNebraska!
Free online flash games that are very easy! Favorites: random name picker, lights out, source analyzer. Cool way to get kids excited about doing content.

Traveling Bear Project
http://sjeds.com/blog/teddybear/
Jose, the teddy bear, travels and posts blogs entries with photos. Other groups can request permission to login and add posts about Jose’s friends around the world and their travels. Great for creative writing and learning about other cultures and geography. Another cool extension would be to create Google Earth placemarks to show Jose’s travels or pinpoint all of his friends.

Panraven
http://panraven.com/
Another dimension to digital storytelling. Multimedia (images, audio, video), templates, and collaborative. Build on other projects. Web-based, Mac or Windows. Love the idea that someone could do a story exchange. One class starts a story, another adds the next part, another adds the next–very cool. Does have privacy features to protect students.

Classroom Book Talk
http://classroombooktalk.wikispaces.com/
Audio book reviews via wiki using voicethread! Books are categorized, but there aren’t many up there. The collection is still growing, and it’s a good time to offer to help them! Lisa Parisi’s project listed through TechnoSpud project.

Women in the Blogosphere, 2007
http://www.brandon-hall.com/janetclarey/?p=468
Fantastic blog post from Janet Clarey about women who blog, mostly in the educational arena. Found lot of new reads and old friends (be sure to check out her blog roll–lots of good suggestions!). Janet stresses the importance of the female voice and lack thereof both online and as conference keynoters. Let’s go girls

 
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Posted on : Jan 15 2008
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Posted under links, podcast |

Episode 31

Here are the episode notes for Episode 31…it’s interesting with Anna’s kids in the background, but we had a lot of fun, and best of all, you get to enjoy the bloopers reel!

Resources

Google Presentations
http:docs.google.com (click on New and select Presentation)
New tool from Google. Simple interface, with limited features. No transitions or fancy stuff, but we think this allows for more focus on the content. Our favorite part is the collaboration–you can work on the same project, just like Docs and Spreadsheet. In addition, you can invite people to a live chat when you present your project.

Kidcast: Creative Podcasting Activities
http://www.ftcpublishing.com (under podcasting resources)
New book from KidCast podcaster Dan Schmit–if you know the basics of podcasting, you’re ready for the next level. This book comes with innovative ideas to integrate podcasting into your classroom.

HotChalk
http://hotchalk.com/
Web community for teachers. Create class web pages for assignments, post messages, manage grades, etc. Collaborate in the online teacher community. Supplement with lesson plans from their archive. Access resources which include multimedia from the NBC archives (free until Jan ‘08). Professional development also available (one course free with registration).

PaintBrush
http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/
Mac OS X paint application. Can open and save to most major image formats, including BMP, PNG, JPEG, and GIF. Simple, easy to use, and FREE!

Animoto
http://animoto.com/
Web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using high-end motion design. Uses your images and music to create a custom movie trailer style video, then email to share. Beta was designed by real TV and film producers, and no two videos are ever the same. 30 second videos are FREE! Very cool!

Insomnia
http://www.apple.com/education/insomnia/
24 hours to create a 3 minute masterpiece…who wouldn’t want in? Apple is back with its 2nd annual Insomnia film festival. Details will be released 9 AM EST Oct 13th…you (and every member of your team) could win a MacBook Pro, Final Cut Studio 2, Logic Studio, and Shake! 6 days, 18 hours, 40 minutes, 30 seconds and counting…

Screencast-o-Matic
http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
Beta web app that is a free and easy way to create a video recording of your screen (aka screencast) and upload it for free hosting all from your browser with no install.

Autographs For Education National Signature contest
http://www.sanfordcorp.com/sanford/consumer/sharpie/afe/schoolsuppliesfrag.jhtml
Win $5,000 in school supplies by collecting signatures. You have until Dec 31, 2007. Sharpie also has some great lesson plans available so check it out!

“Google Book Search” Layer
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2007/08/new_google_earth_boo.html
New “Featured Content” layer shows little book icon placemarks when you zoom into different places around the world. These placemarks are results from search of places found mentioned in books indexed by Google’s search engine. We think this is cool, but it would be even cooler if your class created their own layer with places from books they are reading.

Both Wikispaces and PBwiki have great educator resources such as protected/upgraded spaces, tutorials, examples, and more. Both also have new widgets (Wikispaces/PBWiki) that allow you to include calendars, videos, chat and more on your wikis.

Integration Ideas

  • Talk

    about the technologies of today compared to 25 years ago, then have students compare to what we have today and describe how it might be different in 25 years.
  • Listen as we discuss having a digital mindset–what does this really mean? Sound off on the forums.
  • Great way to integrate digital storytelling in your content–rewrite fairy tales, embedding content, so that you learn while reading familiar stories.
  • In the interest of cyber-safety have students “simpsonize” their photos to use as their avatar with their radio/stage name. It’s free and fun!
 
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Posted on : Oct 06 2007
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Episode 28

So this episode was published a while ago, but we couldn’t leave the notes blank…ummm…so here are the episode notes ;-)

Episode 28
Review of ADE Camp–we’re bleary-eyed, brain-dead, and downright exhausted–but so excited about our week at ADE Camp!! The experience was life-changing, and given a time machine, we’d do it all again! We are so blessed to be a part of this group. WOW

 
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Posted on : Sep 01 2007
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Happy Anniversary to the TechChicks!

Episode 27

Happy Anniversary! It’s been one year since our first episode, and what a year it has been! Thanks and appreciation to all of our listeners and subscribers–we’ve enjoyed sharing our passions with you and interacting with many of you via the forums and email. We are totally looking forward to another great year, and as always, please let us know what you want to hear!

For this episode, we dragged out all the cool gadgets and tech toys that we carry around in our backpacks and purses! These are our faves and a few of the toys that we wish we had. We would love to hear about your favorites, so share on the forums or drop us a line via email. Stay tuned for our next episode–on location in California as we head off to ADE camp!

Gadgets

BTW: We missed out on NECC 2007, but hope to see you at NECC 2008 since it will be in the Lone Star state! Make plans to join us in Texas next summer—yee-haw!

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Posted on : Jul 08 2007
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iPhone First Takes

Now that I’ve had a few days to play with my iPhone, here are my first takes…

Likes Not Quite Likes
  • Super easy. I didn’t have to read a manual for anything. Well, no I read up on what that little “E” was for (Edge)
  • When the synching is done, it’s done. You don’t have to eject the iPhone before unplugging it. You just unplug it. I wouldn’t have considered that a big deal had I not had that capability but now that I do, I marvel at the convenience.
  • Switch from WiFi to Edge on the fly. You have to set up protected WiFis but it’s not a big deal and once you have your WiFi info in there, it just swaps to WiFi as needed. And if there’s no WiFi, you go to Edge. Edge is not unbearably slow. It’s much better than what I was experiencing on my RAZR so I’ll deal.
  • Visual Voicemail is AWESOME! I hated hearing “you have four messages” and not knowing who left them without listening. I might have 7 missed calls and 4 message. I know not to bother listening to Mom’s messages for the most part because they just say “call me back” or “I’ll try you at home” (though I’m not sure why she tries me at home where she leaves me a message that says “call me, I tried your cell.”). Now I can see a list of the NAMES of the people that left me a message and choose to listen to those messages - in whatever order I want - or touch a button to just call back. If you try to call me, chances are, I’m not going to answer. Because I like to look at my list of voicemail. :)
  • SMS is also tres cool. One thing I hated about text messages was when I was texting more than one person and I’d get all confused with the replies because I didn’t know who sent what without going back and forth and then if they sent me a response three hours later from when I sent them a message, well then I’d have to remember what I’d asked in the first place. Remembering things is not my strength. But the iPhone handles SMS kind of like instant messaging. Everyone you’ve texted, or who has texted you, is listed separately and when you select their name, you see your conversation just like an IM window would look. Brilliant!
  • The SMS handling and the virtual keyboard have made me into a texting fool. I didn’t like the keyboard much at first. It felt too small and my fingers fumbled to hit them right and so I was so slow to type and I kept having to hit the backspace because I’d type wrong. But then I started to trust the phone and I’ll be darned but it’s VERY forgiving. When I touch the wrong key, I can keep typing because nine times out of ten it knows what I MEANT to type and it will make the correct word appear so that when I hit space to move on, the RIGHT word, and not my mangled word appears. I can now two thumb text with no real issues. I’m still not as fast as my 19 year old niece who can text without looking. We raced. I was close though. She says she couldn’t use the iPhone’s keyboard because she can’t text without looking, which is apparently crucial for her while driving. I try not to think about that, by the way.
  • I love how you can flip through cover art by sliding your finger across the screen. The same way you do pictures. I love that the phone recognizes that you’ve turned the phone and it turns the display - not on all screens, but all the ones that count. I love how you zoom in and zoom out by sliding your fingers out or in. I REALLY love that when the phone goes dark when you’re talking on it it automatically brings back up the screen when you pull it way from your face. It’s sleek and beautiful.
  • And this one is very minor, but just proof in my mind that the designers were really thinking. There is an icon for the calendar, and in icon view it shows the day of the week and the date instead of a static icon. And there’s an icon for the weather that shows the current temperature for the default location even in icon mode. [update: was a coincidence that it was 73 degrees when I looked at the phone - it always shows 73 degrees.]
  • The earbuds stink. I think my ear hole is smaller or something. I can’t use the earbuds I have because they don’t have a built-in mic. I could use my bluetooth, and I have, but then I can’t hear the music or podcast through an earpiece - I have to hear it from the less than preferred speaker.
  • The camera doesn’t have video which I didn’t think I’d miss, but I do. The display before taking a picture is gorgeous. So big. But the pictures are kinda blurry. And when you send them, they’re 640×480. Supposedly if you sync with iPhoto you get the full 2 megapixels but um… I can’t figure out how to sync them. They don’t just move over.
  • I’ve never been a ringtone fanatic. I usually pick a special one to use for my husband - usually make it myself with recording directly in. But now I *can’t* download ringtones. You have to use one of the ones that come on the iPhone. They’re not bad, but I don’t want to have to use them. I’m convinced that will be one of the earlier updates we see - the ability to download ringtones. And like everyone else, I’m guessing they’ll be 99 cents from the iTunes Store.
  • Hitting the Phone button when I want to look up a contact is confusing to me. Sometimes I don’t want to call. I might need an address or something. But I have to hit Phone first. Would be nice to have a contact button though, and just select one to call… but then I’m not sure where they’d put the other options under the Phone heading so I guess that’s really the better way to go. It just takes some getting used to and it’s not a real complaint.
  • No games. :( The only iPod game I played is iQuiz, but even just that would have been nice on the phone.
  • If I turn on music or a podcast and then leave that screen to surf the ‘net or look at the weather or just play around with stuff, if I don’t have the headset plugged in, I haven’t found a quick way to pause the music. I have to touch the iPod button and then pause. I want to be able to do it quick, without leaving what I’m already doing.
  • Something is up with my contacts. I added a contact on the phone but after synching, it was gone. This has happened twice. And I don’t see an option of the phone overriding the computer or the computer the phone. It just says to sync or not. That’s kind of a problem. I need to be able to add contacts directly to the phone. Not a deal breaker, but still.
  • No video out. Well, unless we get an accessory later, but I don’t see the option to output the video to a tv or projector. That would be really nice - especially with the YouTube
  • No MMS. The only way I can send a picture is via email. I want to send a picture to someone’s PHONE not just their email.
  • No record feature. I like to make quick recordings of things - like reminders and such. Or capturing my kids saying cute things. I even tried attaching the external mic for my iPod but it said the accessory wasn’t supported.
  • This is on the con side, but only because most people think its a con… but the iPhone doesn’t have flash support and can’t play quicktime movies - at least not embedded in a web page. But gosh neither could my RAZR so, so what? It’s first and foremost a PHONE. The rest is gravy. A rich, delicious, gravy.

So overall, I LOVE my iPhone. I still have to bring along my iPod so I can record on the fly. Oh, and so Nathan can watch Dora because with only 8GB, I just don’t have room for the entire season of Dora the Explorer. Besides, I don’t want my 3 year old playing with my iPhone.

I found this link on Lifehacker with 10 apps for the iPhone. I’ve bookmarked them all! And now I’m going shopping for a skin over here. Though I might wait a bit on the skin because I don’t want to cover my beautiful phone and people not know what it is! :


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Posted on : Jul 02 2007
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Posted under ponderings |
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