I spent the last couple of days exploring more apps for the iPad. I now have about 100 apps loaded. It was a struggle for me to accept that this can be a tool rather than a toy.

Some of the tools I have installed include the following:

1.  Google. The command "calculate" will be extremely useful for modeling problems at the board. For example, I simply whip out my iPod (or iPad) and say "calculate 135 times cosine of 40 degrees, and the answer is displayed immediately.

2. Dropbox. I already had it on my home computers and my school computer, but having it on the iPad allows me to transfer student files to iAnnotate for grading (or any file for marking it up). I also added SugarSync because that's where I store my video clips.

3. iAnnotate. Already discussed.  Outstanding tool for grading.

4. Noteability. Already discussed. Very good tool for notetaking.

5. Wolfram Calculus. Will easily do any calculus I'm likely to encounter in AP physics. For example Integrate: (x^2 - 15)^-1 quickly provides the indefinite integral plus graphical plots of the integral.

6. Adobe Reader. As they say, it's the gold standard for reliably viewing PDF documents on iPads. It also has its own set of annotation tools ... not as complete ad iAnnotate, but sufficient for reading a pdf and highliting important parts, adding typewritten, comments, etc. It also provides the connectivity needed for other apps such as iAnnotate.

7. Astrid. A great listmaking app.

8. AppPriceDrop and AppsGonefree. This is how I obtained most of the apps that I downloaded. Every day apps that you normally would pay for go on sale for free. I've found that the consumer ratings are a pretty reliable way to determine if the "free" app is worth it.

9. Other physics related tools. Tag readers, barcode reader, scientific calculator, iPhysics, NASA, Dictionary.com, the particle circus, PopSci, Cosmic, USB Disk Pro, YouTube, NOVA elements, Stopwattch, iSeismometer, Exoplanet, 3D Brain, HubbleSite, and some university lectures, audiobooks, podcasts, physics videos and physics books.

These are all tools that will (and have already) make me a more productive and better physics teacher.

Next I need to explore tools that will directly benefit my students. Please comment on what apps you would want on your students' iPads that will benefit their learning physics.

Thank you.

Geoff recommended Notability as a better alternative to Penultimate, which I was a dissapointment to me. So today I tried Notability.

I am very impressed. This app truely is a great note taking app. The following pdf is a physics lesson plan that I sketched up in a matter of minutes:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6417998/Note%20Dec%2027%2C%202012%20Lesson%20Plan.pdf

Notability & iAnnotate are my new killer apps!

12/26/12

Oops. I woke up this morning feeling guilty because I just realized that all the mark-ups I made on my students’ lab reports were in red. That was the default color of the iAnnotate pen. During my MAT studies I remember reading that the color red is like screaming at my students, and that I should use a more mellow color like blue or purple (which I do use when I grade paper papers). I hope they are not too traumatized by this. I need to set the default color to purple.

I took the time today to totally customize my toolbars in iAnnotate. Now I’m going to download some AP physics lab reports, and apply what I learned yesterday to grade these lab reports. I wonder if I can do this directly from my iPad?

I made a shortcut to my school website on my iPad homepage. From there I was able to download my students’ files to Dropbox; however, they came in as a zip file. The iAnnotate software was not able to open the zip file. I sent it to USB Disk Pro, which was able to open it; but it was unable to send it to Dropbox correctly. Also, iAnnotate would not download all of the files when the zip file was in the Dropbox folder: it stopped downloading when it got to the zip file. I had to take the zip file out of the folder and repeat the download to iAnnotate.

Bottom line … I can’t move student files from my school’s website to my iPad in a way that iAnnotate can access them.

Bottom, bottom line … iAnnotate worked great! I’m sold. My stamps made things more efficient. Once the files were in Dropbox, everything went smoothly. It’s better than I expected.

One of the really big deal tools for me is the feather icon. This blows up a section of the paper where you tap so that you have a lot more space to write your comments. Then it shrinks back down when you are done, yet you can still move it around to get it into the right place. This is a lot better than making squeezing and shrinking gestures with your fingers all the time.

The quality of the audio comments is much better than what I experienced with using Adobe Acrobat Pro. My colleagues tell me that students prefer written comments vs. audio comments. I was told by someone that the audio comments could be converted to text in iAnnotate, but I have not been able to figure out how. Any ideas?

Others feel that the audio comments lend a personal touch to the grading and help to build a rapport with students.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/grading-with-voice-on-an-ipad/40907

My feeling is that there is a place for the audio comments, but one should, perhaps, use this sparingly … perhaps only once as an overall summary statement next to the student’s grade, and perhaps only on papers where the student needs encouragement or reassurance. Any thoughts?

12/25/12

After our Christmas celebrations, I found some time in the afternoon to work on iAnnotate. I thought I was taking the right steps, but everything I tried resulted in my watching the little button spin and spin. After more frustrating time trying things, deleting things, searching the web, listening to youtube tutorials, etc. … none of which helped since I think these were made for earlier versions … I shoved at the screen in frustration, and there at the bottom of the screen like a bar of pure gold was the “allow” button that I hadn’t seen for two days. Pushing the “allow” button solved the problem.

The tutorials turned out to be helpful, since I avoided the mistake of syncing my entire Dropbox with iAnnotate. I created a folder in Dropbox, which I named “Labs_Not_Graded” and connected to that folder only. Students submit their lab reports electronically via our website, and I download them directly into my Dropbox folder. So I downloaded a dozen or so late lab reports to grade.

After downloading my students’ late lab reports to my dropbox folder, I downloaded them to iAnnotate. I used the app to grade the lab reports, uploaded them back to Dropbox, used our website systems to upload to the website, then used the website to send the graded reports to my students’ in-boxes.

The iAnnotate app seems very complex. It has more than enough tools for me to do the grading. The tools are of high quality, and I am pleased with the result. I will need a lot of time to optimize/customize it for my purposes. I did make a custom toolbar with the tools that I think I’ll be using most frequently. In reading how other teachers use it, I picked up many good tips. One issue I had was that I couldn’t figure out how to copy/paste my rubric on the lab reports. 

Duh! The simple solution is to have the students turn their reports in with the rubric as the last page.

Fourth impression: The iAnnotate app may make the iPad a very useful tool for grading lab reports. It may be the “killer app” that will make the iPad valuable to me.

12/24/12

Our English department uses the iAnnotate app to grade papers electronically. I do the same thing with Adobe Acrobat Pro, but I’d like to see if iAnnotate offers any advantages. I did some web searching with the iPad to figure out how to get iAnnotate connected to my Dropbox, but soon went back to the large screen monitor on one of my home computers.

Third impression: I don’t think the iPad is a good tool for researching the internet, unless it’s the only one you have.

After a few hours I was still unable to get iAnnotate connected to my Dropbox account. It’s Christmas Eve, so I didn’t finish this task.

It’s a miracle. The Star of Bethlehem supernova appeared just as I snapped the picture.

Merry Christmas!

12/23/12

I figured that since the iPad has a form factor like a tablet, it might be useful for taking notes and making sketches. So I went to Office Max and bought a stylus, which should help with this. I also bought a screen protector.

I experimented a lot with the Penultimate app that was highly ranked on iTunes. I made some force diagrams for physics, tried to do a physics problem, tried to make a graph, tried note taking, and then made a mind map for my next physics lesson. I honestly can’t see much use for the iPad as a writing tablet device. Maybe our fine arts people will show me the way.

Second impression: I am very disappointed with the note taking and sketching capabilities.

I verified that the Clinometer app worked like it does on my iPod and on my students’ smart phones. The frequency generator, FreqGen, app also works as expected. Google worked fine. Once we get Wi-Fi extended to my classroom I’ll be able to whip out my iPod (in my back pocket), tap on the mic icon, and say things like “33 meters per seconds in miles per hour”. Google immediately responds with 73.818 miles per hour. This will be very useful in helping my students make sense of the problems we do using the metric system. If students had iPads or iPods they could do this also.

I some read passages from “The Call of the Wild” that relate to physics, and discovered the 2X button. This feature makes reading books easier, and allows a person to read at normal reading distances vs. having to hold the iPod un-naturally close. The iPad might be an outstanding tool with interactive/multimedia books, if there were any.

12/22/12

This is my first day with the iPad. I didn’t know what to expect. I did the following:

•  Loaded 40+ applications after configuring iTunes on my home computer.
• Connected to my home Wi-Fi.
•  Connected the wireless keyboard via Bluetooth.
•  Connected the iPad with my school email.
• Verified that Google worked and I could get mail from my Gmail accounts.
• Experimented with some of the applications.

I used the Astrid app to make a checklist of what I want to accomplish during the Christmas break.

I accidently took a picture of myself. (See profile picture).

I read some email, and started to respond to a parent but realized that I couldn’t attach a document, even though I have the Dropbox app installed. I wonder if I’ll be able to read attachments? Probably not.

First impression: the iPad is “just” a big iPod. I can’t see that there is any difference except the size of the screen, but that just might make it somewhat more useful than an iPod in some key applications. I’m keeping an open mind while looking for the killer app.