Documenting Trees with iPad

This week I started a project with a grade one class to do with trees and changes. The plan is to take photos of trees through the different seasons of the year.

Taking photos and DC

Firstly we had to learn/review how to take photos with the iPad. We also looked at some digital citizenship around taking photos with a mobile device as well as some handling guidelines. We decided to have each student in the shot for ease of organizing the photos once we downloaded all the photos off the iPads.

First go at it

We headed outside and broke the class into two smaller groups (about 12 students) we walked around the school to find trees and take some photos. After a little bit of modelling, we all chose our tree and then took our first photos.

  

Review and full class assessment 

After completing the outside task, we headed back in to view some photos and clean up the camera roll from the extra shots. We quickly realized that the students were not able to take photos of the trees  as we had hoped. There were cut off tress, crooked photos, unrecognizable students etc, etc

Success criteria 

We selected a few examples and non-examples of good photos and had a discussion with the class. Using a Google presentation, we made notes on what we noticed was wrong with the photos and what was good about the photos. We also added some tips about what the photographer could do improve on that photo.

More practice

After creating the success criteria and tip sheet, the student once again took some photos using the iPads. This time, we just worked in the learning commons and took photos around the inside space, being mindful of the composition of the photos.

Outside: Part 2

After having further practice, we moved outside for the second time and tried taking our photos again. It turns out that the practice and discussion about how to be successful made a big difference.

Watch the blog for some of the things we do next with our photos.

    

Documenting Learning with iPads

Sarabeth Asis, Teacher, Bridlewood School

This year, my grade 5 students and I learned the value of using mobile devices, such as the iPad, to document our learning during a problem-based learning activity. While exploring the question, How can we use our imaginations, prior knowledge and research to create an electrical toy car model?, my class used iPads and a workflow of productivity apps to make student-created artifacts representing their learning. Our pre-planning stage involved using Popplet Lite, a mind-mapping app, which students used to brainstorm what they already knew about electricity and what questions they needed to ask to help them to build an electric toy car. These questions guided their research and students used Safari and YouTube apps to help them find information. Their research notes were recorded on Notability. Later, they used the app, Idea Board, to draw their electric car designs. Throughout the building and testing stages, students used the iPad’s camera to take photos and video. Finally, when the electric cars were complete, students took all their digital artifacts and created a reflection video using Explain Everything.

Benefits

The first benefit I noticed while using the iPads during this problem-based task was increased student engagement. Most students were focused on the task at hand throughout the majority of the project, with minimal reminders to stay on task. After each learning activity, an artifact was created to represent thinking (mind maps, design drawings, notes) or be used as a topic of discussion (photos of building the cars). I also noticed the increased speed in student ability to get their ideas down into a digital artifact that was legible and visually appealing, whereas traditional paper and pen activities might have proved challenging for some students with fine motor difficulties or would have taken a longer period of time to add visual appeal.

Some affordances provided by use of the iPads with my students included multi-modal features and a streamlining of the documentation process. The iPads provided for various multi-modal methods for students to represent work, such as drawings, voice, text and video. All available tools and creations were stored in a single, portable device. Students could take the iPad to various classroom or school locations conducive to group work and building throughout the learning activities.
The apps we used in this inquiry were open-ended to encourage creativity in the students but also revealed levels in their ability to think critically, problem solve and reflect. For example, differences in the Popplet webs, prototype designs, and reflections in their Explain Everything videos gave me insight into a particular group of students’ thinking and learning. Through use of the iPads in this process, I felt I learnt more about my students’ learning and thinking processes through these artifacts, rather than using traditional paper and pen assessment methods.

Sarabeth (@Sarawa81) has a passion for using EdTech to support learning. She looks forward to new adventures as LL at Royal Oak School next fall.

iPad for Video Recording

One of the greatest uses of iPad in the classroom is for recording video. In our school, we have been trialling a green screen. Our students' are loving it!

We have been working on developing a standard workflow when recording and video on our iPads and then editing on a computer. Here's what we have come up with so far...

   

On the iPad

1. Record video using iPad
2. Connect to CBE LAWN network (for our district)
3. Log into Google Drive App.
4. Create, or find shared folder that whole class can access. This is a good idea as one person can remained logged in to save time. They can then upload multiple videos.
5. Upload video to the Google Drive shared folder
6. Delete video off iPad once uploaded

On the Computer

1. Log into Computer
2. Log into Google Drive in Safari
3. Find the Shared folder
4. Access the uploaded video files
5. Download to computer and begin the editing process.

All done without wires!

The nice thing about this workflow is that when one iPad is being used, it can speed up the process without having plug it into a computer after every video has been recorded.