Tag Archives: apple

My Mobile Devices

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As a “techie,” I am always on the look out for new devices to purchase, scrapping together the funds to buy them in an effort to remain current with technology! My latest purchase was the iPad 2, which offered quite the dialogue with my wife about whether the new “toy” would be ours or mine.  While I try to make a conscious effort for it to be ours, I do really monopolize the time spent on the iPad and the apps downloaded as well.  I have never been happier with this decision because as one of my colleagues stated “You never see Steve without his iPad.”

Since the inception of the iPhone and iPad, I have slowly begun to move away from my laptop and can go for a significant amount of time without even turning on the laptop. I think this goes to show the significance of mobile devices and their ability to capture your attention and function as you need them to in order to complete every day tasks.  As soon as iOS can figure out flash, I will think that desktops and laptops will begin to become obsolete because of the necessity to be on the go and have anytime access to information.  The uses of these devices is paramount to the ability to breakdown the physical walls of learning and specifically designated learning spaces in an effort to create learning opportunities each and every day.  Even the car can be a learning space with these devices (although I don’t recommend doing this while driving).

iUses

I use my mobile devices for any number of different activities and tasks each and every day.  With my iPhone, I remain connected to family, friends, and the world as we know it.  I check in with my connections on various social networking sites, I read and send emails (personal and professional), I hold my calendar so that I never miss a meeting, play Angry Birds (of course!), and a host of other routine internet searches.

With my iPad, I conduct some of the same activities; however, I do more internet browsing and searching (due in part to the larger screen), keep in touch with all my files using Evernote, read a host of bloggers that peak my interest through a Google Reader app, hold my calendar, email, and listen to music (iPod and Pandora app).

What’s amazing is that through all of the seemingly meaningless tasks or even the ones that have profound meaning that I carry out on my mobile devices, I am in a constant state of learning.  I might be learning about a new way to find something or a new way to do something.  I might conquer a new level in a game because I did something differently, or I might read a news story that changes the way I view something else in life.  Regardless of the topic, mobile devices encourage, promote, and inspire learning to occur for the owner!

Mesmerized by iMovie

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With the end of any school year, students (and, teachers) begin to feel great excitement for the conclusion of a school year because of the looming three month hiatus.  Students take this opportunity to recharge their batteries in an effort to prepare for another exciting and invigorating academic year.  However, with this great anticipating for the end of the school year, teachers must captivate the attention of their students, draw them into the learning environment, and position students for success!

This year, I decided that I wanted to see how I could best captivate the attention and engage my students for the last week or so of school and so I decided to implement iMovie with my seventh grade students that had never utilized the program (educationally) before.  We were studying the Reconstruction Era, immediately following the Civil War, and for those you that might need a U.S. history refresher was the time period when the Union was attempting to put itself back together with much turmoil and continued racism.

I provided the context that their video would be playing at the Smithsonian Institution to commemorate their chosen topic relating to the Reconstruction time period.  We discussed the art of creating a video, documentary and what makes a good movie – thrilling, funny, special effects, the list went on and on for these seventh graders.  Their mission was to create a 2-3 minute video that best exemplified all of the qualities that make a good movie.

From that point on, they were unleashed into the world of iMovie, Apple computers, GarageBand, and other multimedia programs available to them.  I provided the guidance and the framework, was there to answer some questions, and assist with technical issues.  However, as I walked into the classroom each day I was amazed by how mesmerized my students were.  They were engaged, excited to come to class each day, couldn’t wait for me to finish welcoming them and answering any questions to that they could get to work!

I walked around the room in awe of how these students were taking still pictures, video footage they had filmed, music that they created on GarageBand, the Ken Burns effect through iMovie to make these movies come alive and truly represent their topic!  I was transfixed by how creative my students became and how much they enjoyed this assignment.  Students were proud of their accomplishments and could not wait to share their videos with the rest of the class!  It was a fantastic integration of technology, end of the year, and milestone for my students and myself.  I cannot wait to get back into the classroom to work on this with them again!