Waffle Bytes

The 2019 MACUL Conference is now less than a month away! (This is the second in a series of 4 to help you get ready and excited about going to the conference. Tipsheet #1 contains information about hydration, food considerations and special happenings at the conference. ) The conference sessions are all locked and loaded...meaning you can peruse the list at your leisure.  Here are some suggestions that may help you feel more prepared when coming to the the conference- Know What You Want : have some idea(s) of what you want to walk away from the conference with.  Use these ideas to help you plan your time so you meet those goals. It's easy to become overwhelmed with all the options, and identifying YOUR walk-aways will make sure you take back meaningful learning.   For example, you are looking for new uses of Google Apps in your classroom, look for sessions about that.  Or, if you are involved in looking for new school purchases make sure to bl...

Teachers - I would highly recommend checking out Toontastic if you are looking for an app for students to tell their stories.  It is a free Google product, and works on most mobile devices.  From the site: "Toontastic 3D is a playful storytelling app that scaffolds the creative writing process and empowers kids to create their own animated cartoons. While Toontastic was not specifically designed for schools, we have heard from a lot of educators over the years that they love how the app sparks their students’ imaginations and uses the Story Arc to help frame their writing. Their students use the app for creating everything from book reports to news broadcasts and foreign language skills."  Best of all are the following features of it: Kids do NOT need accounts Stories are stored locally There are NO ads or in-app purchases - you get the full app for free It works offline, so your younger kiddos can use it without being connected to the Internet

The 2017 MACUL Conference is now less than a month away! (This is the second in a series of 4 to help you get ready and excited about going to the conference. Tipsheet #1 contains information about hydration, food considerations and special happenings at the conference. ) The conference sessions are all locked and loaded...meaning you can peruse the list at your leisure.  Here are some suggestions that may help you better come to the the conference feeling more prepared- Know What You Want : have some idea(s) of what you want to walk away from the conference with.  Use these ideas to help you plan your time so you meet those goals. It's easy to become overwhelmed with all the options, and identifying YOUR walk-aways will make sure you take back meaningful learning.   For example, you are looking for new uses of Google Apps in your classroom, look for sessions about that.  Or, if you are involved in looking for new school purchases make sur...

The #macul17 MOBILE APP is now available!   Download for your iOS or Android device .  (Or you can also visit the app store of choosing and search for MACUL 2017.) Session information has already been loaded into the app - get a sneak pe a k at the great session line up for the upcoming conference within the app!   Some additional conference news -  Volunteers Needed Take your conference attendance to a new level - volunteer! Get a t-shirt and help make the conference the best ever - sign-up  now.   Keynote Speakers   If you haven't heard yet, our keynote speakers are: Sir Ken Robinson, Jane McGonigal, & Jennie Magiera - a stellar group focused on learning.  Featured Speakers this year include: Barbara Chamberlin, Hall Davidson, Steve Dembo, Leslie Fisher, Matt Miller and Kyle Pace.  If you don't recognize these names, Google them - they are all people worth knowing and following!   ...

In case you missed it - MeL now has Chrome Apps for your use - Michigan eLibrary Chrome Apps Access to your favorite Michigan eLibrary (MeL) databases is now even easier when you install the FREE MeL Chrome Apps! These apps are compatible with any Mac, PC, or Chromebook running the Chrome browser and provide simple one-click access to MeL databases. Install these apps for FREE from the Chrome Webstore!    For additional information and directions for installation go to the  Technology Resources  in the redesigned  MeL Teachers  portal, thanks to  Christine Schneider , Michigan eLibrary Education Specialist. MeL https://goo.gl/6vXBz9   Access the entire Michigan eLibrary which features all of your favorite MeL databases and resources including MeLCat. MeL- Teens https://goo.gl/Ssmmzl Access to resources specifically for grades 6 through 12+ including homework help, recommended books, and college plan...

Are you an educator in a Title 1 school?  If so, you are eligible to participate in the Open eBooks Initiative! Go here to get more information at Open eBooks .  This does require registering with First Book - which supplies both access to the app and "new books and educational resources - for free and at low cost - to schools and programs serving children in need, from birth to age 18."  From the Library of Michigan: " Open eBooks is an app containing thousands of popular and award-winning titles that are free for children from in-need households. These eBooks can be read without checkouts or holds. Children from in-need families can access these eBooks, which include some of the most popular works of the present and past, using the Open eBooks app and read as many as they like without incurring any costs. The goal of Open eBooks is to encourage a love of reading and serve as a gateway to children reading even more often, whether in school, at librari...

If you have used Meraki as the MDM to manage your iPads for the past several years, you - like me - have moved through the transition of being told it would "always be free" to them implementing a paid model but maintaining a legacy version of the Systems Manager for those of certain criteria.  (If that sentence was confusing, you didn't experience the joys of the transition I would guess...) So, how can you tell which version of the Meraki Systems Manager you are using?  How can you tell if you can update for free?  What does updating - if you are able to - do for you? First of all let's review the possible situations you are currently in: You have over 100 devices on Meraki and you have paid for a license You have over 100 devices on Meraki and you have never paid for a license You have fewer than 100 devices on Meraki Now, go check your License Information - click on Organization and then select License Info: If you fall under case #1 you are on the...

As someone that works with teens, there is a group of apps you should be aware of that could make a negative impact on your classroom environment (or your homelife if you have preteens and teens).  These apps allow students to post pictures and/or make comments - often anonymously.  The newest of these apps to gain notoriety is called Burnbook - you can read a bit about it here: http://mashable.com/2015/03/26/burnbook-app/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link This app joins a host of other apps (YikYak, Whisper, AfterSchool, Ask.fm, to name a few) in the same category - they easily promote the escalation of cyberbullying among students.  So, what are ways you can combat this? 1. By Educating - as technology becomes more seamlessly integrated with our lives, and especially with learning, we cannot rely on AUPs or Terms of Use to guide students' behavior.  We need to provide modeling and conversations.  There are great resources out there (CommonSe...

Mark Coppin has put together a resource  for educators and parents as an iTunesU course to help identify both uses and a list of suggested apps for those working with autistic students.  A stated purpose of this course is to "assist in determining what app features to look for when selecting apps." I highly recommend reading/watching the provided material BEFORE looking at the app list. The resource is free, and the current price of the suggested apps listed are posted.  This being Autism Awareness Month, there are many that are currently on sale or temporarily free. https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/apps-for-students-autism-spectrum/id631357037

Seven Ways to Display Your iPad This lovely resource comes from Tony Vincent's Learning in Hand website. (If you have never checked it out, you need to!) Tony has put together a comparison chart for the various methods of displaying an iPad's screen onto a projector.  This is one of the most frequently asked questions for me when I am doing iPad training, so I figure there may be others out there than have a need to know. To see the full resolution chart, go to his blog posting .

Tellagami Review Basics: "T ellagami is a mobile app that lets you create and share a quick animated message called a Gami."  Think PSA! The user can set a male or female character's characteristics (including emotion), adds a background then records the message.  Upon playback, the character is animated - with some emotion added to the hand gestures.  It can then be shared. Drawbacks :  There is a 30 second time limit to your recordings - this could be a drawback or a benefit. Current Costs:   currently FREE! Link to iTunes Store:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tellagami/id572737805?mt=8

One of the questions I am beginning to be asked is "What can I still do on an iPad 1??"  We have several districts that purchased the devices in their first iteration and are unable to update them as they are no longer supported.  But, they are still usable educational tools... Here is a collaborative document I ran across that may help you out with that - " What Can I Still Do with An iPad - First Generation " by Naomi Harm Not only look for ideas, but feel free to add some of the activities you are still able to do

MyScript Memo   Basics: Today's app review is a handwriting to text converter! You can now take handwritten notes on your iOS device, and either send the picture of them OR have it convert the writing to text and send the text Drawbacks :  The screen size on a phone is somewhat a hindrance, but on the iPad it works great. Current Costs:  currently FREE! Link to iTunes Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/myscript-memo/id446368116?mt=8#

New Way of Getting to Apps At some point in the near future you are going to look for that familiar black bar across the top of your Google Apps to switch to a different app....and realize it is gone!  That is because Google is providing a "new way to access your apps." Instead of this: You will see this: To access apps, you will need need to go to the 3x3 grid that is in the upper-right side and click on that: This grid displays the basic Google apps up front; clicking on the More at the bottom of the window will display additional Google apps, and below that any items that have been installed from the Marketplace. You might notice a few other changes at the top, as well: The Google+ is moved from the left to the right. The notification has changed to a bell with a red badge displaying the number of new items A share callout that will post to your Google+ from any Google App Not all of these are going into place at the same time, but eventually we all w...

Drawp by Moondrop Entertainment LLC Basics : Make drawings, add audio and share them easily   Educational Uses : The app is made to use with young children, but could also be easily used with students that have special needs.  A difference with this app - the parent (teacher) sets up how the drawings are shared, and the kid simply swipes the drawing onto a picture to share it.   Current Cost : currently free!   Link to iTunes Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drawp-drawing-families-closer/id571816406?mt=8

Dink  - "Become a Master Animator" Basics : Dink is an app for creating animations.  The user creates the animation using stop frame (or stop motion) animation, allowing the user to customize on a frame by frame basis.  Creativity is only limited by the user, as the user creates all the content. Educational Uses:   If you are looking for an app for animation that is easy for students to pick up and learn very quickly, this app may be the one.  I was able to create a simple 15 frame animation - with layers - in under 15 minutes.  That was without looking at any tutorials or examples.  Very easy to learn and use.  Overall, very powerful....however, you might want to read the drawbacks before purchasing for your classroom set of devices. Drawbacks in Education:  The link to MyDink.net within the app is a serious concern - not the site itself, but that it connects to animations created by others and many of these are not appropriate fo...

How to Enable Mobile Secure Browser Using Configurator The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium provides directions for how to access the secure testing environment on individual devices. They even provide a pdf document specifically " About the Secure Browsers for iPad and Android Tablets ."   But what about if you manage your devices using Apple Configurator? Here are the directions for setting it up using Configurator - and the beauty is you don't have to touch each device individually! First, the device must be supervised for this to work.  If it isn’t, you will first need to supervise it.   Please remember - that when you supervise a device it is completely wiped to factory settings. Setting up: Download AIRSecure Test https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/airsecuretest/id607002517?mt=8 Add AIRSecure Test to your apps list in Configurator Select the device(s) or the group(s) of devices Add AIRSecure Test as one of the apps on the device ...

Haiku Deck App - "Set Your Story Free" Basics : Haiku Deck is a FREE app for creating presentations very quickly and easily.   While only 5 of the themes are provided (others can be in-app purchased), they are very modern looking.  The app is very intuitive to use, offering easy to change layouts.  There are fewer choices than many other presentation creators, meaning the user stays more focused on the content.  Also, text space is limited forcing the user to focus in on the main ideas of their presentation. You can either add your own photos or use the app to search a photo service where you can select a word/phrase from your slide and have it find  pictures that are tagged as such.  Some of the built in messages are quirky, funny or annoying depending on your sense of humor (such as: "Patience grasshopper downloading a large file"). Educational Uses:   This is a great free alternative to other paid presentation apps (such as Keynote). Link...

Aurasma App  - "See and Interact with the World in a New Way!" (Currently free in the iTunes Store) Basics : From their site: "Thanks to Aurasma, every image, object and even place can have its own Aura. Auras can be as simple as a video and a link to a web page or as complex as a lifelike 3D animation. Use the Aurasma app to unlock Auras and share the experience with friends. Or get experimenting and use the simple tools within the app to create and share your own Auras." Educational Uses : Aurasma is a great introduction to using augmented reality as you can make simple "auras" for any object - whether a student piece of work or everyday object.  Some examples: student work can connect to an audio file that has them reading the piece or explaining their work in their own words (Thank you to  @bcteacher  for introducing this type of project to me!) teacher instruction can connect to a website, audio file or other resource that may be used ...

Explain Everything (Currently $2.99; available in the VPP store for $1.49) Many thanks to David Malone (@dwmalone on Twitter) of CUE for introducing me to this app at MACUL! Basics:  From their site: "Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere. Create slides, draw in any color, add shapes, add text, and use a laser pointer. Rotate, move, scale, copy, paste, clone, and lock any object added to the stage....Add new or existing photos and videos.... No account is necessary to use Explain Everything and share creations." Educational Uses :  So many possibilities!  Demos, tutorials, animations, annotated videos, screencast - created by teachers or students - to just name a few.  There is a showcase page you can read about & check out some examples:  http://www.explaineverything.com/ee-showcase...