Wednesday, March 6, 2013 Meeting

News & Trends Apps (Keeping Current)

reddit

The topic of the user group was using apps to keep up with current news and trends, especially in technology. Three apps were reviewed.

Jeff Maston gave a presentation on reddit. http://www.reddit.com/ is a website where users enter current topics, news, trends, etc.... into "subreddits" (individual web pages within the site) that are theme based. Each entry is voted up or down in importance by users. The top voted entries are filtered to the main reddit page.  You can learn more about reddit at http://www.reddit.com/about/. In order to vote on reddit you will need to setup a free account. The free account also allows you to save and organize the "subreddits" you are interested in seeing. The disadvantage of a site like reddit is that there is a ton of information flowing through the site at any time and there can be a lot of entries that are not of any value and some that are flat out inappropriate. The advantage of the reddit is that all this information and source-crowded information allows mostly only really important news and resources to be voted to the top of the web pages. Using an account and selecting topics that interest you will provide you with great current information and resources on those topics. An example of a subreddit is this one on tablets: http://www.reddit.com/r/tablets/ This is a great place to ask questions, get recommendations and read up on the latest tablets. You will also find subreddits for each major tablet platform, like Apple iPad and Android and even specific subreddits for tablets like the Nexus7 or KindleFire. These are great places to learn tips and techniques for using your specific tablet, find out about bugs or problems with updates and learn about new apps.

There are reddit mobile apps for all of the major tablets available. The standard reddit app in Google Play and the Apple iOS store works well. The iOS version was demonstrated in our meeting. There are also alternative apps that can be used to manage reddit. The Alien Blue app for iOS was demonstrated at the meeting. This app is currently available for the ipad and iphone and provides a more streamlined user interface than the standard reddit app (free) and some additional features for organizing your reddit account. The Alien Blue for ipad app is $3.99 but worth it if you find yourself spending a lot of time on reddit.

All Things D

Brandy Thatcher presented the AllThingsD app to the user's group. AllThingsD.com is a website devoted to news, analysis and opinion on technology, the Internet and media. But it is different from other sites in this space. It is a fusion of different media styles, different topics, different formats and different sources.
This website provides really current information and resources on anything related to the digital world. There are mobile apps available for both Android and Apple and more information on them can be found here: http://allthingsd.com/mobile/. The Apple mobile was demonstrated in our meeting. The app's magazine like interface provides easy reading. Visiting this app once or twice a week and browsing through the stories is an enjoyable way to keep current on the world of technology. 

Flipboard

Brandy Thatcher demonstrated the Flipboard app. Flipboard's slogan is "Your Social News Magazine" and that is essentially what it is. The app has a magazine like interface that allows you to flip through the headlines of sources you have indicated and click on them to read the articles. The best feature of Flipboard is the ability to customize it to only the sources you want to see. This is a great way to see lots of sources you would like to keep up with. You can add any public facebook page, Twitter stream, web page, blog, etc... to your Flipboard sources. You can add your own Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Linked In, Instagram accounts (and more) to see anything shared with you in the Flipboard format. The search interface is easy to use and you can easily add sources like USA Today, BBC, National Geographic, etc... You can also add the standard Flipboard feeds of stories they have aggregated. The streamlined interface and aggregation of stories from all these sources helps you stay up to date without getting stressed.

An added bonus app:




Create an account with http://www.readability.com/ and use it to store and organize articles that you want to read later. It's a very easy to read text based format for collecting and archiving articles you want to read later. It works with Flipboard and many other apps. You can set readability up on many, many devices including tablets, phones, ereaders and even your computer. By logging into your readability account on each device all of the articles you saved will be synched and you can access them from any device. Brandy demonstrated in Flipboard how you can select and article and select the read it later link then by choosing the readability app the article is saved to the app.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013 Meeting

Audio Recording Apps

Brandy Thatcher demonstrated the three apps that are great for creating audio recordings with a tablet.

SOUND CLOUD

http://www.soundcloud.fm

Advertised as the world’s leading social sound platform, Sound Cloud offers a website and mobile app for finding, sharing and creating audio and music. You can listen to a variety of music, podcasts, comedy and news available in their library. You can follow other Sound Cloud accounts, so you will see their new audio and updates. One of the strengths of Sound Cloud is the ability to easily record an audio file on a tablet using the mobile app. The app is available in the iOS/Apple store, Android/Google Play store, and in the Windows 8 store.

• iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/soundcloud/id336353151?mt=8
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.soundcloud.android&hl=en
• Windows: http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/soundcloud-rss/8a70d096-486b-4383-85b9-988121f973f9

Creating Recordings with Sound CloudYou can create a free account on the Sound Cloud website or through the mobile app. One of the best advantages of using Sound Cloud is that you can easily publish your recording to the Sound Cloud website from your tablet. With your recording stored in the online, you can get embed code for the recording to place in Blackboard or another website. You do have to access the website from a computer to get the embed code for the recording. You have a choice of making each recording private or public. If the recordings are public you have the option to share them on Facebook or Twitter from your mobile app. If the recording is private you can share it through email with the mobile app. You can download m4a files of your recording from the website, also. There is a limit with the free account that allows you 120 minutes of recorded audio hosted in your Sound Cloud account. You can have up to 100 downloads per recording. You can visit http://soundcloud.com/101/education to learn more about using Sound Cloud in education.

AUDIOBOO

http://audioboo.fm/

Audioboo's mission is to be the one platform you use when you want to record audio, share it or save it for the future. Audioboo works on ios, Android and Nokia devices or via the web, and soon Blackberry and Windows 8. You can access your recordings (called "boos") through the website and through the mobile app. You will want to make sure you download the Audioboo for the iphone, this version can be downloaded on the ipad. The version for the iphone is capable of recording and the ipad version currently is not. The Android version will say "beta 2" in it's name. It is a new release of the app.
ios: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/audioboo/id305204540?mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Audioboo&hl=en

Recording an audio recording is very straight-forward. One limitation is that the recordings can only be 3 minutes long. You can add a title, picture and description for the audio recording. You can save and upload the audio file directly to the Audiboo website. You do have the ability to share your "boos" on Facebook and Twitter. You can click "more" on any recording for additional options to share. You can copy a "url," send it through email and open it in safari. You can also copy embed code for each recording to place it in Blackboard. The website gives you a feature similar to Pinterest where you can create boards (or collections) of your "boos" and organize them. then you could share a board - you can embed the whole board of multiple audio files - might have some use in education setting. There is no ability to download the recordings and there is no ability to make the recordings private.
There is a lot of support information available on the web for using Audioboos in education. Audioboo has a blog that often runs articles on using Audioboo in education. A few resources on Audioboo in education:

• http://blog.audioboo.fm/tag/education/
• http://techmeetsed.com/2011/06/05/audioboo-in-the-classroom-pt-1/ 
• http://blog.audioboo.fm/2012/10/02/some-great-examples-of-audioboo-in-education/
• http://blog.audioboo.fm/tag/education/
• http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2011/01/audioboo-your-audio-alternative-in.html
• http://techmeetsed.com/2011/06/05/audioboo-in-the-classroom-pt-1/

WAVEPAD

http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/pocket.html

This sound editing software is a professional quality audio editor for the iPhone and iPad. It lets you create and edit music, voice and other audio recordings. When editing audio files you can cut, copy and paste parts of recordings and, if required, add effects like echo, amplification and reverb. (from the website) The software is available on the Windows and Mac for free. The mobile app called Pocket Wavepad is only available for ios:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-wavepad-hd/id418674227?mt=8

This software and app is more complex than the other two audio apps above and it does not provide a website to upload audio too. These would be the main limitations of the app. The app has the benefit of providing a full audio editor within the app. Recording is very simple, the interface for recording is very similar to a cassette player. You will choose an audio file format to save the file in. The file can be emailed or ftp'd. Click the gear icon and choose an mp3 as your format and the default sample rates are likely fine. They can be changed to your specific preferences, though. After you create the recording you can click through to see the waveform and do editing. You can apply effects and filters, cut audio and much more. It does take quite a while to get used to the editor and learn it, but once you do, you can do some very advanced editing right on your ipad. You can import/export audio in the mobile app to your itunes/icloud account. Once you email the audio file to yourself and download the attached mp3 file. I would recommend uploading this audio file to www.divshare.com. This website is a streaming host and setting up a free account gives 5 gig of storage and it provides a simple embed code that can be embedded into your Blackboard site. Ta Da! A lecture capture solution that doesn't cost $60,000+.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013 Meeting

Blackboard Mobile App

Jeff Maston demonstrated the Blackboard Mobile app.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blackboard.android&hl=en 

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/blackboard-mobile-learn/id376413870?mt=8

The Blackboard Mobile Learn app is Blackboard's current answer to providing access to the learning management system via a mobile device.

Blackboard Mobile Learn is a mobile app available currently on the iTunes App Store for iPad, iTunes App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as on the Android Market (accessed directly from the device),BlackBerry App World, and Palm webOS. You can purchase the app for $1.99 a year of access or $5.99 for lifetime access.

This video clip provides an overview of the app. 



After launching the app for the first time, you'll be prompted to search for your school and then login into Blackboard with your regular username and password for Blackboard. The layout or design of the Blackboard app is quite a bit different from what you see when you log in on a computer.

While the app does offer access to the Blackboard system on a mobile device, many of the features and task you desire to complete are not available through the app. Whichever mobile device being used may limit the Blackboard features that can be accessed from the app, also.

Features of Blackboard Mobile Learn:

• Get course notifications on your mobile device. 
• View course announcements. 
• Instructors can create new announcements. 
• View, create and reply to discussion boards. 
• Students can view grades. 
• Read blog posts and add comments. 
• Read and add comments to Journals (based on permissions, of course) 
• Attach items from dropbox to discussion board. 

Limitations of the Blackboard app:

• The control panel and most management aspects of the course are not available in the app. 
• The grade center and any ability to enter or grade assignments or discussion boards is not available in the app. 

The following features either will not work at all or are likely to not work properly when accessed from the app and therefore should only be used when accessing from a full browser on a computer:

• Adding new content to a course 
• Building tests, quizzes, and surveys 
• Submitting tests, quizzes, and surveys 
• Submitting assignments 
• Grading assignments 
• Adjusting Grade Center options 
• Participating in chat or synchronous sessions 
• Viewing any Flash-based instructional content or movies 

As new features and upgrades for the Blackboard Mobile Learn app are announced and made available, we will revisit and review the app again in our future User Group meetings.

Wednesday, December 05, 2012 Meeting

AirSketch

Jeff Maston demonstrated the AirSketch iPad app.

http://www.qrayon.com/home/airsketch/  

AirSketch is a whiteboard app for the iPad that allows you to share live to the browser of another device on the same network.  In the demonstration, a PDF slide presentation was shared from the app on the iPad to the browser of a laptop, both signed on to ICC's wireless network. AirSketch allows you to move through the pages of the PDF and write/draw on the screen; slides displayed and the annotations created showed up instantly on the laptop, which was connected to the classroom's projector.

• Basically, the software gives you the freedom to walk around the classroom, advancing your presentation slides with the iPad.  As you write / draw / highlight on your slides, these annotations show up immediately on the screen.
• The app requires that the receiving computer be on the SAME network as the iPad. 
• No special software is required on the computer; you access the AirSketch session through the browser on the computer.
• The software is designed to work with presentations saved in PDF format.  
• You can also import JPEG files from your iPad into the whiteboard.
• There are a few different styles of pens/highlighters to choose from for creating the annotations.
• You can export an individual slide with your annotations to an image file.
• You can export the entire presentation with the annotations you added as a PDF.

Here are the slides shown during the AirSketch presentation:

http://www.icc.edu/innovation/PDFS/workshops/AirSketch.pdf

This was exported from AirSketch with annotations: 

AirSketch is available for purchase through the iTunes store, currently for $9.99.

There is a free version, AirSketch Free, which has limited features. The free version allows you to share the whiteboard to another device, but it doesn't have any of the tools for displaying a PDF presentation or importing or exporting any content.

AppleTV

Ken Burton demonstration AppleTV; showing the features of the device by itself, and how the device works in conjunction with an iPad or iPhone through the AirPlay feature. There was discussion of how the device might be used an ICC classroom.

http://www.apple.com/appletv/

• The AppleTV device itself is a tiny black box that comes with remote. By itself, it works as a media portal that is designed to connect to an individual's content from iTunes. It also has options for accessing a number of non-Apple media services, like Netflix, HuluPlus, and Youtube.
• Ken's primary reason for investigating this device was the AirPlay feature, which allows the content of an iPad or iPhone screen to be mirrored on the TV screen (or projector).
• Both the iPad and the AppleTV device have to be on the same network for the AirPlay features to work.
• Once connected, the instructor would be free to move around the classroom, controlling what appeared on the screen with the iPad.
• Video (audio, too) played on the iPad is mirrored on the screen connected to the AppleTV device.
• Pull up a presentation app on your iPad (Ken demonstrated SlideShark). The AppleTV device allows the presentation to be displayed to the classroom, while the instructor controls it from their iPad.
• Open an app and that's mirrored too. (Some apps won't work with AppleTV, but many do). So, for example, an iPad app that has an interactive model of the solar system could be shown in an Astronomy class.

Presently, ICC has just one AppleTV device. 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 Meeting

Google Mobile Apps Demo

Brandy Thatcher demonstrated mobile apps for iOS. The group discussed the Google apps available for both Android and iOS. 

As you might guess there are many apps available for Android. You can visit http://www.google.com/mobile/android/ to learn about them. 

There are several apps available for iOS (iphone/ipad) and you can visit http://www.google.com/mobile/ipad/  and http://www.google.com/mobile/iphone/ to learn more about them. 

The group demonstrated Google hangout and worked with connecting via tablets to a hangout. One of the most challenging tasks was finding each other through the invitation search in the hangout. The hangout worked very well and is a great solution for doing web conferencing via tablets. The iOS version of hangout works through the Google+ app and it does lack a few of the features, such as, special effects and screen sharing. 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 Meeting

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 Meeting

Screen Sharing Apps

Mark DuBois, Professor of Web Systems in the Business, Hospitality, and Information Systems Department demonstrated screen sharing apps for both the iPad/iOS system and the Android system. There many apps that offer the ability to share what is on the screen of a tablet to a projector/large screen in a room or the opposite sharing what is on the large screen to your tablet. The apps usually cost between $10 and $30.  

One of the most important points is that you must be using the same network for both the device and the screen you are sharing to. 

The network must have several open ports (ports needed depend on the app and device used). You may also have to modify the settings of the firewall on the Mac or PC you are sharing to. 

Mark demonstrated the reflection app: http://www.reflectionapp.com/  for the iPad and iPhone. You will need the AirPlay utility installed on your Mac or PC for this to work. 

Mark also demonstrated Android Screencaster and Splashtop: http://www.splashtop.com for an Android tablet. 

View the whole presentation: http://icc.edu/innovation/PDFS/resources/screensharing.pdf

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - Second Meeting (Whiteboard Apps)

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - Second Meeting

Brandy Thatcher, Instructional Media Developer demonstrated whiteboard apps.
Three apps were demonstrated: screenchomp, showme, and educreations.

ScreenChomp

http://www.techsmith.com/labs.html
Screen Chomp is only available in the iOS app store. An app created by Tech Smith, the same company that created Jing and Camtasia, is a recordable whiteboard. Simple to use with multiple marker, width and color choices. You can insert a background from your camera roll or take a photo to doodle on. You can also choose an image from your dropbox account. You must select your image before you start recording. You can not change or remove the image during the recording. You have the option to erase all doodles or spot erase. Record your audio and doodles, then you have two options to share your recording, you can send it to screenchomp.com or send it to your facebook account. I have tried to send 6 different  recordings since the beginning of September to screenchomp and get an error message each time saying that the cloud doesn't recognize my video ID. From what I have read, once you've shared the recording on screen chomp you can view them later from the screens button icon inside of your app. There is also an option to view the recording in Safari, then you could copy and paste the url to share. I also understand from other blogs that once you have the screenchomp.com url for your recording, you can download your recording as an .mp4. That's a good option if I can ever get a recording saved to screenchomp.

Showme

 http://www.showme.com/
This app is only available in the Apple iOS store. You can go to showme.com to create a free account. The website also features a library of recordings shared publicly by other ShowMe users. This library can be searched and the recordings can be linked to, embedded, sent via email and shared via facebook and twitter. Some of them are pretty good!

Create a free account or sign in with twitter or facebook. At the website you can login to view your ShowMe's. You can edit the details of your showme. ShowMe's by default are public and searchable. you can choose to make them private and only those with the exact url will be able to view your ShowMe. You can edit the Title, Description and Details of each ShowMe, also. You can download your ShowMe's as an .mp4 file. You can view your ShowMe's online and share it via facebook, twitter, email or embed code or by copying and pasting the link.

You can search the library of ShowMe's and view your own via the app, also. To start a new ShowMe click the Create a New ShowMe button. You can choose a photo from your camera roll, take a photo or search the web and select an image to use! Doodle on top of your image with seven color choices while recording your audio instructions. Use the undo button to remove the last mark made or use the eraser tool to erase any marks made. You can erase all doodles or the background image using the erase background button. You can pause during a recording to erase and then start recording again to make a clean recording. That is a great feature. It automatically pauses your recording when you select the photo tool to change the image. Once you are finished recording choose Save ShowMe. You will get a notification email as soon as your ShowMe is saved to the site. It is by default public, so you can change that by going to My ShowMes in the app and clicking the manage button and choosing the privacy button for the ShowMe. Click the Share button to share it on Facebook, Twitter or to email it or open in Safari to get the link or embed code. You can also do all this through your computer at showme.com as mentioned above. You can also create accounts for students through ShowMe.

EduCreations

http://www.educreations.com/

This app is also only available in the Apple iOS store. You can go to the website to create a free account. You can also view and search their gallery of Educreations. One thing that differs about Educreations is that you can create a Course and then create the "lessons" recordings with that course. You can create the recordings online through the website or through the app! You can create accounts for your students and associate them with a specific course or you can send students to a unique link to sign up for your Educreations course and let them create their own accounts. Once the students are signed up, you can see a last login date for them. You can set the privacy of your lessons and recordings to "Visible to My Students" so that only students signed up and logged into Educreations will see the recordings/lessons you have created for that course. 

The image options in creating your recording allow for an image from your camera roll, taking a photo, an image file from your dropbox account, and searching the web and selecting an image. When you begin the recording, it will automatically pause when you select the image button to change the image. You have 10 choices of colors and you can choose four colors to be in the tool bar. You can use the hand tool to move your background image around during the recording. Doodling and recording your voice is very easy. You can also enter typed text, which is an option not offered in the other apps. It does pause the recording when you select the text tool. You have an undo button at the top of the screen to undo the previous step. To clear the screen you can select the plus sign at the bottom and choose duplicate screen this will keep the background and text but remove the doodles. You can click the arrow tool at the bottom to get a clear whiteboard. Click Done to finish your recording and save the lesson. Don't click the X that deletes the recording completely.

When saving the lesson you have the option to choose Private, Public, MyStudents or MySchool (not sure how the setup for myschool) works. You will choose the subject area next. Then your lesson is saved for preview. You can click on the lesson to preview it and share it via Facebook and Twitter (only if lesson is public), or share by email or by a link. I haven't figured out how you can associate one of your lessons with your course through the app, though.

On the website you can click on your username and see all of the lessons you have created. Click on the lesson and click edit lesson. From this screen you can click an Add to Course button. you can edit the subject area, subject summary, and privacy setting for the lesson. 

If the lesson is set to public you will have the option to embed the lesson. I did not find an options to download my lessons as an mp4. I do like that feature and knowing that I have a way to archive my lessons. 

Conclusion

Overall my favorite app is Educreations. I love the many options to choose images and the ease of use. Also, that you don't have to have an ipad to use it, you could do it all from the online account. I liked the extra options of setting up a course and associating a lesson with a course, also. ShowMe is at the top of my list, also. Another great app with great features and really use to use. These apps are currently all free. I don't know how long that will be the case. Often these kinds of apps with such great potential start free and then in order to be a profitable business it's necessary for them to start charging a fee. For now, enjoy them and create great online instructional materials with them. Happy recording!