iPads changing the game for learning at Longfield

John Merlin over at MJO - learning, teaching, technology has written an excellent article on the introduction of iPads at one of England's most conservative school institutions - Longfield Academy. The School recently won a national ICT award for its ground breaking iPad scheme at the recent Education Business Awards held on 10th November 2011. Merlin has written concisely about the decision to introduce both Apple hardware and software. It was a finanically viable and sustainable approach to technology integration not decided by the school but rather through consultation with the staff, the students and the importantly the parents.

Merlin goes on to discuss the academic benefits of the 1:1 program as well as discussing the redefinition of the relationships between the students and staff - they are now a community of learners. This change in the relationship is most obvious in the cultural acceptance of "risk taking" for learning.

Read the full article:

iPads changing the game for learning at Longfield
MONDAY, 09 JANUARY 2012 00:00 MERLIN JOHN

Longfield Academy takes schools ICT to a new level, and the implications for other schools are important.

Longfield Academy
Longfield Academy: game-changing ICT
Longfield, in Kent, gets its first official mention in records in the Domesday Book and in Saxon Charters more than a thousand years ago. But in 2011 it has been setting new standards for learning and teaching with technologies.
The Longfield Academy for Arts and Sciences is thought to be the first school to offer iPads to all its learners and staff – and, even more unusual, there's no Microsoft. And the decision wasn’t made by Apple-oriented ICT advisers. It was based on consulting the school community – learners, staff and parents.




Go Back in Time with 12 World History Apps

History is one of those subjects where it is easy to get your students engaged once they have connected with the narrative. Here are a couple of Apps that will help your students jump right into the era that you are studying. Obviously we can't cover every area of historical study but these apps give you an idea of some of the tools available on the iPad. Some of the more interactive apps like War World 11 or Virtual History: Roma lend themselves to individual research projects or even students negotiated activities, other could be used just as starters or as warm up activities. However you use them, these apps give you a set of tools that you can now use in your iPad classroom.

Back in Time: $8.49 AU
I loved this as a website, now it is an app. Visually stunning! What were the defining moments in history? Back in Time is an interactive multimedia journey through those moments. An imaginary clock will guide you, proposing a simple analogy: the Universe started 24 hours ago. The Big Bang is the first event in the journey at 0:00 hours. Today, 13.7 billion years later, the clock says midnight.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/back-in-time/id450345693?mt=8


Timeline Eons: FREE
Scrollable timeline supposedly longer than the Earth's circumference. Zoomable timeline that can display dates and times down to a fraction of a second. Wide-ranging events from the Big Bang and evolution, to historical events and future projections. Concise and fun facts includes Natural History, World History, U.S. History, Science and Technology, Art and Architecture, and Sports.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/timeline-eons-free/id433352152?mt=8


HD Stone Age: $0.99 AU
The Stone Age is the period roughly between 2.5 million and 3000 years BC., and its main characteristic is the human learning techniques for the development of hunting tools and stone tools. Inside this Encyclopedia: You can copy full text and full HD pictures, to paste and send by eMail or to paste to any document inside your device to share or study later. Great for history research tasks.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/hd-stone-age/id392193453?mt=8


Egyptian Heiroglyphics Decoder: $0.99 AU
Egyptian Hieroglyphics Decoder allows you to go to a museum, or even look at Egyptian columns with Hieroglyphics and actually translate the Hieroglyphics into letters that you can understand! Now you can just look at the Hieroglyphics and start tapping the same Hieroglyphics images and see what letters they are translated too and even make sentences. Students can write their own messages.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/egyptian-decoder/id332591888?mt=8


Ancient History Trivia Quiz: $1.99 AU
Ancient History Trivia Quiz is a visually stunning history game, with 250 multiple choice questions, including 50 bonus general knowledge questions. Ancient History Trivia Quiz features 9 game modes, in both single and multiplayer mode. All Quizicals' games have been professionally developed, with high quality graphics, exciting sound effects and smooth gameplay.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/ancient-history-trivia-quiz/id330774231?mt=8


Virtual History Roma: $10.49 AU
Mondadori presents a fantastic voyage to Ancient Rome, the capital of the largest empire in the ancient world, which has been reconstructed in virtual form and which you can explore in a “full-immersion” panoramic experience. The format provides the viewer with an astonishing insight into Roman civilization, using innovative functions and multimedia content. This is a beautifully crafted app.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/virtual-history-roma/id410358487?mt=8


Ancient Greek Mythology: $1.99 AU
Ancient Greek Mythology is a concise guide to the major Gods, creatures and mortals appearing in Greek Mythology. The app also contains a quiz which can be played in single or multiplayer modes. There are over 750 entries in a searchable database. The app is based on the famous work (Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology) by William Smith in 1861 but with a cool user interface.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/ancient-greek-mythology/id367867116?mt=8


History Tools: $0.99 AU
HistoryTools is an app that lists all the famous and infamous people who were born or died on each day of the year, major news events that occurred on each day, plus feast days of saints and holidays and celebrations around the world. HistoryTools helps kick-start ideas and is a great help to students who wish to convince their teachers that they are among the smartest in the class.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/historytools/id385522233?mt=8


Thematic Maps of the World: $5.49 AU
Thematic Maps of World is a very educational application that lets you know our world through a variety thematic maps. (Climate, Energy, Ethnography/Religion, Industry/Economy, Land Use, Military and Population.) Features include display 500 thematic maps about our world, landscape view mode and zooming with your finger as well as descriptions about each map. Great for visual learners.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/thematic-maps-of-world/id324831513?mt=8


World War 11 Interactive: $5.49 AU
World War II Interactive covers the biggest conflict in history with stunning photos, videos and speeches and amazing design. A rich interactive experience with text, audio, video and photos. Read about the major battles and the events of WW2 in detail. Swipe through the timelines for every month of the war. Watch rare video clips. Listen to famous speeches. See amazing photographs.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/world-war-ii-interactive/id437200190?mt=8


Black HistoryPad: $5.49 AU
HistoryPad provides an informative look into the lives of 100 people in history. .  In addition, many of the screens for the people we cover have a connection to online video or music to bring you closer to the person in history. On the IPad this is a very enjoyable experience, as one can watch the video on the person in history or listen to their music while reading the full biography.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/black-historypad/id372389883?mt=8


HistoryPin: FREE
Discover windows into the past by seeing and interacting with the history all around you. Historypin reveals photos near your current location and allows you to view them layered over the modern scene in front of you. You can also explore Collections of some of the best old photos from around the world. You can add your own piece of history and pin it to the map, too, by using your device.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/historypin/id455228207?mt=8




10 iPad Apps for Web Curation

Curation vs. Aggregation? Curation is such a necessity these days. The overwhelming wave of information we are exposed to is drowning us in facts and opinion. Not only do we need to be curating the information that we are consuming but we need to be insisting that our students have the skills and necessary tools in which to curate their own world. I have listed a number of capable curation apps that can help to do just that.

I tend to use more than one of these and in fact there are days that I would use three or four. Have a look at the ones that might feel right for you. I have a soft spot for Flipboard but only because it was the tool that first opened my eyes to the potential of the iPad in a classroom - I used it as a twitter fed "further reading" text for a senior art class. Enjoy!

Pearltrees: FREE
Pearltrees is a place to collect, organize, discover everything you like on the web. The unique visual interface lets you keep everything you like at hand so you can organize it your way. Collect web pages and turn them into pearls. Organize your pearls into pearltrees based on your interests. Share all of this and start to cultivate your interests with Pearltrees.


http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/pearltrees/id463462134?mt=8


Flipboard: FREE
Flipboard creates a personalized magazine out of everything being shared with you, from Instagram photos and Facebook updates to Tumblr posts and articles from your favorite publications. Connect Flipboard to all your social networks, and you'll have a single place to enjoy, browse, comment on and share all the news, photos and updates that matter to you.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/flipboard/id358801284?mt=8


Zite: FREE
Zite is a free personalized magazine for your iPad that automatically learns what you like and gets smarter every time you use it. Zite delivers all the great news, articles, blogs, and videos you want – and helps you discover new stuff that you'll love. Get a head start on finding amazing content tailored just for you by automatically syncing Zite with your Twitter and Google Reader accounts.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/zite-personalized-magazine/id419752338?mt=8


Scoop.it: FREE
Scoop.it lets you easily publish online magazines by curating content on your favorite topic. Curate on the go with the Scoop.it iDevice App. Select, edit and publish posts in the same engaging visual format as from the Web site. Review your suggestion list or add posts from Safari mobile then share on all your connected Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr... accounts.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/scoop.it/id487321972?mt=8


HitPad: FREE
Hitpad delivers bite-size information snippets about the most important and worth-knowing topics of the day, highlighting why they are important and may be of interest, so you become current in no time and with very little effort. As you use Hitpad, it learns your interests in order to deliver you the most important information snippets in the areas that you care about.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/hitpad-see-whats-up/id422564565?mt=8


Feedly: FREE
Feed your mind. Get the best content from your favorite websites delivered to your iPhone and iPad. Powered by Google Reader, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instapaper and Read it later. If you are an existing Google Reader user, you can think of feedly as a fast/visual overlay with lots for sharing options and seamless 2-way integration.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/feedly/id396069556?mt=8


Pulse: FREE
Pulse takes your favorite websites and transforms them into a colorful and interactive mosaic. Tap on an article to see a clean and elegant view of the news story. Save stories for reading later across all platforms or sync them with Instapaper, Read it Later and Evernote. Sharing a story via Facebook, Twitter and email is as easy as two taps. Apple Design Award Winner 2011!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/pulse-news-for-ipad/id371088673?mt=8


Flud: FREE
Beautiful design, simple user interface, and integrated social settings make Flud a great place to read your news. Customize Flud to your personal tastes. Follow all your favorite blogs and news sites, save stories to read when you have time or offline, connect with friends and other Fluders who share your interests.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/flud/id382544677?mt=8


Google Currents: FREE - Not currently available in Australia
Google Currents uses Google search technology to build editions tracking the five most recent trending stories in categories such as world, entertainment, sports, science, and more. Each story is presented through a fresh edition of articles, videos, and pictures.  Instantly, turn your Google Reader subscriptions, or any of your favorite blogs/feeds into a beautiful edition with a magazine feel.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-currents/id459182288?mt=8



News360: FREE
News360 for iPad aggregates more than 7000 different news sources around the web to bring you news stories in a concise and useful stream. The semantic analysis technology behind News360 allows you to get background information and dossiers about all the companies, people and locations that make the news, and to personalize the news based on your specific interests.






Around the World with 15 Cool Geography Apps

Geography seems to me to be one of those subjects that actually lends itself to the type of multimedia multi-sensory experience that is the ipad. Some of the apps in this post allow you produce beautiful infographic style maps using your data, others allow you to explore the ways in which the world is being effected by population. The map of disasters is a hard one to ignore especially in the context of the recent spate of tsunamis and earthquakes.

Have a look at this small selection of apps that are available to see if any would benefits your students. Make sure you also check out the link on the home page to our extensive list of History and Geography Apps.


MapBox: FREE

MapBox for iPad allows you to use your iPad to view, create, and share beautiful maps made with the MapBox suite of open source map-making tools. Use this app to take your maps offline and on the go as fast and interactive as ever. Make new maps by combining offline map layers with online maps from MapBox, OpenStreetMap and MapQuest. You can even overlay GeoRSS data layers.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/mapbox/id411244459?mt=8


7 Billion: $5.49 AU
7 Billion: How your world will change - to coincide with the arrival of the 7 billionth human being to our world. This app explores the challenges of a growing human population in a world of limited resources with informative videos, interactive maps, in-depth articles, and stunning photography. The Face of Seven Billion Interactive: Tap on the “typical face”

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/7-billion/id473524096?mt=8


Disaster Alert: FREE
Disaster Alert provides a listing and an interactive map of Active Hazards around the globe. Additional hazard information can be viewed and shared. "Active Hazards" refers to a collection of current and real-time incidents which have been designated "potentially hazardous to people, property, or assets" Active Hazards currently includes: Hurricane/Tropical Cyclone, Drought, Earthquake and Flood 

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/disaster-alert-pacific-disaster/id381289235?mt=8


Google Earth: FREE
With Google Earth for iPad, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. Explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world's population and a third of the world's land mass. You can swipe with two fingers to adjust your view to see mountainous terrain.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/google-earth/id293622097?mt=8


GPS Misssion: FREE
You’ll solve missions world-wide, hunt ghosts, find treasures and collect gold. . Become a ghost hunter and save the world from bizarre ghosts – the real world mind you! Additionally, you will be able to play user-generated GPS games in over 70 countries (scavenger hunts, crime stories, time travels, etc). You too can create GPS games at the GPS Mission web site (www.gpsmission.com).



Mission: Explore London: FREE
They have packed this app with hundreds of micro-adventures for you to complete. Use your imagination to complete as many missions as you can. Whether you're rating rules in a secret garden, counting animals on an urban safari or looking for lost treasure. There are missions for specific locations, and others that can be done anywhere in the world.



Ansel and Claire's Adventures in Africa: $5.49 AU
Ansel and Clair’s Adventures (ages 4 -10) is designed to leverage the multi-sensory experience of the iPad. It uses original characters: Ansel, an inter-galactic photographer and Clair, a brilliant Virtoosian robot.  They explore three stunning, interactive locales in Africa: Nile Valley, Sahara Desert and Serengeti Plains. It has spectacular interactions and engaging gameplay geared towards learning. 



Kiwi and Pear's World Adventures: $0.99 AU
Geography for ages 4 and up, Kiwi and Pear’s World Adventure is an interactive storybook. "Kiwi and Pear’s World Adventure does a great job taking preschoolers on a trip around the world. The graphics and interactions are appealing. I was impressed with the number of locations the monkeys manage to visit. This isn’t a budget vacation by any means." iPhoneMom.com

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/kiwi-pears-world-adventure/id401254457?mt=8


GeoPop: $0.99 AU
GeoPop is an addictive new geography game. Designed for true beginners right through to the mad “Geo Freaks” who can spout off what the native languages of Paraguay and everyone in between. Users can choose from 3 levels of difficulty and test your knowledge of all things international, from soccer, to coup d’etats, from ancient history to the latest events that shape this crazy planet we call home.

http://itunes.apple.com/app/geopop/id489992345?mt=8


GeoWalk HD: $2.99 AU
We are all used to the idea that encyclopedias are pretty boring and usually too overloaded with information, that's why we decided to squeeze the most essential and exciting info about our planet into a brief, informative and illustrative 3D Fact Book to explore the world in a playful way.


http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/geo-walk-hd/id379602269?mt=8


National Geographic World Atlas: $1.99 AU
National Geographic World Atlas HD utilizes the highest resolution images, providing you detail, accuracy, and artistic beauty normally found in wall maps and bound atlases. Preloaded with 3 different styles of world maps with an internet connection, you can continue zooming through continent-level maps into Bing maps - close enough to see your home!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/world-atlas-hd/id364733950?mt=8


World Academy: $0.99 AU
World Academy is the ultimate educational quiz game that turns learning world culture into fun. Challenge your friends to a high score match or compete globally. Test your knowledge on culture, history, food, music and geography. From easy questions about delicious dishes. Medium level is for players who want to tackle more advance questions to hard levels for geography professors!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/world-academy/id395794032?mt=8


Living Earth: $1.99 AU
Enjoy a stunning live 3D simulation of our planet at our current moment in time with global weather, forecasts and world clock for cities around the world. View live global cloud patterns along with the most realistic 3D rendering of our planet available. A humbling view of our home in your hands or a strikingly beautiful nightstand or desktop clock.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/living-earth-hd-world-clock/id379869627?mt=8


Geo Photo Explorer: FREE
Spend hours exploring the world through geo located photos. This application provides an easy way to explore, organize, manage photo galleries and share photos from Google Panoramio and Flick. Recommended for all virtual tourists.
Find photos from visible region on the maps or search for places. Manage multiple photo galleries or edit galleries, and assign photos to gallery in a bulk.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/geo-photo-explorer/id375610961?mt=8


Puzzleography:$2.99 AU
Puzzleography is an addicting map puzzle geography game that's truly fun for the whole family! With tons of content and multiple levels, it's challenging and entertaining for kids age 1 to 101. Surprise yourself! Improve your knowledge of the world with a game you'll return to again and again! Great for the Geography curriculum.





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