Time lapse photography

Imotion hd is an app that would be nice to use in science. Potentially I can see using this to document experimental procedures and results as well as things like plants growing or butterflies life cycles (time lapse photography).

You have a couple different ways to do this. For long term projects you will use a timer to take pictures every fraction of a second up to daily intervals. Downfall...you wouldn't be able to use the device for something else while recording. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can add frames once you stop recording. Meaning once you take your last frame and exit the program you can't come back and add frames.  However, when editing you can take out frames.

If you do manual shots you can take frames when ever you want. Interesting idea...you could do clay animation here....  I could see students recreate scenes from a story using dolls and props/backgrounds, heck they could reenact the whole story while a student clicks key scenes. What if a movie of a whole story were created and students asked to eliminate all frames not key to a plot, main character? or students could cut out everything but foreshadowing and actual event that was foreshadowed. I wonder if students could this feature to focus in on parts of stories in order to understand them better? This isn't the best tool...but it fosters some ideas. 

For science I think you could capture key steps in a procedure or results as perform experiment. Manually this seems easier...wish could add narration here...curious could you put this in iMovie and add narration? Other ideas for science. If a teacher wanted to show kids how a flower follows the sun throughout the day they could put flower in the window and set timer for hourly or 30 minutes. Each time it would take a shot and the next day you could play it back. Heck you could show how flowers respond to light to since it will close up at dark and reopen in morning. One problem...you have to pay extra to export. Not sure how much.  I suppose we could individually save and project from our own device...just not email it or send it out.

Sharing using iWork

So, I have played with Pages a little. I used one of their templates to create a poster/flier for the technology Show "N" Tell even though I made a different one with publisher on my computer (PC). I thought it would be fun to try it out on Pages and see what options are available for student use. (And there are a lot!) I love how things look on the iPad, but not sure how it will look printed or on other devices. I can see the benefits of creating presentations on the iPads and then projecting (from the ipad) it for the world to see...but transferring it to other programs really isn't an option. I suppose that the videos could be embedded in web pages (?) and viewed.

Anyway, I went further to use iWork to share the document with Gail and Ann. That was easy. Originally I thought that it would be similar to Google Docs when it came to collaboration, but it appears that one can only make comments on the side...not actually edit the document--at least from a PC.  I sent this same document to myself as a Word file and found that although I can edit it...a lot of the alignment is off when dealing with graphics. I was able to fix the writing in the star by deleting the text (while in word format) and inserting a text box.  From there I wrote the year, turned it white, no background or outline fills, and enlarged it to work.  Another thing I noticed is that the text in the box at the bottom isn't turned.  I created a text box within the shape and then grouped the objects.  Once grouped they wouldn't rotate.  Otherwise it was fine.  I also liked the star on the left larger and was able to add an image from google here without any problem.  Now to try emailing it.

edmodo and end of the reflections

As you are wrapping up for the holidays, consider using one of these simple Edmodo mini-lessons to help students reflect on what they've learned and prepare for the year ahead. What a great way to evaluate what is working and isn't.  This could also be specific to technology as a form of feedback! Best and Worst of 2011 Create a group titled "Best and Worst of 2011" and invite all your students to join.  Create an assignment that asks students to submit two nominations: The best learning experience of the year to date. This can be a lesson, a discussion, a video they watched, a game they played or an assignment they completed that they really enjoyed.  The worst moment of the year to date - same as above, with a gentle reminder about appropriate ways to provide constructive feedback.  Create a poll with the top 5 responses for each question and let the voting begin. At your class holiday party, count down the top events of the year -- break out the confetti when you get to #1! 2012 New Years Resolutions Create a group titled "2012 Resolutions" and share the group code with your students.  Create a post with the following message: "Share with the class ONE resolution you will make for your academic success in 2012." Encourage students to set realistic and measurable goals. Examples may include: I promise to read at least three books that are not assigned; I promise not to be late on my homework more than twice.  Award badges, extra credit or small prizes at the end of the semester to those students who lived up to their commitment.  We hope you enjoy these mini-lessons.  Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2012!