Digital Roadtrip

“Wanted!” from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo. As the weather was...

Sun, 12 May 2013 17:04:00 +0100

“Wanted!” from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo.

As the weather was pants, (the weather is usually pants in Buxton), I thought I’d have a quick Foldify session. In longer workshop sessions, I often demo it, but never really do it.

It really is a transformational app for schools. Many of the schools I work in have pupils that really struggle with motor skills. This app screams out for Prit stick and cardboard creativity.

This makes it a very interesting app for Professional Development in schools. It’s like an App that is designed for teachers that don’t like apps and are afraid of tech. It’s a great place for your tech teachers and your “hands-on make and do” teachers to converge!

It’s this convergence of teaching styles and confidence that makes things go wow in the classroom.

It’s also an app that encourages teachers to go on iPad creative journeys. For example, let’s animate the character, lets’s add some sound, let’s write a script, let’s take this somewhere else!

Foldify,iMovie, istopmotion,motor skills, app, professional development

Figure,Garageband,Bossjock from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo. If...

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:36:00 +0100

Figure,Garageband,Bossjock from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo.

If you are interested in developing audio projects in the classroom, this video shows,

how to make a sound bed (or music ident) with Figure
the process of “Audio copy/audio paste” between apps
how apps can be used together to create unique outcomes
explains “ducking” and how Garageband falls a little short in this area
how smart the Bossjock app is for making audio programmes.

At 12.26 it’s a bit a of digital roadtrip, so switch off the telly, make a brew and enjoy!

Imovie, Photolayers and Foldify - just to remind me from Digital...

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:39:00 +0100

Imovie, Photolayers and Foldify - just to remind me from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo.

4.8iPads code squad from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo. Checkout...

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:40:00 +0100

4.8iPads code squad from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo.

Checkout www.8iPads.com

5. 8ipads squeebles from Digital Roadtrip on...

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:25:00 +0100

5. 8ipads squeebles from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo.

Checkout www.8iPads.com

8FJA Animation 2011a from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo. Working in...

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:35:00 +0100

8FJA Animation 2011a from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo.

Working in groups, each creating a short section of the trailer.

3. 8iPads and Documents collating eBooks from Digital Roadtrip...

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:26:00 +0100

3. 8iPads and Documents collating eBooks from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo.

How to gather in all of that great work produced on iPads in your classroom
This method uses the free Documents app. There’s no need for slow upload times over the internet or even dropbox. Documents is free and for many people the missing link in IOS file management.

I’m in Croatia working with Teachers and students from all over...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:53:00 +0100

I’m in Croatia working with Teachers and students from all over Europe.

One of the apps I’ve been keen to push out is the Awesome Bossjock. This is fast becoming one of my fave apps. Ta to @joedale for the tip when we met at the Apple Teacher Institute in Malvern in the Easter hols!

I’m using The Figure app to make the music idents and then syncing a set of special sound effects via iTunes to the class iPads. It’s one of those apps that just nails it.

I will do a more detailed demo and explanation in my next post that aims to: Rip the lid off iPad Audio in the classroom, no hyperbolic shameful, self-promotion there then ;-)

Hope you like this demo and the little story that goes with it.

Live from Croatia, keepin’ it real (in cheesy DJ voice)!

I will be writing more in the next few days about Audio in the classroom, how to manage Garageband Audio projects with Apps like Figure and BossJock and the super publishing space Soundcloud.

Here are some examples….

iPad - The Knowledge

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:29:00 +0100

St Silas’s Stay at school year 5 1:1 iPads with 5 for EYFS all VPP’d iPad...

Fat and Skinny Apps

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:49:00 +0100

Fat and Skinny Apps! | Create infographics

It is better to have 8 iPads permanently in the classroom than share 32 iPads across 4 classes.

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:29:00 +0100

Last week, I worked in 6 schools in 5 days. 2 of these schools were recently...

The iPad TV Studio

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:30:00 +0000

Yeah! Sorry about the Monkey/Teddy! Like many people, I was initially drawn to Apple because of...

Switch Ken Burns Off in iMovie on the iPad

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:07:00 +0000

turn off ken burns from Digital Roadtrip on Vimeo. There are some critical debates here in the...

This used to be a cult-like event but now with the iPad, it...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:06:00 +0000

This used to be a cult-like event but now with the iPad, it seems like everyone wants some of the Apple pie. If you would like more info download the flyer here.

This event has a long tradition going back more than ten years of helping teachers make some big changes in the way tech supports learning.

Maybe see you there?

Evidence of Learning on the iPad, Saved Neatly To My Laptop

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:01:00 +0000

After BETT 2013 quite a few people have been asking me about handing in iPad projects to the...

Linking to My Story eBooks with QR codes

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:37:05 +0000

Check out How to Create an eBook, Publish and Link With a QR Code by Digital Roadtrip on Snapguide.

Update on meDrive + Pics

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:17:00 +0000

In the above slides, I’ve added a screen shot so that you can see the Mac view and the iOS...

It’s meDrive! As they say in Yorkshire…. Kanex are...

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:20:00 +0000

It’s meDrive! As they say in Yorkshire….

Kanex are aiming this tool directly at schools. The blurb on the Kanex site says….

“Ideal for classrooms looking for an alternative to Dropbox and other cloud based storage. Now you can easily share and collaborate iWork files with local users in classrooms or work”.

What is it? - a device for attaching USB hard drives and pen drives to the school network so that you can have students hand work in directly from apps like Pages, Keynote, Numbers and apps that offer export by web DAV.

How does it work? Basically, plug the box into the school network connect a USB drive, download the free meDrive app - this appears as an “open in option for many apps. You can also move content from the camera roll to the app and vice versa. From the app you can move things to the USB drive on the school network.

In essence, wifi network + meDrive + a USB drive = simple file server solution for IOS devices and computers.

It is small! and very nicely boxed! It is well made and robust.

It comes with both a USB cable for providing power and a short ethernet cable for attaching to a router. There is no software to install. Initially, I tried plugging both ethernet and USB cables into a current Apple Airport Express, but the Express doesn’t provide enough power for the meDrive. It might be worth Kanex pointing this out to users! It did however power up quickly via my Time Capsule.

Having launched the meDrive app and hit the + button to add a device low and behold the device was networked and accessible. Now I just needed a USB hard drive.

I tried a host powered 500GB USB drive. It didn’t mount as there wasn’t enough power. In effect the USB drive is piggybacking the meDrive which itself requires USB power, so I then tried an older 320GB mains powered USB drive. I really expected this to work but no.

Having searched high and low for a USB pen drive (having proclaimed them dead since the arrival of the iPad;-) - I found an old 2GB and a relatively recent 8GB drive and both connected and mounted.

Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Explain Everything and Scanner Pro all worked very sweetly over webDav once the settings had been entered within the apps. Likewise the Apple apps opened files over webDav and Explain Everything opened a Powerpoint file.

I tried some audio recordings. The Hokusai Audio editor sat well long side the meDrive app. I exported files from propellerhead’s Figure to Hokusai as Mp4 and WAV and from there to the USB drive via the meDrive app. Being able to share audio files has been pain and whilst Soundcloud is great for publishing audio , being able to share locally as opposed to over the web is great.

The “open in” option is also very handy, but of course not as direct as Web Dav, as you have to open the file into the meDrive app and then move it to the USB storage within the app.

From the Mac the drive was accessible via the obvious Go menu and connect to server. One quirk was that the documentation describes the path as http://medrive.local when the default (even after a reset) is http://mydrive.local.

A key thing to point out is that as an early adopter, the unit has shipped with version 0.44 firmware. There is a new version 1.1 that might improve larger mains powered USB connectivity - something that schools would want alongside the smaller pen drive option. However, Safari and Chrome couldn’t access the device getting 404 errors even though the user and password were the default settings. I have raised a ticket with the guys at Kanex.

Overall I like it - but I need larger USB drives to connect especially for archiving ebooks and and video projects.

Kanex need to be clear to teachers and all users as to limitations of host powered USB drives and available USB power options for the meDrive unit. Hopefully a firmware update will fix it!

It’s very early days for this bit of kit, but Kanex really have produced something that will be of interest for iPad users in schools, that want easy plug and play access to USB storage over the local wifi.

In my rash haste to buy, the device shipped from the USA, so the website price of £79 was actually £99. I guess this is due to import charges, so maybe buy one from your fave UK based Apple Education supplier!

Would I buy one for school? - Yes!

UPDATE - The very helpful people at Kanex helped me update the firmware and the meDrive is now connected to a host powered 1TB USB 3.0 Freecom drive.

Kanex tell me that they have up to 30 staff concurrently connected to meDrive in their offices. How this stacks up against 30 odd data hungry students webdaving and moving files by “Open in” remains to be seen. But for the money and simplicity - I’m liking it a lot!

Combining eBooks using Book Creator and Edcanvas

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:32:00 +0000

You can now share and combine ebooks created in Book Creator on the iPad. You’ll need dropbox...

Having totally nailed ;-) handing in any iPad generated work to...

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 12:43:00 +0000

Having totally nailed ;-) handing in any iPad generated work to a teacher’s laptop in class, using the simple Printopia/Finger print software, I need a new challenge.

The wow factor of the above for iPad based teachers is unsurpassed! Eg. 30 students handing in work by printing as PDF automatically into a folder on my desktop.

Any way…New challenge…

The next hurdle for me has been large file management eg. audio and video files without resorting to large up/downloads across the internet. Whilst being a big fan of a class set of web 2.0 channels eg.

EDMODO,
Vimeo
Edcanvas
Soundcloud
and cloud storage tools

Sometimes I just want to share something from a large 500 GB drive or hand in a large project without uploading and killing the school Internet bandwidth.

The meDrive from Kanex promises to do this. I’ve ordered one and I’m excitedly tracking the US delivery. I’m really excited about this as it fills a gap currently filled by clunky web solutions and complex middleware tools to support web dav. Webdav on a mac mini has never been truly reliable for me. This really could change things, with USB pen and large storage drives easily being shared across the iPad learning spaces. It can be easily managed by the teacher not the tech team. This has always been my modus-operandi. Large files? So I still want iMac hubs doing green screen and creating more complex digital content but I want to be able to share these outcomes within school, without the publishing pain. So as soon as it arrives I’ll share the classroom experience!