Boggle... works a treat

Boggle is one of the games that will work on the iPad in a school context. A single student can enjoy a quick game at any time, and there is also a "pass and play" mode. The game is ideal for the ipad as you trace the letters of the words you are spelling on the screen directly. I have to admit I'm only scoring 20 or so out of 100 possible words at the moment.

There is a fairly whacky set of words in there. Unpleasant and swear words have been deleted, but a lot of obscure foreign sourced words are there. Ironically you can check any word in the list provided per game with an online dictionary... and more often than not if I don't know a word, the dictionary declines any knowledge it as well!

When students are playing against each other the only thing that counts is relative skill level, so this game can be easily used right down to early reading level in Primary School. At the same time, I have seen groups of Year 12 students have a hilarious time with it in the library, so it has appeal accross the board.

Andrew Lack

Puzzles and Games: they won't all work!

Even though there are a host of games and puzzles available for the iPad, they won't all work for a school context. I'll use just two to explain why.

Scrabble will work brilliantly.
Seven Little Words probably will not.

The problem is that as the iPad was devised as a personal device, many games are personal as well, in the sense that they are designed for one person to play them through, and don't have any way for multiple iPad users to all play.

Scrabble works fine. Each game is stand-alone, so nothing is lost by passing an iPad on to a student in another class. That student can simply start a new game. In addition there are some interesting ways to play with others such as pass-and-play or even by using an iPhone with what  I belive is  a free app to be the "tile rack" from which tiles can be flicked onto the iPad board to position!

Seven Little Words is a nice word puzzle. First problem is that it requires in-app purchases to get better content once the introductory puzzles are completed. Second and larger problem is that it has not way for multiple users to be involved. The puzzles are linear (so after completing the first one, you can only see and attempt the second one). Though it is a fine word game, I can't see how it could work in a school context.

Another game that comes close to failing for this reason is the excellent logic puzzle "Trainyard". This is largely linear, however has the saving grace that even though puzzles have been completed, another player can go back and re-do puzzles. This spoils the idea of the game guiding your progression through a sequence of growing difficulty, but does mean there is a way for it to be used. It is otherwise a fine game of quite devious complexity at the latter stages.

Andrew Lack

Google Earth

This one really goes without saying. What is not to like about a free app that can take you anywhere on earth and show you the trees and shops? Like Google Earth on your computer, this is an app you need to download, but it still requires web connection. As you will be doing this over wireless network, the most likely cause of frustration is slowness to download and refresh map pictures as you move and zoom.

One way to get past this is to have specific destinations in mind for your lesson, and test the simplest search string that will work. This means students type in the destination and search, then you can have another activity on the go while things load up.

From watching students in their own time, I can confidently say that many students simply like playing around with Google Earth. On the computers in the OLRC this often means going in to Flight Sim mode (not available on the iPad app). They also like finding their own houses and other things they know. Those who have travelled or come from other countries can use the app to tell their stories.

There are some interesting features, though not as many as on the computer based app. If you turn on "auto tilt" in the options section you can tilt the view (looking across the surface, not down) by tilting the iPad itself. There are also "layers" on which you can view some additional information. This usually takes the form of small icons that you can tap to see more information. This is far more limited than the offerings on the computer based program, but links to Panoramia (geo-tagged photos) and Wiki entries are useful.

Olive Tree Bible

When originally discussing the purchase of a set of iPads to use at Pacific Hills, I suggested that this app alone would be sufficient educational justification.

Olive Tree have been around for ages...  I remember getting an Olive Tree Bible on my Palm Pilot (woah.. who remembers that excellent little PDA?). Their depth of experience is evidenced in the sophisticate coding and features in their app, and also in the amazing depth of resources available from their in-app store.

The app itself is free. This is a little bit tricky as they offer several apps that appear to be the same. When you realise that the app itself is essentially a specialised eBook reader, this all starts to become clear. Each app on offer bundles different versions of the Bible, ranging from the King James version (free) to the more expensive NIV collection. Once you have the app installed, you then have the option of purchasing additional resources from the in-app store. There are many free resources, but for the serious Bible scholar a bewildering array of Bibles and Bible related resources. There editions of most versions, often with associated study notes. There are books of historical importance, concordances, map collections, devotional books and sermon collections. There are Hebrew and Greek editions as well.

As this app is designed to support serious Bible study and also to do most of the things you would want to do with a paper Bible, the list of features is extraordinary. It puts normal eBook readers and eBook reader apps to shame! For instance...

• split screen to compare versions or to include study footnotes... variable to any size
• variable font, font size, colours and background colours
• in landscape mode, show as two pages or one
• progress by vertical scrolling or page turn
• tap a verse or hold on a word to get a list of options including making notes, highlighting in multiple colours, bookmark or copy
• tap a verse footnote letter and get an in-screen popup of cross references. Tap a cross reference to see the passage in the popup window
• A sophisticated search window with predictive search
• move forward and back through recent pages selected
• locate a verse by using a pull down grid that moves from Bible book to chapter to verse
• a variety of Bible reading plans built in

The "pay for" Bibles are not as cheap as one might expect, with the NIV around $20 and other scholarly versions even higher. This is offset by the number of free versions (not just the King James) available. For a modern language version that is free consider the NET version (New English Translation). Still, schools will decide about authorised translations on reasons other than cost.

Why does this app get me so passionate? Because it means any teacher can take a set of Bibles into a classroom that will immediately put tools for deep and personal study of the scriptures into students hands. Of course you always have the option of using the excellent on-line service www.biblegateway.com. However, not every teacher can book a full lab when they need it, and using a web based Bible has some limitations in speed. The Olive Tree app does not require web connection at all (all Bibles and other resources are downloaded) so works at lighting speed.

The setup? For Pacific Hills I'm hoping to see the NIV (still our standard edition) installed, along with NIV study notes, plus the KJV and NET Bibles. If we can, I'd love to see The Message on this as well. I have not yet explored how to properly arrange purchases (and possible group discounts) so it would be great if others are ahead of me on this.

Andrew Lack

Puppet Pals HD

Puppet Pals is a truly wonderful app for Primary age students. They are asked to select from some "paper cutout" cartoons, then a background. A screen appears with the background in place and the cartoons lined up on the side. The student(s) then press "record" and move the puppet cutouts around. They can be rotated, slide over the background, and zoomed larger and smaller. While they do this, the students can speak any lines they want and make any sound effects. When done, the end the recording and immediately press "play" to see the whole  show played back.

Just to make things more interesting, the latest version allows you to bring a picture or photo (from the camera) into the program, then draw around it with your finger. It will then remove the background thus creating your own paper cutout puppet.

This app creates huge interest in the library at lunchtime and much hillarity. As with any audio recording you will need to monitor it for ill intentioned folks leaving nasty messages. The potential, however, for all sorts of learning activities is simply huge. Anyone for a scene from Hamlet?

Free books

Free books? That sounds alluring. Could this be a reason to use iPads in school? My current vote is a lukewarm "maybe". You may find the exact book you wanted to use in class, and then by all means, load it in to an eBook app like Stanza.

Don't get me wrong... free books are wonderful things, and we should be telling students about free books and the best sites to find them on. I just don't see the point, however, of filling up a generic school iPad with hundreds of books the students will never willingly open.

So with that reservation dealt with, here are some ways to access free books.

1. Web access: try www.feedbooks.com or www.gutenerg.org. Gutenberg was the first major free books site, and currently lists 36,000 books. Feedbooks has (probably) fewer books but is more atractively formatted, including showing book covers. Feedbooks does sell books as well as provide free books, so go to "Public Domain" first. When you select "download" you can choose to open in iBooks or in any other book readers that are on the iPad.
2. Via Stanza. Stanza is a highly rated and free book reading app (get the iPad version, of course). Look at the bottom icons when you are in the Library section and you will see another icon for "Get Books".  you may then need to click on "Catalog" at the top of the screen. You will see several sources listed under "Free Books" including Feedbooks and Gutenberg. You can just browse or search to your hearts content then click Download. Books should arrive very quickly.
3. Via iBooks. You can go to a web site like Feedbooks then download into iBooks. You have to go to Feedbooks by using the Safari browser. iBooks will not let you browse sites like this from within iBooks. iBooks will only take you to the iBooks store (part of iTunes). Select a category in the store, then click on the "Free" button to see what is available.
4. Apps that contain books. There are a very large number of apps that actually come with books built in. I mostly ignore those as I cannot see the point, with the tens of thousands of free books available, of locking myself into an app. The likely consequence of using these is that you will end up with multiple copies of the books everyone thinks we should have, such as Alice in Wonderland. The exception is apps that do something special with books such as make them interractive... however these are rarely free.

Two  categories I have not explored particularly well are audio books and apps that read to you. The premier audio book site is www.audible.com, but this is not free. There are quite large audio book sites around, especially supporting visually impaired students (and adults). I'm not aware of any that have their own apps at this stage. The Kindle eBook reader (but not the Kindle iPad app) will actually read any book you download with quite a reasonable computer voice, and I'm keen to hear of any apps that will do this.

Book Readers

The iPad is not universally preferred as an eBook reader. There are those who strongly prefer the Kindle, or any reader with a digital ink display. While the iPad can be bright, most readers allow you to dial down the brightness, and provide "white on black" nightime reader settings.

Where the iPad shines is that it can be all the readers! iBooks was not the first reader, and is not neccesarily the best. Apple now offers iBooks as a free App Store download, and it does have the advantage of linking to your iTunes account for purchases. However, in a classroom context you need to ensure it is NOT linked to an account or that the account is locked!

You can easily obtain the free Kindle app, and this will then sync all of your Kindle books (if you also have a Kindle). However it can be used as a reader in its own right, and will link directly to the Amazon Kindle store. Again, it is vital with classroom machines to ensure that students cannot simply order a book with one click against your account!

One of the best independant readers I have found is Stanza. This has a nice interface, and unlike the Kindle and iBooks, has a "pinch and spread" finger gesture to change font size. It will also link directly to genuinely free book sources such as Feedbooks and Gutenberg.

For a change of approach, the Kobo app is interesting. This is based on the Kobo eBook reader (device) that was being pushed by Borders. It has a "game playing" approach so each new achievement (such as opening your first book) is recorded with a small celebration and an award on your personal Kobo page. While this sounds tempting to use in a classroom, I don't see how this would work if the device had multiple users. Perhaps save this one up for the parent who wants to purchase a device to encourage a reluctant reader.

So....

Posts on the use of the iPad in the school context.

The blog was begun by Andrew Lack, Head of the Odell Learning Resources Centre at Pacific Hills Christian School, and will feature contributions intially from staff of the Pacific Hills, Pacific Coast and Pacific Valley Schools. I'd be delighted to hear from staff at these schools who want to recieve invitations as authors. Others can join in the fun by posting comments or emailing me directly.

Andrew Lack