Along comes Glo Bible app

I was very excited about the Glo Bible software package when it was released (for PC). It promised a massive amount of audio-visual material, a great atlas and the NIV Bible. I struggled for days to get it installed on a school computer, and after hours of support from the company simply had to give up. They stated that they simple had never designed it to operate in a corporate environment (shortsighted).

I was gob smacked to then find that they have released a free Glo Bible app. You will find it if you search for "glo bible" in the App Store, but it has been named Bible + for some reason. As we are currently facing a steep bill for installing the NIV on each of our machines using the Olive Tree system, I was then even more astonished to find out they were giving the NIV away free.

How is this possible? I can only guess that the real clue is where the text resides. From watching how the content loads, I'm guessing that all of the content is actually downloaded "as needed" from the web. This means the product is not actually an installed Bible at all, but a portal to online resources. It then becomes no different to going to www.biblegateway.com where you can view a free NIV as well.

Still, the layout is fresh and fairly flexible, the atlas is really good, there are lots of linked pictures, and the outstanding interactive visual resources. I was struck by the re-creation of the tabernacle, allowing 360 degree viewing as though you were standing in the courtyard with information and closer views on most of the key features.

When iOS 5 launches (within the next month) all of this can be simply put up in a classroom from a teacher iPad using either a VGA adapter or Apple TV.

It is very hard to argue with free NIV and great resources, providing that you are 'net connected. At the least this will be installed alongside Olive Tree on our classroom set.

Andrew Lack

Some Early Success

Quotes from one of our JS teachers...

"They loved them. We explored various regions of Japan via G Earth. This was a great experience, the kids could see the general location and then virtually fly into the town and see how it looked. Very stimulating for the class. We called it our 'in-excursion' to Japan.

We also used the app Labyrinth where kids build the pathways for the ball to roll along. This links beautifully with my thinking skill lessons and the Simple Machines unit.

Overall a great success, I plan to get them out for the grandparents day and have my class teach their grandparents how to use them. I will also be using 'slate blackboards' in the same lesson to give a sense of the old and new."

Thanks Scott!

Andrew Lack

The First Audit

We have set up the iPads in their first trial version. I have listed all the apps, with some brief comments about the possible ways to use them, and some notes about issues allready apparent, in a document here. This is a Google Doc format, lets see how that works for you. It was a bit flakey for me. I can try a again with a PDF if there are problems.

Andrew Lack

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