Evernote and Skitch (about workflows again ?)

One topic that always intruiges me is the aspect of peoples "work flow". There seems to be an incredible amount of variation - what someones says is a very effective and efficient workflow - can be someones else's "hours spent experimenting to achieve the same result as they were doing before". There is a lot to be said for sticking to one method or program and utilising it fully. 

I have recently been through my own elipical journey - only to arrive back at my starting point. 

I have tried many programs and apps that would allow me to work seamlessly between work computer, home laptop and ipad and across different systems - Windows and Apple. After trying many I keep coming back to Evernote.
I originally tried it. Didn't really get into it. Came back to it at various times. Tried other apps. Came back to it again. 

My latest arrival back to it made me think - "if I want to do something quickly and have it available across all platforms - this is the one I keep coming back to!" It does notes, audio, checklists, web links, adds files (of any sort) and across all platforms. In fact I am typing this on it now - because I know later I will want to finish it (or add to it ) working on my ipad. In other words - a work flow that works for me. I had mentioned about Evernote in this blog before http://woodbutchersguide.blogspot.com/2011/04/some-older-things-revisited.html but had been going in and out of it at various times. But I have found the more I use it, the more handy I find it. 

The other program I have found extremely handy on a mac is one called Skitch. This was originally an independent program but got taken over by Evernote. I had also mentioned this one earlier. http://woodbutchersguide.blogspot.com/2011/04/skitch-another-old-one-revisited.html#links.  I had used this one extensively doing screen shots for people - making notes or explanations. A very handy and again, very quick (I really don't want to spend a long time getting to learn a program).
The exciting news is , that the people from Skitch (or Evernote) have now made an app for the ipad. Free and links in with Evernote. So it enhances your workflow with Evernote.

As you can see - you can do most of the things you could do with the full program - shapes, text, arrows or lines, writing and then link it to Evernote or email it.

I must admit - I like things that make my time more efficient and this fits the bill.


If you haven't given Evernote and Skitch a try, I suggest you do. You may be like me and find they are very handy and useable. 

Touch, Voice, Sight - is smell next ? Google App for iPad.

It is quite interesting the "rivalry " between Google and Apple. Amusing for us users because the more they compete with each other the more benefit we consumers gain. Many of us think of "Google" as a search engine. I even have a friend who refers to looking something up as - why not use "the google" as if it is a noun. Others, of course, know Google as the maker of a wide range of very useful apps.
I came across one recently that I hadn't noticed before (in fact I'm not sure whether it was just released or whether I hadn't noticed it before). It was one I downloaded for my iPad but it is also available for iPhone,  (I also believe there is a version for Android). The app is simply called "Google Search".  This little app has quite a number of handy features.

When the app first opens you get the normal looking Google search bar . But down below there are three interesting connections. I'll start in the middle first. The yellow circle - Voice Search.Activate this and a microphone appears. Say a word or phrase for what you are searching and a second or two later a list of web sites appear. Very nifty.








The red one on the left "Applications". This brings up a page of Google apps - gmail, google docs, Youtube, calendar etc. Most people have a gmail and probably some goggle docs - so it is handy to have these connections come up on the one interface. Although I must admit I don't care for their calendar app here - much prefer iCal or even the web interface for Google calendar.

The third one , the blue one, goggles, is the exciting one. Click on this and your camera comes up. Take a photo of a well known landmark, book cover, bottle of wine, artwork, text, and it comes up with a listing of websites, photos, information and so on. It's early days yet and it's fairly limited to what it will find but it really takes the aspect of the visual search that one step further on.

Like the aspect of touch that was introduced to our computing use (iPads, smartphones etc) - the voice and visual aspect is the next game changer. That is what Goggle is trying to incorporate here - and reasonably successfully. These new but subtle changes have a habit of creeping in and by the time we turn around twice everybody is using them and they are a normal aspect of their computing/communication. I am amazed how underrated the the introduction of Siri is with the new iPhone. I personally find this little feature is going to be the big change maker in the next couple of years - but at the moment most people just yawn and go "big deal - so what - it doesn't even work that well". But I think they underrate the potential of what is happening. Time will tell.

FlipSnack and Edmodo

I have been trying to sort out aspects that might be useful for my teaching next term. Two things that I came across that I feel will be very useful.  One is a sight called "FlipSnack". These guys can convert your pdf files into flip books. I think this would be extremely interesting for students to publish their stories or booklets in a different form.  Here is the link: http://www.flipsnack.com/.  An example of the flip book is given below. If you find it takes over your whole screen - just hit the escape button to bring it back.

The other aspect that has me quite excited (and I want to check out fully) is "Edmodo". This is an extremely interesting social education network. It can be set up for class or school use.  It is a place where you post student assignments, homework, discussions - including any form of media. You can have students post their assignments to the site as well as give them grades and feed back. It is all secure. You can set up class or subject groups. Well worth a look.  I have been looking around for alternatives for my class web site. I maintained a iWeb class web site and blog this year - but with the demise of iWeb with Lion - I thought I would scrap it next year. Therefore - either back to Google sites or something different. Edmodo looks like it could be an exciting and viable option. Check it out.
http://www.edmodo.com/home

To Lion or not to Lion - that is the question !

I recently had to incorporate a number of new laptops into our bank. With the demise of the Macbook (of which I was never a BIG fan) the decision had to made to what we would purchase. The macbook is still available for education but it is technology that is a few years old (and obviously on the way out). The choices were the Air or Macbook Pro. To fit into the educational price range (at least for our budget) it would have to be the 11" Air. This isn't much bigger than the iPad ( but a dearer price) and the 13" Air was going out of our budget. The decision was to go with the base model MBP 13".  I felt fairly happy about this as I feel that the MBP is a much sturdier product than the MacBook and will live up to the riggers of multiple users. Also a 13" laptop fitted the needs of the present Stage 3 classes. They will be using the iPads as well but I'll explain that in a future blog. The major decision was to be "What operating system ?" All of our computers run Snow Leopard and we also have a Mac mini server that runs Snow Leopard. Although they will come with Lion will we bring them back to Snow Leopard or keep the existing ?

I decided to see how Lion fitted in. I had a few weeks before they needed to be fully integrated so I started with one. I had ordered a couple of teacher units with 8G of Ram and set one of these up as a trial unit. My first impressions were rather reserved. I thought that most of the changes were cosmetic - therefore no real reason not to back date them to Snow Leopard. But the more I used it - the more I found and the more I liked. Everyone finds things they like and dislike that are different to popular opinion. I was no different.

The two major aspects , Launch Pad and Mission Control, I rather dismissed at first. Until I started to use them a little more effectively. Launch Pad, which looks like an iPad or iPhone, I decided was a fairly quick way of students finding the programs you want them to use (and tucking away the ones you don't - such as the App store). You can make folders - therefore have all the programs that a particular class uses often (say a Year 5 folder with Google Earth, Sketchup, Scratch etc).  Mission Control would help the students find where they were and what they had open.  The scrolling for different desktops is great. You could have one desktop with Safari open, one with Pages and one with a PDF of your lesson notes. Very handy!
Preview has also been revamped and made more useful. You can do a lot more editing in it. The aspect of "full screen" view - I was at first rather cynical - but I find I use it a lot. If you are working on a 13" screen, to easily go from full screen to showing toolbars is a God send. Even the "backwards" scrolling I found no issue with. I go from a Lion machine to a SL machine and I haven't found a need to change the scrolling direction. The changes in Mail and iCal, which the critics all raved about, I find rather ho-hum. Students won't really use them in my set up. I am yet to road run Airdrop, but I am thinking this could be very handy for distributing files to students as well as students sharing work with each other. All in all, Lion  - a winner - therefore stay with it.

My next dilemma  - can I clone Lion and have the machines boot off the server ? With Snow Leopard my work was minimised by being able to ghost an image , with all the programs and settings I wanted, putting it on the server, and then having a laptop boot from the server. This meant that if a computer had an issue (other than hardware) I would have it boot off the server and re-image the machine. This was quicker and more effecient than spending hours trying to find out what little, niggle issue, was causing issues.  What I had done in the past was to use Carbon Copy Clone. At first I cloned an image to a portable hard drive and set the laptops on this. When we got our mini mac server - I put that image on the server. Because Lion has a recovery partition I wasn't sure it would be straight forward.
Here's where I ran into difficulties! I tried CCC, making an image and then putting it on the server. When I booted up the new machines - they couldn't find the server. Hours were spent trying to figure this one out. I   also tried booting off the portable hard drive - it still couldn't see the image ! Frustration - as I've stated earlier - I am a wood butcher - therefore have no real knowledge of these matters. Ironically - I attended an iPad  presentation, where an Apple engineer was present. I asked him about my problems. He said that I would need a Lion server to deploy a Lion image. Ok - one issue solved. But why wouldn't my Lion machines see the image off a portable Hard Drive ?

I did a lot of reading off the net and trials. I ended up trying "Super Duper".  This worked ! I managed to clone a Lion machine (with all programs and settings) to a Hard Drive. I then used this image to boot a number of MBP's . Then loading the image to the HD. Success !
As far as using Lion on my network - I have found no issues. It picks up the network printers, I have linked the student home drives from our windows server , as well as their folders from the mac server. It manages to pick up everything that the Snow Leopard machines could.
I can see and control them through Apple Remote Desktop which helps immensely. I can update them and send packages. I may upgrade the server to Lion at a future date (certainly expense is not a factor) but will hold off for the moment. It will be to my advantage because I can administer the SL machines as well as Lion (which is going to be any new machines) as well as the iPads. But, to save myself the learning curve (I am just getting a handle on SL server) and to make sure there are no hic ups (after all - it is only version one)
Bottom line - upgrade to Lion ? Yeah , why not ?

Ah - are we too old to learn ? I don't think so ! Marco Torres and Beyond Chalk.

The last week have been extremely stimulating and has lifted my spirits in regards to education and the use of technology. Notice that I wrote "education" first. Gone are the days tinkering for technology for technology sake.THe modern approach is " I want to do such and such - what tools can assist me ? " Not " How am I going to make technology fit into the task I have to do ?" This is certainly not the thinking of students today. This was exemplified by an example I heard today, which was reflected within my own family. On two occasions my son was bought a wristwatch by well intentioned relatives.  They both have never been worn. He has always used his phone to tell the time. Today I heard a similar story of a young lady who gave  her niece a wristwatch - only to be asked "What else does it do?" Kids today - or should I say - reality today.

Last week I went to a very stimulating presentation by Marco Torres, a LA educationist, film producer, and keynote speaker at numerous International Technology and Education Conferences. It was a day of stimulating thought and discussion. He was a man who appears to be one of the people who initiated  the Apple “Challenge Based Learning” (have a look at the Apple Educational website). He also produced a number of the “Myth Busters” TV series and the show is based on the Challenge Based Learning concept. When you look at the show you certainly see two guys learning ( not two guys teaching). Many of the aspects he spoke about are too involved to go into here - but as a brief summary these are some of the points that struck a cord with me. 

He spoke about people who have a passion for what they do. One thing they all had in common - they had a hobby ! He had made a study over a number of occupations and the most successful and passionate people were the ones who had an outside interest. They were able to make associations or connections with their interests and their jobs. He found the same for the teaching profession. If you want to be a remarkable teacher - get a hobby!

He also gave many examples of students who were not overly academic - but had drive and passion. The ones who were curious and endeavored to take things one step further. Really - the mode of which we should be teaching. The approach of the modern learner is  “ Learn, Create, Share”. We should be accommodating this style - not fighting against it because its not the way we have always done things. 

If I had to sum up two brief aspects I got out of his talk it would have to be “Teach Curiosity “.  Fits very comfortably with the concept of “teaching for life long learning”. When it all boils down - it is the main skill we can give kids in this every changing, turbulent world. 

The second was “Solve and issue and tell a story”.  His web site is rather chaotic but worth a look. Also if you get a chance to hear him speak or attend his workshops - I highly recommend it. His web site is http://torres21.squarespace.com/

The second workshop I went to was of a more practical, hands on style. It was presented by “Beyond Chalk” - a group I have had dealings with before. This was more about “you want to use the technology for your students - here’s how”. Beyond Chalk are a group who use young, enthusiastic and knowledgeable presenters - no easy task considering the aging teacher population (in Australia at least). I always come away from these sessions invigorated, enthused and more knowledgable. Tori, the young lady presenting took us through various aspects of working with the mac platform to help and enhance our students learning. Very practical, student focussed and a spurt of student focussed enthusiasm. I always come away impressed and invigorated.  

http://www.beyondchalk.com/

If you get a chance to attend any of their workshops - if you keep an open mind, - you will certainly get something out of it.

Ah - it's good to be stimulated and invigorated !

WEB 2 PROGRAMS AND IPAD APPS

Many of us spend a lot of time cruising the web for suitable programs to help with our teaching. We all tend to appreciate help - if someone can suggest a program or app - that might fit our needs. Like a lot of others, I too, have started trying to keep a list of things that might be helpful. Like others as well, I tend to have them all over the place.

Will any of this make any difference to Education ?

Two things,  that some people might find helpful, I have included here.
The first one is a list of Web 2 programs. These are programs that anyone can use  (windows or mac). I have listed them here (with screen shots) and although not extensive (only 11 pages and being added to all the time) someone may find them useful. The following pdf is the list.

WEB 2 Programs

I have also included a list of ipad apps that my be useful. You may want to check the "ipad 2" page (which tends to be neglected a bit - as this blog seems to have taken a different direction) for a few questions regarding schools introducing ipads.
But I have included a list of apps that we are looking at regarding our school introduction of ipads. It also has a list for Asian Studies (that I have mentioned on the other page) because of my connection to the Asia Teachers Association.
So - it is a bit of a mixture. Infant apps ; primary apps; and apps for Asian Studies (mainly Secondary). Hope it is helpful.

iPAD APPS THAT MAY BE USEFUL

Doceri (something different for your Interactive Whiteboard)

I was reading about a number of interactive "smartboard", "whiteboard" apps for the ipad - to make it a little more usable in the classroom for a larger group of students. When you start investigating there are a number of apps out there that do a variation of the same thing.
One that impressed me was a product called "Doceri". This one is a little different because it does a whole range of things.
First of all - it mirrors your laptop for Interactive Whiteboard presentations. From your ipad you can control your laptop and any presentation to your Interactive Whiteboard. For example - it may be as simple as a Keynote presentation that you control from the back of the room. Or it may be the Smartboard software and a lesson you have prepared. Instead of asking the student to come to the front and manipulate the smartboard - take the ipad to where the student is sitting, hand the ipad to them and ask them to do the same thing. Great for students who are a little hesitant or shy. Anything that can appear on your laptop can be used through Doceri on your ipad.

That isn't the only thing it will do. You can also write, annotate over any program on your computer. Anything on your computer (including interactive software) you can control (mac or windows), easily launch any document and annotate over them. You can record and save any drawings or presentations for later use. If you just want to use it as a whiteboard - you can. Write or draw on it (or have your students do it). I have tried it in the classroom with  students for Interactive whiteboard lessons and it works great. The shy students appreciate not being the centre of attention (just their work). I also used it for a ipad users group presentation which worked great. You can even use it to control projectors, DVD's and other audiovisuals (although I haven't tried that).  All in all - a great and very useful program. You need to download it onto your computer. It costs $50 to buy but you can trial it for nothing (but a reminder comes up about every hour or so - that it is a trial.) But other than that - it is fully functional. The app for your ipad is free - from itunes. Here is the link. Give it a go - a very impressive product.

http://doceri.com/index.php