Writing on iPad (Tablet) Devices*

*or any internet enabled device

This is the second post of two. In the first, we wrote about writing using a tablet as a prompt for writing and now follow it up with a post about writing on a tablet.

1.

We've written many times about using Padlet.com as a tool for sharing writing. Those posts can all be found here. Padlet offers many levels of privacy for the walls created and can be easily accessed from a tablet with a camera using a QR Code. 

2.

TitanPad is an online collaborative writing tool that does not require a login. Again, easiest way to access would be through a QR Code. Collaboration could be within a class, across classes in a school or even between schools. We have used it to collaboratively write a text (instructions, story, recount), list features of a text type, improve a piece of writing, to practise sentence structures and more...

3.

Most recently, and based upon an idea from L Parkinson, we have used the tablet devices for peer assessment of written work. After writing, children take a photograph of their work and then, using Pic Collage (or similar), the children write comments about the work directly on to it and next to the part of the text that is being commented upon. 

4.

The iPad most recently comes pre-loaded with the Pages app, which is a powerful word processing application for writing on a tablet.

Not all Displays are for Children (Part 2)

The Part 1 of this blog post came almost two years ago now. In December, we finally got around to putting something in place we'd been meaning to 'get around to' for a while. We wanted to place a display on the outside of our classroom for, other classes, parents, grandparents and general passers by to see (and interact with). We posted the picture below to our Twitter account.

The picture and idea was well received so we have decided to write about it in more than 140 characters.

The purpose of the display? Advertise what the class have been doing. Generate website / blog traffic. Show off a bit.

The first thing added was a word cloud. Each member of the class was asked for a sentence to describe their year so far. They only wrote positives. :-)

Next, some QR codes were added. These link to the class website (containing examples of work, recounts of events and photographs) as well as Padlet walls and other examples of children's online work. The QR Code provides a quick link for anyone with a mobile device and should the QR Code not work for any reason, each has a TinyURL below as a back up or alternative.

Our most recent addition is some augmented reality. Using Aurasma, we created a link to a slideshow of photos from a recent school trip. This is probably the 'show off bit'. 

When parents and other family members come into the classroom they look at displays, ask to see children's work and enjoy seeing what's being done. Now they can do it from outside and (if QR Codes are used) realise they can also do this from home.

We've since presented about this as part of a TeachMeet.

Loop Cards Become Treasure Hunts

Do you have loop (follow me) cards in your classroom? Do you use them? Do the children sit and respond when they think they have the right answer? What do they do once they have answered?

Hows about all the children taking part all at once?

Make them into a treasure hunt! Print them on large paper and put them up around your classroom, playground or whole school. Give each child or group of children a different starting point and set them off. When they get back to where they started they've finished. 

Got the facility to read QR Codes? You can use them too!

As you can see we've mainly used these in maths. They can be used in many other subjects too. This has been good for identifying misconceptions, group work skills, perseverance levels and checking of incorrect answers. A map of where the questions are is helpful. They can also be differentiated; two different hunts on different coloured paper or a 'longer route' and 'shorter route'.

An example treasure hunt can be found here.

TeachMeet Cambs

On Monday 15th October 2012, we presented at TeachMeet Cambs (www.3x3links.com/tmcambs).

We presented about:

'Using your smart phone in your classroom' 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT8JXGsKFJA  

'Ten web tools for the classroom':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwr7IpCAzO0

Personalise Your URLs

This post is a quick follow up to "QR Codes and TinyURL in Education".

When directing children to a web address (URL) it can be useful to provide them with a TinyURL or QR Code as outlined in the previous post.

When using TinyURL an address like this is created http://tinyurl.com/7rrnpbz. Thus sending the user here http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/living_things/teeth_eating/read6.shtml without having to type in the whole URL.

We have recently realised that on tinyurl.com there is a 'custom alias' option to create personal (possibly more memorable) TinyURLs.

Image credit: tinyurl.com

URLs like these can be used:

tinyurl.com/moonmaths

tinyurl.com/frenchnumbers


Or, you can set up a system for your URLs:

tinyurl.com/cjs5sci5 - [School initials | Year Group | Subject | Half term number]

So, srink those URLs and make them a little more personal!

www.3x3links.com

"3x3Links is a minimalist, shareable internet start page"

Image credit: www.3x3links.com

3x3links enables teachers to provide their children with a page that links to a number of webpages for either general use or as part of a particular topic.

Firstly, we have created our own 3x3links page to share the locations 'Primary Ideas' exists online:  

www.3x3links.com/pi.

A 3x3links page could be set up to allow children quick and easy access to sites used throughout a school. For example:  

www.3x3links.com/crosshalljunior 

www.3x3links.com/year5.

The final use we've found for 3x3links is to group useful sites when studying a particular topic:  

www.3x3links.com/space 

www.3x3links.com/tudors.

In addition to these, a personal 3x3links page could be set up as your homepage to allow you quick access to your most used websites. For example:

www.3x3links.com/boo.

These links can be used as a URL or even as a QR Code. They could be provided on school or year group websites as links for the children to follow, could be put on displays in the classroom or can be handed out on paper or displayed on a projection during a lesson.

These are just some uses we've come across and made use of. We'd love to hear from you if you have other uses we don't yet know about.

QR Codes and TinyURL in Education

We started using QR Codes in our classrooms in the summer of 2011. We began investigating how we could make use of them and found a large amount of information online about the potential for QR Codes being used in the education environment. Some of these can be found here:

Interesting Ways to Use QR Codes in the Classroom 

QR Codes in the Classroom 

QR Code Classroom Implementation Guide 

In addition to these websites there is also much more that can be found on YouTube, in blogs and by searching for 'QR Codes Classroom'.

Initially, we only made use of QR Codes and made them using Kaywa. This was good as it allowed easier access to a URL through either an application on a mobile device or a desktop QR Code reader. This worked in most cases, but we found that sometimes children struggled to manipulate the QR Code for the reader to pick it up easily and that children and parents didn’t always have access to a QR Code reader at home. 

We then, after seeing them used on Twitter, started to look at the use of URL shortening services. We have found www.tinyurl.com to be the most child friendly. Some others (www.bit.ly and www.awe.sm for example) are case sensitive, where as TinyURL is not case sensitive. So, we now provide links to websites as both QR Codes and as TinyURLs.

As a result of using TinyURL we also discovered that if the TinyURL is used to create the QR Code rather than the original URL it makes the QR Code much simpler and therefore easier to read. The two QR Codes below link to the same webpage, but one is much simpler than the other:

So, when creating your QR Codes to link to a URL pop the URL into a shortening service and use that URL to create your QR Code.

Finally, we initially used Kaywa to create our QR Codes in black and white, but have recently discovered www.unitag.fr which allows you to do this:

We hope that adds a little more to the QR Code discussion and is of use to you.