Technology Newsletters

 

Below you will find past issues of the NWCS Tech Tidbits Newsletters. We hope you find them helpful!

September 2014

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014

January 2015

October 16, 2015

October 30, 2015

November 30, 2015

December 11, 2015

January 2016

February 2016

March 2016

April 2016

May 2016

October 2016

November 2016

December 2016

February 2017

March 2017

Time to Reflect and Celebrate!

iBooks Author

   

     If you are looking for an engaging way to package your lesson materials and resources for students, iBooks Author is a fantastic option!  iBooks Author is a free tool for the MacBook that allows you to create awesome interactive iBooks that include your class materials.  An iBook doesn't have to be long.  Many teachers create an iBook for a unit of study!
     To get started, you first need to identify the unit of study you'd like to use for the book.  Think of the way you have your digital files saved to your computer.  You probably have folders that include materials for one particular topic.  That folder of materials can now be put into an interactive iBook that includes Word or Pages documents, PDFs, images, videos, hyperlinks, interactive quizzes, an interactive glossary with study cards, and more.
     Once you have an idea in mind, to get started with the book, you will need to download iBooks Author on your MacBook by going to the app store.  In the search bar in the upper right hand corner, search for iBooks Author. Once it appears on the screen, click Get to download to your device.
While iBooks Author is downloading to your Mac, pick up your iPad and go to iTunes U.  Open the app and go to the upper left hand corner and tap on the plus sign.  Choose to enroll in a course.  Enter the following code:  DMD-TYP-ARB.  This will enroll you in a course called iBooks Author.  It is a course I put together solely for the purpose of getting an instructional iBook to you.  Once you have enrolled in the course, tap on the materials icon at the bottom of the screen.  An iBook will appear in the upper right hand corner.  Tap the cloud with the arrow to download the book to your iPad.
     The book you just downloaded has everything you need to get started with iBooks Author.  In it, you will find video tutorials to walk you through the tools and options in iBooks Author.  It will also walk you through the creation of a book.  You won't even need to read the text if you watch the videos because they include the same information.  You can watch the video tutorials on your iPad while you work on your Mac to create a book!  Rewind and re-watch as many times as necessary!
     The most important thing to remember when working with iBooks Author is to be patient.  It is a new tool, and it takes a little time to get comfortable with it!  Be patient with yourself and iBooks Author.  It will be well worth it in the end!  By the time you finish your first book, you will be ready to start a second one, and the process will be so much faster!
   

Post-it Note App for iPad

If you are an avid Post-it note user like me, this free app is for you! The app will allow you to take a picture of a group of Post-it Notes (or generic sticky notes . . . they all work) and create a board with them.You can drag and drop them into any type of order, category, or group.You can add new Post-its to the board (handwritten or typed), and you can rename the board and share it with others! They can then edit their own version of the board. In this way, the boards can be somewhat collaborative in nature. There are so many possibilities with this app!Think of all the ways we use Post-its in our classrooms and in our meetings! Now, we can take those Post -its, use the app to capture them, and have them in an editable, digital format on our iPads. To get started, just go to the app store on your iPad and search for Post-it Plus.

Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. On the main screen that opens in the app, you will choose to Capture a New Board.
2. Your screen will then open your camera. Position the screen so that you can view all of your Post-its.
3. Push and hold on the camera icon at the side of the screen. This will take a photo of the sticky notes.
4. When you are finished, at the bottom of the screen, tap Create Board.  Your Post-its will now be brought onto a digital board.
5. Tap on the board and options will appear above it. You can choose to align your Post-its in different ways. Tap and hold on a Post-it to drag it somewhere else on the board. Tap on a Post-it to enlarge it so you can see it better.
6. In addition to moving the current Post-its, you can also add another Post-it to the board by tapping on the white page with the plus sign next to it in the upper right hand corner of the screen. A new Post-it will appear, and you can change the pen color and Post-it color at the bottom of the screen. If
you tap on the keyboard icon, it will allow you to type on the Post-it. Tap Add in the upper right hand corner when you are finished. Drag the new Post-it wherever you’d like!
7. In the upper right hand corner, you will see an orange camera. Tap on it to take a picture of another collection of Post-its. They will then be added to the same board in a different “group”. You can combine the sticky notes into one group on the board or move notes from one group to another. This
helps to create categories.
8. To rename a group, simply tap on the board. It will turn orange and your options will appear at the top. Tap on Rename Group.
9. To share a board, tap on the box with the arrow up in the upper right hand corner. Tap on Share Board and you can Air Drop or open the board in another app. If you email from this option, recipients will not be able to edit the board. They will receive a PDF version of it to view only. You can choose to save the image to your camera roll here as well. This would allow you to upload the board to eBackpack.
10. If you want to email the board to someone so that they can edit it, when you tap the sharing icon (the box with the arrow up), choose Export Board.  Then, choose the format (Post-it Plus Board Export). Tap on Choose Destination. Next, select mail and email it to the person of your choice.
They will then be able to open and edit the board in the app.

This app is so very helpful to have on your iPad. Now, when your class creates a brainstorming list or you have a chart of Post-its created in a meeting, everyone can have digital, editable version on their iPad!  And you don't have to find a place to store the chart for later use!  It is always available on your iPad!

Apple Distinguished Educator: One Best Thing Series

One Best Thing 

          If you are looking for great resources for the classroom,  look no further than the iBooks app on your iPad.  A group of trained and talented teachers called Apple Distinguished Educators have been writing short iBooks about their favorite digital tools in the classroom.  These books have been put into a collection called One Best Thing.  The books are typically around 25 pages, and they include lesson ideas, suggested apps and digital tools, videos, and more.  To access these books,  simply open your iBooks app on the iPad.  Tap on Featured at the bottom of the     screen.  Scroll down toward the middle of the screen, and you will see a section called Popular Categories.  Scroll over until you find Education.  Tap to open it.  Next, scroll down the page until you find the Learning Resources section.  Then, scroll until you see One Best Thing.  You can also search “One Best Thing” in the search bar in iBooks.  The books in this series are separated by subject area. There are books on language arts, math and science, art, music, and media arts, digital citizenship, content creation, assessment, and more!
          Another helpful collection in iBooks is called Lesson Ideas.  Each of the books in this collection identifies one particular digital tool or app.  The book (usually 10 pages or less) then explains what the tool or app is, how to use it, and proceeds to provide ideas for using the app with students in the classroom.  To get to this collection, go to the Popular Categories section again on the Featured page in iBooks.  Scroll to Education.  Scroll across the top featured books and collections until to find Lesson Ideas.
In the Education category, you will also find a section called For Educators.  In this section, you will find both of the collections we just discussed as well as books on teaching with iPads, tools for formative assessment, digital literacy, accessibility, and special education.  These books are so short but so beneficial!  You can sit down and read for 20 minutes and walk away with  a number of great new ideas and resources.  They are certainly worth checking out!

iTunes U Collections

          In addition to the One Best Thing Collection in iBooks, there is also an iTunes U collection created by Apple Distinguished Educators.  The collection is called Lessons for the Classroom and contains lessons for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms.  Some elementary lessons include:  Learn to Read with iPad, Retelling Story Elements, 3-D Geometry, Getting Buggy with It, Endangered Animals, and more.  A few of the middle school topics include:  Tapping into Digital Media for Storytelling, Figurative Language in Descriptive Wriring, Maximizing Volume, Pythagorean Theorem, etc.  Some of the high school topics include:  To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, Communication in the 21 Century, Beautiful Functions, Using iMovie to Support Content, and more.

          On the featured screen in iTunes U, scroll down to the section called Learning Resources.  Tap on Featured Collections box.  In this collection, you will find collections that include:  The Civil War, Food and Nutrition, Primary Sources, United States History and Politics, Virtual Field Trips, and more.  Each of the collections includes different materials ranging from speeches and photos to iBooks and apps to explore that are related to the topic.

          The Virtual Field Trips collection offers videos of art museums and audio tours, tours, photos, and videos of historic sites, and video and audio tours of national parks in the United States.  In addition, there are also suggested apps for students and teachers.  Apps such as National Parks by National Geographic, Docs Teach, and the Smithsonian. 

          The Primary Sources collection gives users access historic films, documents, and oral histories.  Users can access the Library of Congress vaults to view early films of San Francisco in 1897, videos and photos of American presidents, and much more. Once again this section also provides users with suggested apps such as Docs Teach( National Archives and Records Administration) Congressional Moments, American History, and the Timeline apps for World War I and World War II.  

Creating Contact Lists in Office 365

   

Now that students have their own school email accounts, teachers can create a class list of those emails and send out a group message.  This is particularly helpful on eLearning days when we need to give additional instructions, or we see that a number of students are having similar questions or misunderstandings.  To create a class list of student emails, follow these quick steps below.

1.  Go to the web and login to Office 365.
2.  Click on the icon that says People.
3.  Click on the arrow next to New.
4.  Select Contact List.
5.  Name your list.  You can name it whatever you'd like.  Just make it memorable so you can find the list when you need it.
6.  Click to add members. Start typing a student's name.  If it doesn't automatically pop up, you might have to click on Search Directory.
7.  Once you are done adding members, click Save.
8.  Now, a screen will appear that lists the members of the group.  To the right, it says, "Send Email." Send a quick test email to your students.
9.  Now that you have sent a test email to your students, you should be able to create an email in your mail.  When you start typing the name of your list, it should pop up.
10.  Sending an email to an entire class is now just as simple as sending an email to an individual student!

Working with 2 PDFs in eBackpack

         

         During our first eLearning day, some students expressed that they had difficulty with some assignment materials in eBackpack.  They had two PDFs with which they were supposed to work.  One PDF was a text they needed to read.  The other PDF was an answer sheet.  Because you can't have more than one PDF on the screen at one time, it was difficult and time consuming for students to switch back and forth, closing one to open another.  One way to fix this problem is for teachers to merge the answer sheet and the text together prior to loading it in eBackpack.  To do this, teachers can go to http://www.pdfmerge.com.  Once the PDFs are merged into one document, that document can be loaded into eBackpack.  Now, students can see a thumbnail version of the document at the bottom of eBackpack and can choose which page to view.
          One of the newer features on iPad is the split screen function.  This function allows users to view items and work in two apps at once.  Not all apps allow this function, so you will have to try it out to see which ones work and which don't.  For example, when working in eBackpack, you can choose to open Notability beside it to work.  However, the reverse isn't true (at least not yet).  When working in Notability, you cannot choose eBackpack as a secondary app in split view.  So, if students want to work in both eBackpack and Notability side by side, they must open eBackpack first.  Then, tap on the right side of the iPad and swipe right to left.  Pull down on the black bar at the top of the screen to choose Notability.  Now students can work in both apps on the same screen.  While in eBackpack, you cannot make the secondary app window bigger.  However, if you are working in other apps such as Pages, Keynote, Safari, etc., you can enlarge the secondary window by clicking on the vertical white line on the dividing line between apps.  Drag the window the size you'd like. Tap on the screen when you are satisfied.  This is another way to help students who need to read a PDF and work on another one.  They can read in Notability and write in eBackpack or vice versa.