DoInk Animation

What: DoInk Animation and Drawing App for iPad
Who: Grade 5 & 6
What: Experimental Play - Learning the App

One of our Grade 5 & 6 Classes is learning to animate using a couple of different kinds of applications. The first App we learned to use is DoInk Animation and Drawing. The class were assigned an iPad each and experimented by playing with it for a a total of three sessions (approx. 2hrs in total). We're really amazed how well our students picked this up and what they achieved in such a short time.


Here are some examples of what they produced:

Where Next?

The next project is to learn how to animate using Keynote. We will play with that for a few days and see what we can make with a different kind of affect.

The last animation App we will experiment with is Stop Motion Studio Pro HD for iPad. The students will manipulate 'real' objects and animate them into short videos.

After the experimental phase we will have a project to animate a property/principle of air to show an understand 'what makes air work'.

I can't wait to share the final results.

Aurasma - Making Images Move

When I first saw Aurasma, I couldn't believe what I saw. Still pictures coming to life and turning into video right on the wall? Impossible!

After watching and reading the Calgary Science School post by Dan McWilliam, I was in awe! I wanted to do it with some students. To tell the truth, I've been struggling find the right place to try it. What I did think about was how we could showcase this app to our students and parents as well as introduce it to our teachers. 

Our students were about to go swimming and at our school, a lot of our students do not have many opportunities to swim. What better way to show this app than to show parents their child[ren] swimming at the pool.

It turned out to be a simple exercise. Using their classroom iPad, teachers got video of each of their students swimming at the pool. Then we took still pictures of each student to use as a trigger image. Once all video and photos were taken and using the app Aurasma, we linked each video to the corresponding photo of the same student. 

The videos were then showcased at parent/teacher interviews. The students took the class iPad and showed their parents their picture on be wall. Once the image on the wall was recognized but the Aurasma app, it magically turned into a video on the student swimming at the pool - awesome! 

Here's what our kindergarten teacher came up with:

Students were so proud when showing their swimming video to the parents. What a great way to show parents something their child does in school, and in this case out of the school building.

What's next with Aurasma? After seeing it's capability, one of our grade 5/6 teachers thought a AR scavenger hunt would be an engaging way to using Aurasma with students. They are in the process of  making it now. Look out for a blog post soon...

Picture Collage App

I recently found another great App - Picture Collage. Tonight I was playing around with it wondering how stents might use it. My thinking is that Picture Collage would be great for documenting a some kind of process or timeline of events.

It is so easy to use and only took a few minutes to learn the different tools available to me. Here are some of my trial collages.

Protecting the Resource

One of the biggest concerns when launching iPads and/or iPods must to do with security of the device. Some so small and mobile must be easy for people to just take it away. So far, we haven't had any issue of devices being lost or stolen. The two times we have not been able to find an iPad there was a good explanation in its whereabouts.

We have implemented a few different things in order to keep our devices safe and easily trackable.

First of all, we bought an expensive but durable Otterbox case. Although these cases are expensive (and we did get a discount for buying in bulk - 30 cases), we thought it was a worthwhile investment. The cases fit nicely in our Bretford Power-Sync cart.

The case also come with a cover that acts as a stand for the iPad too. It has three different options for cradling the iPad.

We also thought it necessary to label all of our devices to keep of track of them when storing them in the cart. We used a label maker and added the label, to a visible area on the iPad, before putting the cover on.

 

I also designed unique wallpapers for each of the classroom ipads and ipads that would be stored in the cart.

I'm wondering how other people have labelled and secured their iPads. Please share you thoughts and ideas.

Smart App, Smart Math

Grade: 6
App: Smart Notebook
Student Learning Goal: Students will use technology solve a 'multiple entry point' math problem.

Learning Pathway:
Smart Technologies recently released a new iPad app with a slim version of their popular Notebook application. The students at our school LOVE working in Notebook so we downloaded it as soon as heard about it.

After hearing about it one of our grade 6 teachers wanted to try them out. This was her first attempt at using the new App. Usually, This problem would be created and writing (or printing) numbers on paper then cutting them out into strips.

Here's what it looked like...

Comparing their work with others allowed some students to feel comfortable and confident with their own ideas.

Students were able to share their strategies and ideas with their peers.

The Notebook App allowed student to manipulate number strips with ease, rather than making the numbers  from paper strips.