iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

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How to Make a Screencast of Your iPad’s Screen

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ipad-606766_640One of the best ways to help people learn how to use an app or complete a workflow process on an iPad is to show them. Every year schools have workshops dedicated to showing teachers how to use their iPads. The trouble comes after the workshop is over and teachers have forgotten a key step or two. The solution to this problem is to create screencast videos that teachers can refer to throughout the school year.  There are a couple of ways that you can create a screencast video of your iPad’s screen.


Method 1 – If you have a Mac computer:

Connect your iPad to your Mac by using the Lightning cable (the cable that came with your iPad). Then open QuickTime on your Mac. Next select “new movie recording” from the QuickTime menu. You can then choose the name of your iPad and click record. When you’re done recording your new screencast will save to your computer as a video file that you can then edit in iMovie if you want to cut out portions of it or lay a music track under your narration.


Method 2 – If you have a Windows computer:

You will need a third-party service that allows you to mirror your iPad to the screen of your Windows computer. Air Server is the service that I recommend for mirroring an iPad to a Windows computer. Air Server includes a recording tool that  you can use to make a screencast video of your iPad’s screen. With Air Server running you can just tap record and instantly start capturing your screen and your narration. The video will save on your Windows computer where you can then edit it and or upload it to your favorite video hosting service.

How to Create Screencast Demos of iPad Apps

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screencastomatic Last week after publishing A Short Guide to Sharing Media Through Google Drive for iPad I had a few people ask me how I created the video. I use two tools to create video demonstrations of iPad apps. First, to mirror my iPad’s screen to my MacBook I use either Reflector which costs $12.99 or AirServer which costs $14.99 (I have both installed because sometimes I’ll visit a school where one system is allowed and the other isn’t).  Second, I use Screencast-O-Matic to record what is being displayed on my MacBook’s screen. Screencast-O-Matic is available in a free version and in a pro version. I pay $15 per year for the pro version. The pro version of Screencast-O-Matic gives me unlimited recording time, records in HD, removes the SOM watermark, offers multiple publishing and sharing options, and offers some handy editing options.

The process of recording the screencast video.

1. Install Reflector or AirServer on your Mac or PC.

2. Make sure your iPad and your Mac or PC are on the same wi-fi network.

3. Turn on Reflector / AirServer on your Mac or PC. Double-click or four-finger swipe upwards to open the bottom tray on your iPad, choose mirroring, then select the name of your computer that has Reflector / AirServer  installed on it. (If you’re trying this in a school you may encounter some filtering issues that prevent mirroring your iPad to your computer. Contact your network admin if you cannot get your iPad mirrored to your computer on the network).

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4. Now that you have your iPad mirrored to your computer open Screencast-O-Matic and click record. Before your recording starts you can crop the capture area to include only your iPad’s screen. Screencast-O-Matic will capture everything that you’re doing on your iPad and it will capture your voice.

5. Optional: If you want to highlight the parts of an app that you’re clicking on in your screencast video, move your mouse cursor on your computer screen to place a yellow circle around part that you are going to tap on the app. Move the mouse cursor before tapping on the app. This adds an extra step, but having the yellow circle makes it easier for viewers to follow your instructions. See my video here for an example of this.

Update: I have had a lot of people ask why I don’t just use the recording tool built into AirServer. The short answer is that I found recording glitchy on AirServer and I like the highlighting and editing options offered through Screencast-o-matic’s pro version.  

Create Animations on Your iPad With ABCya Animate

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Screen Shot 2013-08-09 at 9.31.20 PM Last month ABCya released a great web app called ABCya Animate. That app is now available as an iPad app. With ABCya Animate for iPad students build their animations by drawing, typing, and inserting images. Students can change the background of each frame, include new pictures in each frame, and change the text in each frame of their animations. Watch a complete overview of the app in the video below.

ABCya Animate could be a great tool for elementary school and middle school students to use to create animations to use to tell a short story.

ABCya Animate is currently priced at $1.99.

Disclosure: ABCya is a sponsor of one of my other blogs, Free Technology for Teachers. 

25 iBooks Author Tutorial Videos

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Screen Shot 2012-11-15 at 1.16.33 AM iBooks Author is a great tool for creating interactive ebooks. Unfortunately, creating content with iBooks Author isn’t always as easy as you expect. Learning to use all of the features of iBooks Author can take quite a while. Fortunately, YouTube is loaded with helpful videos on the topic. One set of videos that I found particularly useful is DIY Journo’s Learn iBooks Author.