"Book Creator" for the iPad

Billed as "The simple way to create beautiful books on your iPad", this simple to use app offers kids a great outlet for their creative talents. Students can create their own artwork, pair it with their own storyline and quickly produce "iBooks-ready" creations to share. Students even have the option of embedding audio file right on the page. The option of sending the file to Dropbox means that it can be easily viewed by a large audience.

Book Creator can be downloaded from the App Store here and costs $4.99 - well worth the cost!

What kind of books can kids make? Use your imagination: Children’s picture books, Photo books, Art books, Cook books, Manuals, Textbooks and more. If you want to get fancy,  check out Liz Castro’s excellent mini-guide Audio and Video in EPUB.)

Stunning Slideshows with Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck

If you were looking for an antidote to text-heavy, dreary Powerpoint slideshows, the Haiku Deck, (an iPad app) is a breath of fresh air. HD lets you to create striking slide presentations using simple templates (with premium designs you can purchase, of course.)  Because the app limits how much text a user can put on each slide, the focus is on the amazing image or idea - not on lines and lines of cramped text.

Haiku Deck prompts the user to search Creative Commons images for each slide. Type in a few words, and Haiku Deck searches for pics large enough to fill the slide. (Users can also upload images from their iPad or import images from a number of sites: Flickr, Picasa, Instagram or Facebook.) Sign in with Twitter, Facebook or create your own account.

Click Here to Visit iTunes App Store

My Newest Fav iPad browser - Puffin

I love my iPad, and the only thing that would be a real improvement would be a faster, Flash compatible browser. Unfortunately, I was never able to find anything to fit the bill. Until now: Puffin! My wife (an Elementary TL) was tipped off to this app by a colleague. (Even the free version is pretty good!)

The publicity on the website promises faster screen refreshes and page-loading. And claims to offer Flash functionality. I tried it out on a few sites where I cannot use my iPad and was pleasantly surprised. Puffin even includes a virtual pop-up trackpad so you can use a pointer to click and scroll on sites that don't like the touch and swipe UI. There are a few idiosyncrasies, but overall I was impressed with what it can do. Try it with your favourite edu site.

Here's a side-by-side comparison:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxoqQAIyU-I

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A fast, handy way to take minutes

So, you're in a meeting with your iPad and you want to take some brief notes. But there is no wifi. Why not take advantage of this "web app for ipad" creation? Minutes.io is an elegant easy-to-use tool. Browse to minutes.io with your ipad or laptop  Create an account. If you've visited the site once previously, then you will be able to take notes and sync with your account, or even take notes off-line for synching later. (Here's a quick write-up on the desktop interface from MacLife.) You can take notes without an account, but having an ID makes it even handier.

Creating ePubs on the fly

"dotEPUB is software in the cloud that allows you to convert any webpage into an e-book."

Friends know I am an avid reader, and have many books around me at all times. Lately though, I find that I am reading more and more on my iPad. (I think I am hitting about 50% with the eVersions starting to win out!) It's easy to find content with all the eBookstores, but what about creating my own? One handicap has been the process of creating ePubs (the format I prefer on my Stanza app.) I know I can create ePubs using the latest version of Pages (which I don't have) or by running a conversion in Calibre. But what about doing it on the fly?

This is why I was so excited to find "dotePub" the other day. This tool works via a bookmarklet, great for my laptop or desktop, but it also works on the iPad itself. How perfect is that! Simply visit the site, add the bookmarklet to your menu bar, and start converting.


You can view "how to videos" on the site as well.

Music App for iTouch, iPad

here's a great iTouch/iPad app I found:

"Slow Down Music Player"
(Web site here)












Here are some of the specs

1. Change tuning or musical key 
2. Loop phrases or entire song 
3. Easy to define and save phrases 
4. 4 beat count in gives you time to move your hands back to your instrument 
5. Displays elapsed and remaining time 
6. Quickly cue song to play any where you want 
7. Seamless integration with your devices built in iPod Music player allows you to access your entire music library! 

 The app is "free", but if you want to listen to more than 2 or 3 songs, then it costs $2.99 to upgrade. Could be a real boon to music teachers and music students. A great tool for learning a part or for analyzing a particular passage of music.

What iPad apps are you using?

My district is looking at ways to integrate iPads into classroom instruction (like everyone else!) and I would like to "pick the collective brain" out there. I've put together a Google form (with a link to the resulting spreadsheet so everyone can see the contributions.) 


Suggest your fav iPad Apps for classroom use by going to http://t.co/q4bDG9C .

(You can view the spreadsheet as it's being populated here: http://bit.ly/gquHAz )

You can download the results as an excel and then sort it any way you want (by price, by subject, by name.)

Apps for the iOS - iPad, iPod, iPhone

For those of you using iOS devices in the class, or thinking about it, here is a great list of apps, divided by subject area. Eric Sailers has put together this document with an eye to the needs of teachers and kids in Special Ed, but the results apply to all kids. Each app has a description and a link to the iTunes store. Take a look.







iPhone, iPad and iPod touch Apps for (Special) Education

Project that iPad

Using an iPad in your classroom? Then you need to be able to project your work on the big screen. First, get a VGA adapter for your iPad, and then start collecting apps that allow VGA output. (Not all apps do this, but that is changing all the time.) See below for some good candidates.

Expedition (a browser)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/expedition-vga-composite-component/id369305234?mt=8
Note Taker HD
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/note-taker-hd/id366572045?mt=8
Sundry Notes (it's free)
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/sundry-notes/id353007318?mt=8
Whiteboard HD
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whiteboard-hd/id383779666?mt=8
Penultimate (Good for drawing, formulas, like an overhead)
http://itunes.apple.com/app/penultimate/id354098826#
6Tech Blog article
http://cathymoak.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/10-ipad-apps-to-project-with-vga/
App Store
http://www.apple.com/ca/ipad/apps-for-ipad/

Flipboard for iPad

Welcome back to another school year. Since I've recently acquired an iPad, some of my posts will include links to useful, intriguing or educational apps I've been using. This week I'd like to point you to "Flipboard". This app styles itself as a "personalized, social magazine" and I must admit I am pleased with the look and feel of it.

After downloading from the App Store, I have the option of signing up to my Facebook and Twitter feeds along with tweets from a number of news and lifestyle sites. The end result is very much an idiosyncratic take on themes that are important to me.

What's really nice, is that the feeds are laid out in a magazine format, with slick page flipping action. It makes my Twitter feed a delight to peruse!