iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

University

The World’s Fair On Your iPad

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Screen Shot 2013-08-19 at 9.03.29 AM The New York Public Library’s Biblion: World’s Fair app puts the wonder of the 1939-1940 World’s Fair on your iPad. Through the app you can view images, videos, and documents all about the World’s Fair. All of the media in the app is arranged into thematic stories. These stories showcase the innovations that were on display in 1940 as well as the predictions for the future. Plenty of historical context is provided through the stories to help readers understand why the innovations on display were significant.

One of the fun things that you could do with this app with your students is to have them look at the stories that feature predictions for the future. Then have you students see which of those predictions were accurate, which weren’t, and which became part of our world today.

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Using AirServer to Mirror iPads to Laptops

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Screen Shot 2013-08-13 at 6.43.19 PM When I am giving presentations and leading workshops I like to use AirServer to mirror my iPad to my laptop. That allows me to project my iPad’s screen without being tethered to VGA cable. At $14.99 (less with volume pricing) AirServer is a heck of a lot cheaper than Apple TV too. Usually everything works well when I use this system. Today, that wasn’t the case.

Today, during three of presentations that I gave, including the keynote, one or more people accidentally broadcast their iPads to my laptop which in turn meant that their iPad screens were broadcast to the whole audience. The reason that this happened was that I hadn’t set an AirServer password.

The lesson here is if you are going to use AirServer in your classroom or in a presentation as I was today, make sure that you set a password to prevent others from accidentally sharing their screens to your computer.

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AirServer works on Macs and on Windows computers. It costs $14.99 for an individual license that you can use on up to five computers. Schools that purchase twenty or more licenses can buy them for $3.99 a piece.

Add Your Signature to Documents With HelloSign for iPad

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2013-07-13_2227 If you have ever received an email with an attachment that you need to put your signature on, you need to check out Hello Sign. Hello Sign is a free service that allow you to digitally sign documents. Hello Sign can be used on your computer, on your iPhone, and on your iPad.

On your iPhone or iPad you can use Hello Sign by selecting a document or by taking a picture of a document. I have demonstrated the app to many people over the last year and everyone has been impressed by how easy it is to use. I just open the app, log into my Hello Sign account, and snap a picture of a document. After the picture was captured I have the option to apply a stored signature or sign the document using my finger on my iPad screen.

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Create Interactive Flipped Lessons With Knowmia Teach

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The Knowmia Teach iPad app is an excellent app for creating your own whiteboard videos. I’ve written about the app and shown it workshops quite a few times over the last year. Recently, Knowmia Teach received a bunch of updates worth noting.

The most significant update is the addition of an assignment wizard (available now in public beta) that teachers can use to build assignments using a combination of video lessons, questions, and slides. Teachers can track students’ performance in real-time. Take a look at this sample chemistry lesson then go here to learn how to start using the assignment wizard.

Knowmia Teach was originally designed just for teachers to use to create lessons. The latest update introduced student use of the free iPad app. Now students can use the free Knowmia Teach iPad app  to create video lessons for their classes and share them securely. The only way that someone can watch a student’s video is to be given the secret link by the student. Students’ videos do not go into a public gallery.

I have found the Knowia Teach app to have far more creation options than the similar Showme and Educreations apps. If you’re considering creating flipped lessons or you want your students to create some explanatory videos of their own, give Knowmia Teach a try.

Finally! – Google Drive for iPad Supports Comments

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Screen Shot 2013-06-05 at 8.46.55 PM This is probably the best news Google-loving iPad users have heard this week, the latest update to Google Drive for iPad supports commenting. Now, you can comment on documents on your iPad just as you would in your browser on your laptop. You can highlight a word or sentence then click comment to have your comment tied to a part of a document. To add a comment that is not tied to a part of the document, you can simply tap the comment icon while viewing the document. Just as you can in your web browser you can reply to your collaborators’ comments and resolve comments.

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The latest update to Google Drive for iPad brings it closer to being as powerful as the web-based version of Google Drive.