Techie Tuesday - Version 2.2 - Notability and Techie of the Week!

As the school year starts, so do meetings and conferences.  If you are like me, I usually find myself at multiple meetings a week and usually a conference every other month.  Well, how do you keep all of your notes organized?  I used to file them in a folder with the intention that I would look at them at a later date.  Uhhhhh...yeah.  Rarely happens.  So I did a search at the App Store and found my golden nugget--Notability!

NOTABILITY 

Well let's get the bad news out of the way first off.  The app is $2.99.  But it is possible that its the best $2.99 that I've ever spent.  Notability downloads on your iPad and starts you off with a beautiful interface and an easy to read User Guide.  (See image to the left.)  This is the first thing you should read.  Aside from being able to hand-write or type your notes, you can also insert images, sticky notes, and web addresses.

The main features that I really love are the abilities to upload PDF files and the use of the palm guard while writing my notes!  For each of our school meetings, I use Notability to upload the meeting agenda from our principal, and then I can write all over it.  I also like the PDF uploader for uploading all of my answer keys for assignments, quizzes, and tests.  This is a major paper saver that I am sure Carl would really appreciate!  (GO GREEN!)  The palm guard is very useful so you can rest your hand on the screen without making marks from your palm rubbing as your write.

All-in-all, I would highly recommend purchasing this app.  The $2.99 is well worth it and you will not be disappointed.

Featured Techie Of The Week:  Chip Dale

I am using TL Campus mainly as additional reference material for all my classes. I currently am using 2 portions of the program: the calendar and the modules section. I am planning on adding a third remedial quiz section for students who do not score an 80% or higher on a unit test, but that is still in the works.

Daily Objectives and Homework (takes about 1 minute total out of my day for all my classes)

In the calendar I use my iPad to take a picture of my objective and homework off of my whiteboard, and tag each individual day the kids were in class. This has served a few purposes: kids who forget to write down their homework in their agenda, absent work, and also give parents a place where they can see what their kid is doing/has done each day.

To upload images to the calendar for each class:

1)  Open Safari on your iPad

2)  Log into tlcampus.com

3)  Click the Calendar tab at the top

4)  Click the day you want to upload a memo

5)  When the dialog box opens for an assignment, click the drop down box and select the class you are tagging

6)  Click more options to open the editable text options window

7)  Type in any information in the title and body

8)  Click the image tab on the right hand side

9)  Click upload new image and choose "Take a Photo"

10)  Take the picture

11)  If you have folders to store information choose the folder you want it to store in, or just click upload in the image menu

12)  Click update event on the text editor

Daily Resource Section (takes about 5 minutes per class)
 In the Modules section each day I post a pdf copy of the daily notes for my class, as well as I try to link to at least 2 additional internet based resources for each lesson. The PDF is created in a free version of the iPad app PowerPDF, and stored in my DropBox account which makes it easy to upload on my computer. The free version can make the images look a little fuzzy but it works good enough to get the notes out to the masses. 
                                 

With the additional resources I try to post at least one video resource (YouTube/Khan Academy/etc.) and one interactive learning activity (online game/Khan Academy/etc.) that ties into the concepts. This takes a little longer than the calendar because each page and PDF needs to be created, and then I need to go out and find some good resources to match up with the daily lesson.
      

                        

This has served some great purposes as well: students who need extra help but aren't willing to ask now have additional resources at the ready, absent students now have access to their missing notes for the day, and students who might have forgotten the lesson when they go to do their homework now can get a reminder of what happened that day. If anyone is interested I'm more than willing to show them how I do it. It is definitely as easy as the calendar to do, but I have found its quickest if I use both my iPad and computer so the steps are a little longer and would be confusing if I tried to just write them out. The jest of it is I use PowerPDF to create the notes; store them in my DropBox account which is linked to my computer; and then use my computer to create the modules page, upload the pdf, and post resources to the page.

Thanks, Chip!  If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Chip and he will get you straightened out.