#ISTE12: Real Apps, Real Classroom: iPads in the mixed-ability classroom (Amanda Allen, David Lopez, Javier Vega)

Presenters: 

• Amanda Allen @msallenla
• David Lopez @mister_lopez
• Javier Vega @fjvega25

Websites:

• tinyurl.com/ipadsges
• tinyurl.com/isteipads (session evaluation)
• Searchable iPad app database here
• Powerpoint of Presentation [COMING SOON]
• Places to find apps and iPad resources
• Appitic - http://www.appitic.com/
  
• Appshopper - http://appshopper.com/
  
• Teacherswithapps - http://teacherswithapps.com/

Notes (from presenters in bold, from me in italics):

Show Me:

•  Three levels of iPad deployment:
• 1:1
• Class/shared set
• Teacher only

Right now we are at teacher only, we do have two iPad carts coming next school year so that will definitely change things up.

•  There are over 225,000 iPad specific apps (not even including iPhone!)

• Sample Apps (free or low-cost)
• Primary Grades Science
• Brainpop
• Discover my Body
• BodyWalk HD
• Writing
• Popplet
• Descriptive Writing
• Beautiful Planet HD
• Math
• 6 in 1 kids math
• (see powerpoint slide once I get the copy here)   
•  Middle School Science
• NASA
• Solar System HD
• DK Human Body
• Animation Creator HD
• Middle School Language arts
• iBooks Author
• Good Reader
• Zite
• Infographics
• Comic Life for iPad
• Maxie's Collage apps

Convince Me:

• School Goal: 
• Reaching all learners of mixed abilities
• Become better teachers 
• Engage Students
• Student ownership over learning
• Created a culture of self-initiated learning - students come to teachers with apps to use!
• Zero student training needed!

Empower Me:

• Places to find apps and iPad resources
• Appitic - http://www.appitic.com/
• Appshopper - http://appshopper.com/
• Teacherswithapps - http://teacherswithapps.com/
•  Types of apps
• Toolbox - work for any grade level and content area
• Content-specific - very specific for a specific concept/content area and grade level

• Downsides of iPads
• No flash - it drains battery life = energy consumption
• Distractions - They emphasized that the teacher is the best content filter and you just have to set expectations for your students.

FINAL QUOTES:

• If technology helps us achieve learning, then we will use it.  It is a tool for the learning, not the focus
• Supplement your lessons, not supplant
• Don't throw out your existing lessons and workflows. 
  
• Use technology as another tool to reach your learners
• If the app doesn't fit, don't use it

Building my library of "useable" apps will take a while, and I don't know how much I will be able to apply to my classroom this year since we won't have iPads for most students on a consistent basis.  If anything, I can find useful apps to have on my iPad and to recommend to students who have iPads or iPhones to use on their own time.

I like that at the end they really emphasized the fact that these are tools for learning and not the focus of what we are doing... just like with my Flipped Classroom - it is a tool that I am using to help my students learn more/deeper/better - it's not the focus.