I thought I'd look back on 2009 by sharing what technology and technology-related products I purchased during the year (inspired by David Pogue's blog post). Yes, it does add up to a pretty penny. I'm thankful for eBay and the ability to easily sell my purchases when I replace them with newer and shinier ones.

Hardware

iMac 27" Quad-Core
I moved up from a 3 year old 24" iMac to a brand new 27" iMac. I love having the extra screen space. The display is extra wide, making it perfect for having two windows open side-by-side. This is the most powerful computer I've ever used. It actually has four processing cores (most Macs have 2 cores). Although most software doesn't take full advantage of the processing power, that will be changing. I have really enjoyed editing video on this machine. The iMac's included touch-sensitive Magic Mouse is pretty nice too.

Acer AZ5610 Touchscreen All-in-One Desktop PC
I'm not just a Mac user. I'm really digging Windows 7 and I'm fascinated by touchscreen computers, so I bought an Acer desktop computer with a touchscreen. It's like using a giant iPhone. Although the screen does get smudgy, it only bothers me when the display is off because that's the only time I see fingerprints. Compared to the iMac, the Acer AZ5610 has a cheap feel and a loud fan.

iPhone 3GS
I've owned all three versions of the iPhone. Yes, I stood in line to buy the original iPhone in 2007. I upgraded from the 3G to the 3GS because I wanted the extra processor speed and video camera. The 3GS feels snappier and apps launch more quickly. Just last week there's a new app that allows older iPhones to take video. However, the video quality is very poor, especially compared to the 3GS's.

I sold my iPhone 3G 16GB on eBay for $315. You might wonder why someone would pay that much when they could get a new one for $99. That $99 price is with a two-year contract. For those that don't want a contract, are already under contract, or have lost or broken their phone, it's cheaper to buy a used phone than to pay the full $399 price tag.

iPod nano with Video
My Flip video camera broke this year. I was going to replace it. Instead, for about the same price, I bought an iPod nano. The newest nano sports a built-in video camera and microphone. The quality is nearly as good as my Flip (not HD) and it also has the advantage of being an iPod. (I know what you're thinking--I have an iPhone 3GS that already takes video. I really bought this iPod for when I conduct workshops about iPods.)

MiFi
I've used a USB wireless connection card to connect to the internet for a couple of years. Since I travel so much, I like being able to go online no matter where I am. It's also nice to have a backup for the few occasions my cable internet goes out at home. The trouble with a USB card is that you can only use it with one computer at a time. While MiFi can connect to a computer with a USB cable, it's main feature is that it creates a Wi-Fi network where up to five devices can connect at once. This has been useful for going online with an iPod touch.

Nikon D60
The D60 is digital SLR camera, which is a higher-end camera with a removable lens. A point-and-shoot camera is more compact, but an SLR gives you more control over the image. Even though I've had the camera for nine months, I have yet to watch its instructional DVD. I need to view this because I know I could be taking better pictures with this camera.

CableDrop Multi-Purpose Cable Clips
As you might image, I have lots of cords and cables draped around my desk. I have lots of gadgets to plug in. The problem is that when I unplug a device, the cord annoyingly falls behind my desk. This happened a lot with my laptop power cord. Not any more now that I use a CableDrop clip. It adheres to the back of my desk and keeps my cable in place. Unlike the my previous masking tape solution, this one looks better and allows the cord to slide up and down.

5 Outlet Squid Surge Protector
I bought two of these recently when they went on sale at Buy.com for $10 each. (If you follow me on Twitter, I like to share when I find exceptional deals.) When not on sale, they're twice that price. Unlike a typical power strip, the Squid's outlets are separate so large power adapters never take up more than one outlet. I've learned that not all power strips are also surge protectors, but this one is.

Monoprice Accessories
I have made several purchases from monoprice.com. I wrote about the site's selection of iPod and iPhone accessories in August. Their cases are less than $2, wall chargers are $4, and external battery packs are $9. I've also bought MacBook video adapters and HDMI cables from Monoprice. These prices are a fraction of what I would have paid at retailers like Apple, Best Buy, and Amazon.

Software

iPhone Apps
I've spend over $100 in the App Store in 2009 (but my free apps far outnumber my paid apps). Some that I bought this year include TomTom USA, CNN Mobile, Sketchy, Red Laser, ESPN Spelling Bee, ReelDirector, and The RAG.

Airlock
Airlock is Macintosh software that allows the computer to lock itself when I am not nearby. How does Airlock know if I am near? It senses if my iPhone is in proximity using Bluetooth. Since I always have my phone in my pocket or in my hand, my computer essentially knows if I'm nearby. I work in all sorts of locations with my laptop. So if somehow my laptop is swiped, at least my data is locked down. If I'm a classroom teacher, Airlock would be a very convenient method of locking nosy students out of my computer when I'm not around.

ScreenFlow 2.0
ScreenFlow is Mac-only software for making screencasts. I bought ScreenFlow a couple years ago and loved it so much I paid for the 2.0 upgrade that came out a couple months ago. I've used ScreenFlow to make informercials and how-tos. I also use ScreenFlow in combination with iMovie to create video episodes of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast.

Snow Leopard
I shelled out $29 to upgrade my MacBook Pro from OSX 10.5 to 10.6. There really aren't that many differences. Supposedly my computer is faster, but I can't tell.

iLife '09
The iLife '09 suite of Mac software was released in January. iPhoto has the most useful new features for me, including facial recognition and publishing to Flickr and Facebook. iMovie '09 brings back many of the options that went missing in iMovie '08. In fact, I have almost stopped using iMovie HD (from 2006) because iMovie '09 is now meeting more of my needs.

Labels: tonyvincent

My favorite software from GoKnow, Sketchy, is now available in the App Store for iPod touch and iPhone! Sketchy has been around for years on Palm handhelds and Pocket PCs, and it has been enjoyed by thousands of students. They have a yearly contest and you can view example animations from my former students. The process of creating a flipbook-style animation is incredibly educational. When students of any age make an animation about any subject, they learn a lot during the process, and they have a final product that they view over and over and over.

Here's GoKnow's description of Sketchy for iPhone:

Get started now with Sketchy - the easy to use drawing and animation app. You can use different drawing tools, photos from your library or direct from the camera, and even text to create frame based animations (or flipbooks).

Features:

• Simple user interface
• Import right from the camera or photo library
• Paint brush, eraser, rectangle, filled rectangle, oval, and filled oval tools
• Select tool - double tap to select all
• Text tool - annotate your photos and drawings
• Many colors to choose from
• Adjustable drawing width
• Cut, copy, paste, and delete
• Undo function
• Duplicate frames

Quick How-To:

• Start drawing right away with your finger
• Use + button to add new frames - including from the camera or photo library
• Tools button lets you change the drawing tool, width, and color
• With select tool, double tap to select whole frame
• Edit button brings up Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, and Undo
• Files button to create new animation or open previous animations
• Tap frame number to jump to another frame

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later

Sketchy ($0.99) for iPhone is really quick to learn. Popular animation apps, Flipbook ($4.99) and Flipbook Lite (Free), are more complicated in comparison to Sketchy because Flipbook has many more features. The most important feature that Sketchy lacks is a way to share animations. There is not a way to export the animation for viewing online or on other iPods and iPhones. In contrast, Flipbook projects can be saved as an MPEG-4 videos on the flipbook.tv site (read my previous post about the Flipbook app). Another similar app, Animation Creator ($0.99) can export to YouTube. I hope an export feature is added to Sketchy soon because everyone loves to share their animations.

After working with Sketchy, Flipbook, and Animation Creator, Sketchy is the most simple. Animation Creator has a good balance of features versus ease-of-use. Flipbook has the most features and is the most complicated to learn. Sketchy has one very important feature the others do not: a text tool. It's so much better to annotate a drawing when you can type on the screen. Handwriting on an iPod touch or iPhone is difficult and usually looks sloppy.

It's great that we have options when it comes to animation apps. Whichever app you use, drawing with a finger can be challenging. You might look into a stylus for drawing.

Labels: appstore, iphone, ipodtouch, sketchy

The K12 Online Conference is an annual event where presenters share about various topics in education and technology. Most presentations are in video format and are freely available to educators around the world. The conference, run entirely by volunteers, began November 30th and is ongoing through January 9th. I'd like to point you toward two presentations about iPhones and iPod touches.

Just a "Touch" of Leadership – Using the iPod touch/iPhone in Administration
Andy Crozier and Mike Amante in Cedar Rapids Iowa and New Hartford, New York show you apps and success stories from administrators in the field that are using iPod touch/iPhone for data collection, organization, creating a mobile office, and personal professional development. Links to apps and resources mentioned in this video can be found at the Apple Learning Interchange. (Audio in the video below is not working correctly. Click here for a better version.)

 

The iPod touch in the Classroom
Kern Kelley from Newport, Maine shows some of the basic uses for iPod touch. Kern first takes you from unboxing the iPod to syncing with iTunes. After showing some basics, he shares a dozen of his favorite apps and they are listed here.

 

You can download the above videos in iTunes since the 2009 K12 Online Conference is available as a podcast. You might be interested in other sessions so check out the 2009 schedule.

Labels: events, iphone, ipodtouch

Dragon Dictation is a new iPhone app. It's a straight-forward voice recognition application from Nuance, the same company that makes Dragon NaturallySpeaking for desktop computers. Simply launch the app and tap the record button. Speak into the microphone. Tap Done when finished and Dragon Dictation sends your audio to their servers for processing. Within seconds, the servers send back the text created from your speech.

You will need to say punctuation marks you want to include, like "period" and "comma." In my testing I found that Dragon Dictation made fewer errors than I expected. It's easy to tap the keyboard icon to correct the text. After the text is the way you like it, you'll probably send it to the clipboard so you can paste it into any application. There's also the option to start an email message with the text or to send as a text message.

Voice-to-text is an exciting use for a handheld, particularly for students learning to write or those with writing or typing challenges. Unfortunately, Dragon Dictation will not install on an iPod touch. I see no reason why an iPod touch with a microphone attachment can't run this app, so I hope Nuance Communications updates the software to install on iPods soon. In the meantime, those with iPhones can find lots of uses for Dragon Dictation, especially since the app is free of charge (for a limited time).

Update: Dragon Dictation now works on iPod touch. You will need a microphone since iPod touch does not have one built-in.

Labels: appstore, iphone, ipodtouch

My talk, "Create It in Your Hand, Share it with the World," from Handheld Learning 2009 is online in video form! This is the presentation where I talk about the importance of creating and sharing, focusing on iPod touch and three types of products: comics, animations, and audio podcasts.

For links and a transcript of the presentation, read my previous blog post. For more video from Handheld Learning 2009, go to Handheld Learning's channel on Blip.tv or subscribe via iTunes.

Labels: events, iphone, ipodtouch, professional development, video

The Sunday, October 4th episode of The Simpsons cartoon pokes fun at technology in schools. The show opens with Bart Simpson's teacher, Edna Krabappel, grading papers as she gets out of bed.

The episode cuts to Edna standing in front of a classroom full of students playing games, watching videos, texting, and talking on their mobile phones. It is chaotic. She struggles to gain the class' attention. Many mobile phones have apps you can download for practicing multiplication problems. Perhaps redirecting students to those apps could grab their attention and be self-grading. Then she could walk around with a clipboard noting each student's progress. Admittedly, dealing with several different kinds of mobile phone platforms would be annoying since they all work differently and have different sets of applications available.

Ms. Krabappel asks, "You're children! Why do you all need cell phones?" They yell out "Safety," "Emergency," and "Educational." These reasons are shouted out as an automatic response to the teacher's question, all the while students continue their talking, texting, and gaming. The reasons to bring phones to class don't matter to the students. As long as they get to have their toys, they are are happy.

Edna then sighs and says, "Could you at least set them to vibrate?" Once on vibrate, the phones make even more noise. The teacher gets fed up and collects all of the phones from her students. She proclaims, "No more gizmos in this class." The students are very disappointed. There seems to be no happy medium when it comes to mobile phone use. The free-for-all didn't work. Simply putting the phones on vibrate didn't work. So banning, not classroom management or curriculum integration, is Edna's answer.

"Hey, don't worry, we still have the good old classroom computer," Edna explains as she walks over to a very outdated machine and inserts a floppy diskette. The game that appears on the screen is very simple and outdated, especially compared to the interactive and complex games the students were playing on their phones. The students' phones (a.k.a. handheld computers) are each far more powerful and interactive than the classroom computer. It's a shame that potential learning tools are locked in a drawer.

Because of unrelated events, Ms. Krabappel is replaced. Her replacement invites phones, texting, Facebook, blogging, Twitter, and other "cool" stuff into the classroom. Of course, the students are thrilled with his paperless classroom. The students are shown to be excited about what they are doing in class, but are they actually learning anything aside from the technology itself?

One of the "cool" things the new teacher does is emails his students a video where he wears jerseys with numbers that are multiples of seven. The jersey video reminds me of Mrs. Burk, the rapping math teacher. The new teacher may be on to something. Lots of teachers are making videos and podcasting. Students seem to respond better to videos that feature people they know.

During class, the new teacher asks, "Who can tell me what the Monroe Doctrine was?" One student recites, "The policy of President Monroe that America has a right as a nation to..." The teacher interrupts the student and asks, "Are you telling me that you memorized that fact when anyone with a cell phone can find it out in 30 seconds?" The student realizes, "I've crammed my head full of garbage!" Again, there seems to be no happy medium. It's either lots of memorization of facts vs. only search for facts. Yes, students need to know how to find information. And yes, there are things that students shouldn't have to research because they remember them.

In the end, The Simpsons' parody of mobile phones in schools probably changes the minds of no one. Those that are absolutely opposed to inviting student-owned phones will see the craziness of the first classroom scene as what would really happen in the classroom full of phones--a huge distraction with no learning. Those who want to give students access to any and all technology in classrooms will witness the excited reactions of Bart Simpson's classmates as evidence that using today's technologies are a very good thing--learning should be chaotic.

The happy medium that I prefer is using school-owned devices. A class set of iPod touches checked out to students for the school year can be more easily managed. Each student would have access to the same hardware and apps. The teacher can control what apps are installed and what features are enabled. Of course, it's costly to outfit a class of students with handhelds. I do continue to be interested in the idea of students bringing their own devices to class. It would be less costly and demonstrate to students that any device can be used for learning. But it has to be done in the right way with the right philosophy behind it. What are your thoughts about mobile phones in schools? Please comment.

If you enjoy The Simpsons brand of humor, you'll get a kick out of other gags in the show. Those in the U.S. can watch the entire episode, "Bart Gets a Z," on Hulu.

Labels: iphone, ipodtouch, mobile phone, video

Below is some of my 30 minute talk at Handheld Learning 2009 in London.
The presentation is called Create It in Your Hand, Share It with the World.

I decided to become a teacher when I was in sixth grade. From then on I studied each and every teacher I had and analyzed each and every activity they had me do. As a student I vowed to remember what I liked and didn’t like like when I was finally the one in charge.

I was lucky enough to have Palm computers for my fifth grade students in 2001. I would have very much liked a handheld computer when I was 12 years old. Though, I’m afraid that even if they were available in the 80s, most of my teachers wouldn’t have used them in very engaging ways.

As a teacher, I tried hard to use the handhelds in my classroom as creatively as possible. Of course I wanted to make learning fun. Boredom is the enemy of learning. We had about 50 apps we used on the Palms. Most all of the apps were drill and skill apps. Which, don’t get me wrong, were great. My handheld-equipped students learned their multiplication tables, historical figures, and science vocabulary faster than they would have with ordinary tools. Even with thousands of Palm apps, it was sometimes hard to find or adapt apps to move beyond drill and practice.

My favorite handheld today is the iPod touch. It’s amazing to compare the number of iPod touch and iPhone apps to the number of apps for the Palm Operating System. Ten years after the launch of the Palm OS, we have 30,000 apps for Palm devices. After little over a year since the launch of the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch, we have 85,000 apps, with and average of 46 new ones being added each day. There’s just got to be some good ones for students, right?

Of course, many of them are silly or frivolous. In fact, this name tag on the screen is actually a web app for iPod touch. Just point your mobile browser to mkaz.com/nametag and input your name. Presto! You are now holding a very expensive name tag.

But peeking into the App Store, there are plenty of apps for learning. Multiple-choice quizzes, flash cards, math games, and the like are plentiful.

Benjamin Bloom ranked thinking skills from lower order to higher order in 1956. Bloom’s Taxonomy helps teachers classify the objectives we set for students. Like we just saw, there, are plenty of titles in the App Store that address lower order thinking skills, like remembering, understanding, and applying.

Anderson and Krathwohl have slightly reworked Bloom’s Taxonomy for the 21st Century. What’s the highest order thinking skill? Creating.

Creating is reorganizing elements to form a new functional whole. In order to create, you have to evaluate. But in order to evaluate, you must be able to analyze. In order to analyze, you have to understand. And to understand something, you must be able to remember things about it. So, creating is the ultimate activity.

As a student and as an adult, I love to create things. In sixth grade I produced a video about the U.S.‘s Strategic Defense Initiative. It wasn’t exactly assigned by the teacher, but I didn’t care. I wanted to learn how to make a movie and share it with my classmates. As you can see, there are lots of verbs associated with Creating. I enjoyed planning, producing, and broadcasting that video.

American writer John Updike wrote, “Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or doing it better.” We can kind-of-sort-of make our students care by holding grades over their heads. But that’s not authentic. Educators can invent activities (or have students invent activities) that are creative and that they will be excited to share with an audience.

I’d like to share with you three kinds of products that can be created on an iPod touch or iPhone: Comics, Animations, and Audio Podcasts.

Comics are a great way to synthesize information. The combination of images and text can be fun to plan and fun to read. Comics may sound like fluff, but consider that last year Google commissioned a comic book to tell the world about why they are making the Chrome web browser and the technologies inside of it.

Comic Touch and Comic Touch Lite are two of a few iPod touch apps where you can create comics. You can import any saved image into Comic Touch and layer text bubbles on top of it. There are also some limited special effects you can apply to the image. Where can you get images?

You can save images from the web. Mobile Safari makes it easy. Simply tap and hold an image and the Save Image option will appear. The image will be saved into your Saved Photo album, which is accessible in Comic Touch.

I want to share my comics on my website. I have to think about copyright--I should have permission to use copyrighted images. So I use Creative Commons licensed images. You can search for images that are labeled for reuse using Google Image Search. However, you have to choose to do an Advanced Search from the Classic view first. Then you can select to only search for images that are copyright friendly. I suggest bookmarking the Advanced Image Search page or saving it as an icon to your Home screen.

You can also save screenshots of what’s on your iPod’s screen. Hold down the Sleep/Wake button on top of the device and quickly press the Home button. The screen will flash and you’ll hear a camera sound. The screenshot is now in your Saved Photos album.

I think it’s fun to take screenshots inside of Google Maps. Sure, you can take screenshots of the satellite view, but it’s much more fun to go into Street View and take screenshots. Whenever I have a pin on the screen, I can tap the orange and white Street View icon to go into street view. Here’s I’m in Washington D.C. taking photos of the Supreme Court Building.

I can use these images from my virtual field trip in a comic. Another comic-creation app is Strip Designer. Strip Designer lets me have up to three panels in my comic.

Let me show you a comic I made using images from Street View and images I’ve saved in Safari. My goal is to tell about the three branches of the U.S. government and their role in a particular issue. I chose mandated health insurance as the issue. I ended up with three two-panel comics. I was able to save them in high resolution and email them to myself. If I was a student, I could email them to the teacher. The teacher could then put them up on a class website. Or, many blogging and photo services allow for posting directly from email. The comic I just made in my hand is just an email away from being published for the world to see! (Watch a video that explains how I made the comic.)

For even more fun, I could save my comic to photo or save a classmates comic to then use an app like Ali’s Jigsaw Puzzle to turn the comic in a jigsaw I can put back together by dragging the pieces around my screen.

So comics are a fantastic way for students to piece together their learning and share it with others. Now on to animations.

A favorite Palm app of my students’ was Sketchy. We could draw directly on the screen, duplicate the frame, make a change, and then duplicate the frame again until a masterpiece was created. When played in a row, you’ve got yourself an animation.

Planning and drawing a animation can take time, but it’s time well spent. The learner is interacting with content in a creative way and he or she enjoys sharing the final creation with others. Heck, they’ll watch their own creation over and over again.

Flipbook and Flipbook Lite are two of a handful of animation apps for iPod touch. It’s tricky to draw without a stylus and there’s no text tool. But there are useful features like layers and onion skinning. Then, when done, users can publish the animation to Flipbook.tv, where the file can be viewed by others and saved as mp4 video files. View samples.

Like comics, animations are great way for students to sythesize their learning and present it to others.

The third kind of product people can create on iPod touch are audio podcasts. There are a variety of apps for recording audio. The catch is that iPod touch lacks a built-in microphone. There are mics that attach to the connector on the bottom of the device. Or, you can buy earbuds with a build-in mic like the iPhone has.

When making audio recordings, I usually like to record directly into my laptop so I can edit and arrange the audio as I record. But, in classrooms where there aren’t enough computers or students need to record in the field, iPod touch can be made into a little podcast studio.

Let me play a short clip from a field trip I took recently. (Download the clip.) In Tucson, Arizona there is the Sonoran Desert Museum. Yes, there’s a museum in the desert about the desert. It was a really hot summer day. I took a break under a tree and felt a light, cool mist. I thought maybe the museum rigged up something for their guests to keep cool. I asked a couple docents under the tree where the mist was coming from...

I used an iPod to make a sound-seeing tour of my trip. I was forced to describe what I saw during my excursion.

The Voice Memos app is a pretty straight-forward app for voice recording. Besides a trimming option, it has a handy feature of being able to email recordings as an attachment. That’s great because the blogging service Posterous lets you post podcasts by email! Simple email the recording from Voice Memos to your Posterous email. It’s automatically posted to the blog and has a news feed so it can be subscribed to in iTunes.

Now, schools probably want to screen audio recordings before they are posted. Instead of emailing Posterous, students email to their teacher who could then post it after approving the content. It’s exciting that something recorded during a field trip can be instantly published online.

Comics, Animations, and Podcasts are just three of many creative endeavors that can be done on an iPod touch or iPhone. In fact, you don’t need an Apple product to create--other phones and handhelds have similar apps. But the key is letting students create. Letting them create something they care about because they are sharing with, educating, or helping others. Another key to success is letting students choose what kind of product they are going to create--give them a choice of making a series of comics, an animation, or podcast.

Twelve-year-old and thirty-four-year-old Tony Vincent both enjoy having choice. Giving choice engages learners because everyone likes to have a say in what they do. After using these apps for a while, students will get a sense of what they like to create--let them choose!

I worked with a school in Phoenix last month and I received an email from one of the high school’s English teachers. After showing how to create comics with students, Jason wrote, “It all of a sudden has become important to my students to get the information right, which isn’t always the case when they do a ‘worksheet.’”

If you’re interested in iPods, I have created a podcast called Learning in Hand: iPods. Like Jason’s students, it is important for me to get the information right in my podcast because I know that thousands of teachers download what I've created and shared. I learn so much in the process.

Labels: events, iphone, ipodtouch, podcasting

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #19: Maps, Screenshots, & Comics is ready for viewing. In the video I show you how to take a tour of Washington, D.C., take photos along the way, and use those photos in a comic strip--all on an iPod touch. I use the Maps app, the screenshot feature, Google Earth, and a comic-creation app.

Watch all 11 minutes 37 seconds of Episode #19 to see the comic strip project come together. The transcript and sample comic strips are included below.

Transcript:

Episode #19: Maps, Screenshots, & Comics This is Learning in Hand: iPods. My name is Tony Vincent and this is the show where I share tips, how-tos, and ideas for iPods in teaching and learning. Episode 19, “Maps, Screenshots, & Comics” recorded September 2009, happens now!

Let’s take a tour of Washington, D.C., take photos along the way, and use those photos in a comic strip--all on an iPod touch. We’ll use the Maps app, the screenshot feature, Google Earth, and a comic-creation app.

My task for this comic is to create a comic strip to be published online that summarizes how a chosen issue is dealt with in each of the U.S.’s three branches of government.

Photos Creative Commons licensed: Supreme Court Justices by Steve Petteway,
President Obama by Steve Jurvetson, and Senate Chamber by Susan Sterner.

The Maps app is loaded on every iPod touch and iPhone. Maps requires a Wi-Fi connection because it uses the Internet to get its Google Maps data. I can simply search for Supreme Court Building Washington, D.C. and Maps zooms to the location. If your map isn’t showing satellite imagery like mine, tap the corner to select Satellite. You might also like Hybrid view to see street and landmark names layered on top of the Satellite images.

Slide to pan. Spread or double-tap to zoom in. Pinch to zoom out.

Google has driven around specially outfitted cars to take panoramic photos. These panoramas can be seen in Street view in Google Earth and Google Maps on desktop computers. But, guess what? Street view is available on iPod touch and iPhone as well! You’ll see a white and orange icon next to a description if Street view is available.

Where this red pin is dropped for the Supreme Court Building does not have the icon, so Street view isn’t available here. That’s probably because the pin is not on a street. I can add my own pin by tapping the icon in the bottom-right corner and tapping Drop Pin. A purple pin appears on the map. I can drag and drop that pin to any location. Let’s try to drag it in front of the Supreme Court Building. Notice that now the orange and white Street view icon appear. Tap it to switch to Street view.

Tap and drag to view the panorama. Stretch to zoom in and pinch to zoom out. Tap the arrows in the street to view a panorama taken 10 to 20 meters away.

This looks like a great photo op. I can take a photo of anything on the screen by hold down the Sleep button and quickly pressing the Home button. The screen flashed and you hear a camera noise.

“Where is the Photo stored?” you might be wondering. It’s saved into the Photos apps in the Saved Photos album. That makes sense. Let me show you. I tap Photos and then the Saved Photos album. Then I can tap to find the screenshot. It’s saved as an image file. I can email it, sync it to copy it to a desktop computer, or import it into other apps. I’ll show you how to import it into a comic app shortly.

For now, I’m going back to Google Maps. Remember, I want to construct a comic strip that summarizes how a chosen issue is dealt with in each of the U.S.’s three branches of government. For my comic, I’ll also need photos of the Capitol Building and White House.

So, I just type in a search. There it is, the United States capitol building. The pin closest to the building does not have the Street view icon. So, I tap to place a pin in the street directly in front of the Capitol. Like I did with the Supreme Court Building, I can hold down the Sleep/Wake button and press the Home button to take a snapshot of what’s on the screen. I’ll use that snapshot in my comic strip.

Next, on to the White House. Unfortunately, I could not find very good photos of the White House in Street View. I could take photo of the Satellite view of the White House. Instead, I’m going to launch the free Google Earth app and take a screenshot there. Google Earth doesn’t come preloaded on iPod touches like Maps, so you’ll have to download it from the App Store.

Google Earth has a snazzy zooming feature, ability to tilt, and information layers you can view. And like in any other app on iPod touch, I can hold down Sleep and press Home to take screenshot any time. I tap the Search button and away we go.

This looks just like Satellite view from Map. But, when I tilt the iPod, I get the tilted view, which will make for a better snapshot. I can zoom, rotate, and move around in Google Earth until I find just the right view. But, I don’t want those red pins in the photo. To remove them, I need to clear my search. Just tap the Search button and tap the X and then Cancel. The pins are removed! Now I can take a screenshot. In fact, I’ll take several so I can pick the best one when it comes time to import them into my comic strip.

For my comic strip, I also want photos of not only the buildings, but the people who head the three branches of government. So, I use Safari to search for images. I’ll be able to save the images to the Saved Photos album.

I’m going to do an a Google Image search by going to images.google.com. The website knows that I am visiting from an iPod touch, so it formats the screen for my device. Unfortunately, that format removed the Advanced options. I want to use Advanced image search options so I can search for copyright-friendly images. That way I can publish my comic strip online.

To get to Advanced options, tap the link to View Google in Classic. This is the same google Image Search page you’d see on your desktop computer. If I double-tap to zoom in, I can read and tap the link for Advanced Search. I input to find the word Obama and then scroll down to Usage Rights and select “labeled for reuse with modification.” Now I tap the Google Search button to see the results.

I tap a thumbnail image to see a larger one. I like this photo and want to save it. First, I note the author and URL so I can give attribution to its owner. Then I tap and hold the image. I am given a list of options. I choose to Save Image. That saves the image in my Saved Photos album in the Photos app.

I use Advanced Search and save photos for the other branches for the comic strip. I suggest bookmarking Google’s Advanced Image Search page for future use.

For $2.99 I bought Strip Designer in the App Store. I use Strip Designer to combine the snapshots I took in Maps and Google Earth and saved photos from Safari to make a series of comic strips about the three branches of government’s role in an issue. Let me show you how...

Launch Strip Designer and tap to Create new strip. Select a category and a template.

Tap a frame to add a photo. Choose to select a photo from your Photo album and select Saved Photos. Tap the first image you want to use in your comic. I choose the White House screenshot. I can rotate, resize, and position the image and tap Done. Tapping the Add button allow me to add speech bubbles. There are several types to choose from. Double tap the new bubble to input text. Tap the corners to change the size of the bubble. Then tap and drag to position the bubble where you want it.

You can also change the text, background, and line colors.

Now I can tap the next frame to add another photo from my Saved Photos photo album. Again, I can position the image exactly how I want it in the frame and tap Done. Then I add a speech bubble.

When the comic is complete, you can save. You can save high or low resolutions. I like high res so that the comic looks as crisp and clear as possible. You’ll probably want to save For later editing. That way you can go back and make changes. Just give it a description and the comic is saved under Saved strips from the main menu.

But you’ll also want to get the final image off the iPod. You can tap Save again and this time choose to send by email if you have an email account set up with the iPod. Alternatively, you can choose to save the image to the Save Photos album where the photos can be access on a desktop computer during a sync. It will be a JPEG image once it’s emailed or synced. Of course, with a JPEG it can be printed, posted on blog, or imported into a slide show.

As you’ve just witnessed, the Maps, Google Earth, Safari, and Strip Designer apps are are very useful individually. When used in combination, you can see that students can create compelling products, all right in their hands.

That’s it for Episode 19. For more about iPods and podcasting, click on over to learninginhand.com. That’s where you can contact me to book an online or in person workshop for your school or organization. Thanks for watching!

Labels: iphone, ipodtouch, learning in hand: ipods

The Dallas Morning News published the article Dallas-Fort Worth School District Calculates Different Ways to Use Netbook in Classes. The newspaper tells about the Irving School District's decision to replace older, larger laptops with 4,600 ASUS Eee PC 1000HE netbooks. Netbooks are those small notebook computers with screens smaller than 10 inches, no CD drives, and keyboards that are 90% the standard size.

The article mentions the following benefits of and comments about netbooks:

• cost (The district paid $487 per unit, including warranty and software. Previously they paid $1,000 per laptop.)
• easier to carry
• fits on a desk along with a textbook
• it has a camera
• battery life
• the 10 inch screen size is not an issue
• students save work to flash or network drives
• they're cute

Here's more from The Dallas Morning News story:

The smaller computers are more closely related to cellphones, which many students are familiar with. They're also not the best option for advanced video production capabilities.

But educators say they are ideal for basic functions as more schools get wireless access and move textbooks and lessons online.

I think stating that netbooks are "more closely related to cellphones" is inaccurate. I'm guessing the aging Dell laptops in the Irving School District probably have less processing power and memory than the netbooks that are replacing them. Most netbooks run Windows XP and can handle most Windows software. It sure seems to me that netbooks are related to laptop computers much more closely than cellphones. Yes, mobile phones are becoming more and more computer-like. But, when trying to get others to understand what a netbook is, I think it's misleading to say they are so similar to cellphones.

Then, there's a new term being tossed around--Smartbooks. It's hard to keep up with what tech companies decide to call things...

Photo by Pete Prodoehl on Flickr.

Labels: netbooks

The above video by Leon Cych is titled "What Happens When You Give 32 Children in a Class an iPod touch Each?" The 7 minute movie was filmed at Burnt Oak Junior School in the U.K. Eight-year olds there have been using a class set of iPod touches for a couple weeks. The video interviews the class teacher, headteacher, and students about the experience.

The students have used about a dozen apps, including Dictionary.com, WorldView webcam viewer, and the Safari browser. Peter Barrett, the class teacher, mentions that the Internet students see in Safari is filtered by the school's system.

Watch for a student to demonstrate how to copy and paste. When asked how he knew about copying and pasting, he said that he just discovered how to do it by tapping on the screen. This goes to show that youngsters learn to use iPod touch quickly, allowing them to focus on learning tasks, not the technology. The teacher says, "The speed at which they are learning is amazing."

Carol Richardson, the headteacher, observes, "It's quite clear that children are highly motivated when using the iPod touches." Read more about the iPod touch project at the Learn 4 Life blog.

Labels: ipodtouch, video

Myna is a new browser-based audio editor from Aviary.com that is a lot like GarageBand and Audacity. Because it's browser-based, Myna requires no software to be installed and works on Mac, Linux, and Windows computers. With Myna, you can:

• Record your voice, up to 60 seconds at a time
• Import audio
• Choose from thousands of high-quality musical loops, intros, and ends
• Drag and drop audio clips
• Trim and loop clips
• Add fade-ins and fade-outs
• Add effects like reverb and pitch change
• Save your project on aviary.com and embed an mp3 on your site with provided code
• Download to your desktop as mp3 or wav

Here's an example music remix made in Myna (Click "Open in Audio Editor" to see and edit the tracks and timeline).

GarageBand podcasters will feel right at home, as the tracks, timeline, and libraries are set up much like GarageBand's. I find the selection of loops to be incredible. I think some podcasters will create music in Myna and then import it into GarageBand or Audacity. That's because recording audio directly in Myna can only be done in 60 second chunks and requires processing and uploading time after each recording. Of course, you could use Garageband or Audacity to record your audio and then import it into Myna as well.

Myna's library is limited to musical loops. If you needed sound effects, you could certainly download them from sites like SoundSnap and import into your Myna project.

All Myna projects are automatically shared on avairy.com. If you want to keep projects private, you'll have to upgrade to the Pro version for $25 per year. Though, after downloading a project's mp3, you can delete it from Myna and it would no longer appear on aviary.com.

Keep in mind that because it's web-based, you will need to create an account in order to save your work. Since your project is stored on the web, it can be accessed from any computer with Internet access. That means students could start an audio project at school and finish at home.

The musical loops in Myna are licensed for non-commercial use, making Myna very useful in schools, particularly for podcasting. Many would pay money for software that does what Myna does for free!

See how Myna works in the site's instructional YouTube video:

Labels: podcasting

With over 75,000 titles in the App Store, some help in discovering apps is welcome. iPhone and iPod touch users can get app recommendations based on apps they have downloaded with the newly released iPhone OS 3.1.

Here's how to turn on Genius App Recommendations:

1. Launch the App Store app on your iPhone or iPod touch.
   
2. Tap the Featured button at the bottom of the screen.
   
3. Tap the Genius button at the top of the screen.
   
4. If this is the first time Genius Recommendations for Apps has been accessed on the device, you will be prompted to turn on Genius. The screen tells you, "Turning on Genius Recommendations for Apps will send information about the apps you download to Apple." Click Turn on Genius.
   
5. Input your iTunes account password and tap OK.
   
6. Read the Genius for Apps Terms of Service. Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Agree. Then tap Agree in the dialog box at the bottom.
   
7. "You've successfully turned on Genius for Apps." Tap Done.
   
8. Scroll through the recommendations. Tap a recommendation to view the details page for the app where you can buy/download.
   
9. To remove a recommendation from the list, swipe it to reveal a Remove button.
   

Here are some sample recommendations from my iPod touch:

• RemoteTap, based on Snatch (a trackpad and remote for Mac and Windows)
• PozBook Pro, based on Documents 2 (a word processor)
• 6500+ Cool Facts, based on Stick It Action (a animation app)
• Smart Sokoban Free, based on RoboLogic Lite (a programming app)
• Math Ref Free, based on Wikipedia Mobile (a reference app)
• Crazy Pumpkin, based on FlipBook Lite (an animation app)
• Frames, based on FlipBook Lite (an animation app)
• Free French Tutor, based on "FREE" Grammar Up (English quiz)
• Mathemagics Lite, based on "FREE Grammar Up (English quiz)
• Just Find It Lite (Spot the differences), based on Miss Spell's Class (a word game)

Genius for Apps leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps with time the recommendations will improve as Genius learns more about my app use. I would like to be able to select an app to see recommendations rather than scrolling through random items. Additionally, I'd like to see Genius for Apps added to iTunes so I can browse recommendations on my desktop computer instead of on the handheld.

Of course, the best app recommendations for teaching and learning come from other iPod touch and iPhone-using educators. Here are some websites with lists of apps:

• iPhone/iPod touch Apps for K-12
• iPod/iPhone Apps for Education
• Using the iPod touch in the Classroom
• I Education Apps Review

Labels: appstore, iphone, ipodtouch

iTunes 9 has been released and has a new feature: the ability to rearrange iPod touch and iPhone Home screen icons from inside of iTunes on a desktop computer. For me, having over 160 apps and 11 Home screen pages has been a pain to organize. It's amazing how much easier this is to do in iTunes rather than on the handheld. Here's how:

1. Download and install iTunes 9.
   
2. Connect iPod touch or iPhone.
3. Click the device's name under Devices.
   
4. Click Check for Update under the Summary tab. The iPod touch or iPhone must be updated to version 3.1 or later. (iPod touch users with versions earlier than 3.0 will have to pay $4.95 for the upgrade. Version 3.1 is not available for 1st generation iPod touch.)
   
5. Click the Applications tab.
   
6. Click and drag to arrange the icons on the page. Drag and drop an icon to move it to a different screen. Click and drag the screens to change the order.
   

I would still like to see automatic organization by category or alphabetically. Manually arranging icons, whether on the device or desktop, is time consuming, especially for classroom sets of iPod touches. As far as I can tell, you arrange the Home screens for each device individually.

Labels: iphone, ipodtouch

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #18: iPod touch Basics is available. In this video podcast I show the basics that iPod touch and iPhones users should know. Items in this episode:

• iPod touch runs the iPhone Operating System that is currently at version 3.0
• Sleep/Wake buttons
• Slide to unlock
• Touchscreen information
• Home screen organization
• Selection of text
• Copy & paste
• Setting up Wi-Fi internet access
• Turning off keyboard clicks
• Apple's 100+ page iPod touch manual
• Go to a web app user guide in iPod touch's Safari at help.apple.com/ipodtouch

Watch all 5 minutes and 27 seconds of Episode #18 to have the basics covered. The transcript is included below.

Transcript:

This is Learning in Hand: iPods. My name is Tony Vincent and this is the show where I share tips, how-tos, and ideas for iPods in teaching and learning. Episode 18, “iPod touch Basics” recorded September 2009, happens now!

Tens of millions of iPod touches and iPhones have been sold. They are so popular because they are great media players, fairly powerful computers, and have a large library of great software applications in the App Store. Also, these handhelds are easy to learn and use. After all, aside from the volume controls, there are only two physical buttons. For most all functions, users simply touch their fingers to the screen. Even though the iPod touch is mostly intuitive to learn, I’d like to take the time to show some of the basics for those who want a jump start.

iPod touches run the iPhone Operating System. That’s right, an iPod touch is so similar to an iPhone that they run the same operating system software. Currently the newest version of iPhone OS is 3.0. iPhone OS 3.0 has some very useful new features like selection of text, cut/copy/paste, and search.

Before we take a peek at those features and other basics, I’d like to talk a moment about those two buttons. The Sleep/Wake button is located on the top of the device. It’s the button you hold down for 5 seconds to turn the iPod on. Or, if the iPod is not powered down, it’s the button to press to wake it from Sleep. You’ll be asked to Slide to Unlock. This way your iPod doesn’t accidentally wake up in your purse or pocket. Then, there’s the Home button. It’s the button with the square on it, just below the screen. Use this button to get back to your listing of Apps no matter what screen or app you’re in.

The touchscreen is designed to work with your fingers. Instead of using a resistive touchscreen that requires a stylus, iPod touch uses a capacitive touchscreen that senses the presence of your finger. That means you don’t have to apply any pressure to the screen--even a very light touch does the trick. If you really want to use a stylus on the screen, you’ll need one specially designed to work with capacitive touchscreens.

Besides tapping, there are others verbs associated with multi-touch, including slide, swipe, pinch, spread, flick, double-tap, two-finger tap, and two-finger slide.

In iPhone OS 3.0, you can swipe to the left of the first Home screen to get a search box. This searches your apps, contacts, and notes. I actually have over 100 apps on my iPod, so I search to launch apps instead of swiping through 8 page of app icons.

I like to have the apps I use most in the dock. That way I can get to them with one tap after pressing the Home button. I like other apps I use often to be on the first page. That’s because when I’m on, say, my fifth page of apps, I can just press that Home button to be taken instantly to the first page of apps. To place your apps in the dock and to place them on the pages you want, just tap and hold one icon. Within seconds they will all jiggle. Now I can drag them wherever I want them. Once you have everything the way you want it, then press the Home button to get that wiggling to stop.

Another useful feature of iPhone OS 3.0 is selection of text. I just tap and hold the screen. Then I move the blue dots to fine-tune my selection. I can tap copy to copy the text for pasting someone else later. To paste, I just tap where I want the pasting to begin and then tap and hold the screen for a moment. Then I tap the Paste button that appears.

Most likely you’ll want to connect iPod touch to a Wi-Fi network. Do that in the Settings App. If the Wi-Fi access point requires a password, you’ll be asked for it. However, next time you are in proximity to this network, iPod touch remembers the settings.

While you’re in the Settings app, you might want to turn off Keyboard Clicks in the General section under Sounds. If iPod touch is being using in a classroom, those clicks can be very disruptive and annoying (unless earbuds are being used) because each keystroke makes an audible noise.

If the little pamphlet that came with your iPod doesn’t satisfy your need for information, Apple has a 121-page manual in PDF form online for your reading pleasure. You might find the information about the ins and outs of syncing with iTunes particularly helpful.

Also, Apple has a web app called iPod touch User Guide. A web app is a website that’s specially formulated for an iPod touch’s screen. So, you can go to the address on your screen in the Safari app on your iPod to read the guide.

There you have it. Some of the basics of using iPod touch. And that’s it for Episode 18. Thank you very much for watching!

Labels: iphone, ipodtouch, learning in hand: ipods

I'm often asked about conferences about handhelds and mobile learning for educators. There used to be a few conferences across the U.S. dedicated to this subject. Unfortunately, none of these conferences are around today. There is, however, a conference in London called Handheld Learning. I've reviewed the conference in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Registration is open for Handheld Learning 2009. This year's theme is "Creativity, Innovation, Inclusion, & Transformation." As I've seen the conference evolve, I can tell you that it now excels at offering a compelling mix of lectures, debates, showcases, breakouts, networking, and socializing. This year will have a large iPod touch focus, as many of the attendees are receiving one as part of their registration. I'll be presenting a session about using iPod touch for creativity. I'll also take part in my favorite activity from last year's conference: Pecha Kucha. That's were presenters give talks that are exactly 6 minutes and 20 seconds. It turns out that being pushed by the clock not only makes for concise presentations, but it can be pretty humorous to watch.

Handheld Learning is October 5th-7th, and it's definitely an international conference where all are welcome. Standard registration goes through September 25th.

Labels: events