iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

video editing

Easy Studio – Create Animated Videos On Your iPad

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Screen Shot 2013-06-28 at 9.51.42 AM Easy Studio is an iPad app that children can use to create animated videos. The process of creating a video on Easy Studio is a drag and drop process. To create a video a child drags shapes and characters into place on a scene. The process is repeated to create each new scene in the video. After all of the scenes have been created the child taps the play button to see how the video looks. A child using Easy Studio for the first time can follow one of the six story templates to get a feel for how the creation process works.

Easy Studio could be a good app for children to use to try their hands at developing short stories on their iPads. The app currently costs $3.99.

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Shoot, Edit, and Share Videos With the Loopster iPad App

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loopsterLoopster is a video editing tool that I first tried as a web app last fall. Recently, I learned that Loopster has a free iPad app. The free iPad app offers all of the same features that are available in the web version of the service. The Loopster iPad app provides a four track editor. There are tracks for video and images, transitions, sounds, and text. You can import images and videos from your iPad’s camera roll or shoot a new video with the app and edit it. On the video editing track you can trim clips and combine clips. On the text track you can add speech bubbles and other text effects. Loopster has a slow motion effect that is available on the iPad app too.

When your Loopster project is completed you can share it to YouTube, Facebook, or email it. Your completed Loopster projects can also be saved to the camera roll on your iPad.

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To use the free Loopster iPad app you do not need to create a Loopster account.

Doodlecast Pro Makes It Easy to Create Flipped Classroom Videos

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Screen Shot 2013-01-11 at 7.57.43 AMA couple of days ago I reviewed Doodlecast for Kids. Doodlecast for Kids is a great app that children can use to create short, cartoon videos. This morning I the grown-up version of Doodlecast a try. Doodlecast Pro is an excellent iPad app for creating instructional videos.

At its most basic level Doodlecast Pro allows you to draw on a whiteboard and explain what you’re doing at the same time. You can adjust the size and color of the drawing tools. Doodlecast Pro records everything that you draw and say. You can pause and resume recordings at any time. If you have images on your iPad’s camera roll that you would like to include in your Doodlecast Pro video, you can import them into your project. Your Doodlecast Pro creations can have up to 100 pages in them. You can flip between pages during your recording. Doodlecast Pro also allows you to save a work in progress and come back to finish it later. When you are finished with your project you can export your video to YouTube or save it to your iPad’s camera roll.

Watch the video below for an overview of Doodlecast Pro’s features.

Doodlecast Pro could be a great iPad app for teachers to use to create instructional videos to use in a flipped classroom setting. Think of each page in a Doodlecast Pro video as a step in a process for solving an equation. Or think of the pages as sections in a short history lesson. Students could also use the app for creating instructional videos or creative short story videos.

As I write this at 8:15am EST on January 11 Doodlecast Pro is free. Normally is costs $3.99 USD. A volume purchasing discount is available.

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YouTube Capture for iOS – Quick and Easy Video Publishing

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youtube_captureYesterday, Google released a new YouTube iOS app. The new app is optimized for iPhone 5 but works on my iPad 2 as well. Using the YouTube Capture app you can quickly record videos and upload them to YouTube with just a couple of taps on your screen. The first time that you open the app you will be prompted to sign into your Google account and choose your sharing settings. After that you’re ready to start recording and sharing videos.

YouTube Capture includes a few options for quickly editing and enhancing your videos. Within YouTube Capture you can trim the length of your video, stabilize the images in your video, add a soundtrack to your video, and touch-up the colors in your video.

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YouTube Capture isn’t going to replace a true video editing tool like iMovie, but using YouTube Capture could be a good way for students (13 or over) to create short video observations of things that they see on field trips. It could also be used by students to record and share short video blog entries.

Here’s a short video I made with the YouTube Capture app.

Pinnacle Studio – A Fantastic Video Editing App

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If you’re looking for a new video editing app, Pinnacle Studio is one iPad app that deserves your attention.

Pinnacle Studio for iPad reminds me quite a bit of iMovie. In testing Pinnacle Studio I found it to have a more intuitive interface than iMovie (and I’ve used iMovie on my MacBook for years). Within the first thirty seconds of using the app I was applying zoom effects, trimming and combining video clips, and adding a sound track to my project. The Pinnacle Studio editor works in landscape and portrait mode although I found it easier to use in landscape mode. Your finished Pinnacle Studio project can be exported to YouTube, uploaded to a Box.net account, emailed, saved on your iPad, or sent to your PC if you have Pinnacle Studio for PC.