Hopefully you're following the news, but if not there was more encouraging information coming from. auburn schools about the efficacy of iPads in education, you can read the Sun Journal article here.  I thought the article was a fitting and hopeful write up about one of the ways iPads can be used.  I hope to hear some more tonight and on going about what you're learning and doing with iPads down the road.

This is our last class tonight though by no means the end of your learning.  I hope that you have a project you'd be willing to share, if not then maybe you'll try one of Smule's free apps for the piano or, in this case rapping and maybe try your hand at making a rap song.
Click here for LAE iPad rap

See you in class.

The class continues to progress and last weeks review of more advanced settings should allow you to have more control of your iPads.

Tonight we are going to look at some of the potential social implications ethical considerations of the rapid rise of mobile technology such as iPads.  For teachers and parents in particular we will be discussing the phenomenon of "iSolation" and ways we might constructively look at it.

As for the class homework assignment, I thought you might want to see something very creative which involves modern dance developed by 2wice Arts  most of their work requires a purchase, but just Fifth Wall is just .99 and might give you some ideas.

Or you might like this video?

I think I have my blog problems worked out, so you should now be able to see the links to the presentations from the past two classes and tonights.  Class 4.  Class 5.  Class 6. 

I three good questions about iPads emailed to me from the class I wanted to respond to. 

"Can I download and save files with the iPad like I can with my windows laptop? If so, where are the files saved? Also can I search the iPad for a file?"

You can not "download" anything to iPad's, iPhone's or iPod Touches quite like you can on computers.  You can download from inside certain apps, iTunes is an obvious one that allows you to download music, video, etc.  You can also tap and hold on some things from inside Safari, such as an image from the web and save it to Photos.  In both of these cases you will be able to find what you've downloaded from within the specific app.  However another way you can find things, say a song, on your iPad is to swipe from left to right on your devices screen until you see the "search iPad" feature at the top your screen.  It will look like this.

And just in case any of you are wondering how I get these KeyNote presentations onto the blog, they are done on my iPad but I then need to convert them to a PDF file, download to my computer then upload to Google Drive, copy the link from Google Drive and paste it into Blogger.  Until very recently it was possible to do everything on the iPad - then Apple changed the ability to create links to individual files in iCloud and I moved everything to Google Drive. Then Blogger changed it's formatting, changing how I write the blogs.  Now that I think I have this all figured out, it might be interesting for you to know, in case you want to create your own blog.

Week two and Three iTunes and Mail

Sorry for the technical difficulty getting last weeks Keynote posted, I've been experimenting with Google docs.  So posted below are the links to last weeks class (iTunes) and this weeks (Mail), again feel free to post to this blog or shoot me an e-mail.  For those of you who might not know, iOS 6 is already released, so if you are wondering what will be in iOS 6 before hitting the download button you can go to Cult of Mac by clicking here, which has good write up on what we can look forward to. 

The link to last weeks class is here.

The link to this weeks class is here.

For those of you who missed the balloon festival, I thought it might be interesting to see what a photo taken with an iPhone looks like.  You can take the same resolution photo with your iPads too.

First class 09/05/12

Great first class! I know that the room was hot, and that's not ideal for learning but there were some very good questions and I was able to observe everyone getting the basics. It takes practice. So use them when ever and where ever you can, when you run into a problem, lets talk about it in class or you can post your questions on this blog. While I advocate for taking care of your iPads, protect them from water, try not to drop them, they are tough and can handle quite a bit of abuse. I use mine daily inside and out, winter and summer and have traveled to Europe with it and used it in all types of environments and it works. Just the same, try not to use it as a cutting board...



You can find the PDF version of tonights class here.

Welcome Fall 2012 iPad class

I know some of the class is probably taking a look at this blog already, that's good! Keep doing it. We will use this blog to communicate what's happening in the class, you can ask questions of me and each other, etc.

We will spend most of this evenings class doing introductions so we know each other, and figuring out where everybody is in their iPad skill levels. The format of the classes is to have a presentation by me of the nights lesson, then discussion and practice by all of you. The class works best when students ask questions, so please ask questions.

I look forward to getting to know each of you and helping get the most out of your iPad.

As a reminder, the class will be held every Wednesday from 7pm until 8pm.
See you tonight.
John

Creating video with iPhones and iPads

While I have shot videos on my iPad before, lately I have been getting more serious with my iPhone, iPad, Garage Band and iMovie to create video. The latest art video I've been working on is experimental, and though I used FCP for editing since there is no color selection for iMovie or extensions e.g. Magic Bullets excellent Movie Looks app... yet, the iPhone and iPad are clearly very capable of making ever more sophisticated videos. Take a look at my Tempest in a Teapot video for my hometown for Lewiston.



The video was shot using an iPhone 4 and much editing with my iPad using iMovie, Movie Looks and GarageBand. The video suffers from not using a tripod, and as noted, lack of full editing features in iMovie, none the less I am hopeful that in future classes we might explore creating videos in class to help develop student apprecciation for the iPad and creative use of it.