How to Make an iPad Stylus for Under a Dollar

I recently discovered the joys of making Flipped Classroom-styled videos using my iPad and the free whiteboard narration tool called Show Me. When the iPad is connected to a projector (as I described in this earlier post), I find Show Me to be a great way to simultaneously provide notes to my class while also creating video review materials that can then be posted on the class website or blog.

There's just one problem - I quickly learned that producing legible handwriting with the end of my index finger is much trickier than expected. I did a quick search online and found that iPad styluses averaged about 20 dollars. Rather than blow the cash, I decided to make my own.

What you'll need:

• A pen, highlighter, or marker (I used a highlighter that had recently dried up)
• A sponge
• A piece of wire (about 6 inches should suffice)

How To:

1. Disassemble the writing utensil. You can throw out the insides - you only need the casing.

2. Cut a strip of sponge off the pad (if your sponge was like mine, make sure to remove the green scrubby surface first!).

3. Expose some of the bare wire and twist it around the sponge.


4. Guide the wire through the end of the casing and then gently twist the sponge up and into the shaft. If it's not snug, cut a larger strip of sponge and try it again. Make sure you leave a bit of sponge protruding from the end of the casing for use as a contact point with the iPad!

5. Remove the coating from the remaining bit of wire and wrap it around the exterior of the casing. Your fingers must be in contact with this as you write for the iPad surface to respond to the sponge tip.


For some reason step five proved to be unnecessary for my stylus to function properly. Either because the iPad was so sensitive or because the plastic casing somehow served as an adequate conductor, I didn't need the wire, so I removed it. Here is my finished gadget. Pretty cool, huh?

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5 Awesome Things You Can Do With an IPad and an LCD Projector

I've always wanted a document camera in my classroom, so yesterday I made my own - using my iPad. Here's a quick rundown of how to do this:

• Purchase a VGA Adapter Cable. You can pick one up online for around 20 bucks.
• Create your iPad stand. For mine, I borrowed a ring stand from the science department and clamped it to a clipboard. It was sturdy and could safely accommodate the weight of my iPad.
  
• Use a VGA cable to connect the adapter to the projector. You now have a fully functioning document camera!

Why might someone want to do this, you ask? I've only been experimenting with mine for two days, and I've already stumbled on five mind-blowing uses.

1. Use it as a document camera
Once the iPad is connected to the projector and "mounted" onto the ring stand, the most basic use of this set up is as a document camera. Simply open the camera app and you're ready to go. As an English teacher, this is a natural fit in my classroom. Today, for example, while students worked on rough drafts essays on examples of irony in O. Henry's The Ransom of Red Chief, I circulated the room and occasionally scooped up a paper and slid it under the iPad. It projected nicely onto the screen and I was then able to use these student papers to give suggestions as well as to have the group peer edit. It was far more efficient that having students line up at my desk to individually edit with me.

2. Record demonstrations
Switch the camera app to video mode, hit record, and you now have a work area capable of recording demonstrations and voice narration. This is an effortless way for teachers to kill two birds with one stone- while providing instruction in class, they are simultaneously creating a video "study guide" that can be posted on the class website or blog for students to review.

3. Real-time Kahn Academy
If you're not familiar with the wildly popular Khan Academy videos, click here to see what you've been missing. If you're already aware of the instructional potential behind the Flipped Classroom concept, then give it a try using your iPad. Similar to recording demonstrations, apps like Show Me and ScreenChomp allow the user to create a video that captures finger strokes as well as voice narration. Again, these videos can be recorded live in class and then used later as asynchronous review for students.

4. Hands-on mind mapping
I've always considered mind mapping to be a natural fit for tablet devices because brainstorming tends to work best when ideas can be easily manipulated, moved, and reorganized. Apps like Popplet and MindMash are great for doing just that, and the addition of a projector makes it possible for mind mapping on the iPad to become a group process rather than an individual or small group task.

5. Annotating Student Work
Let's take a closer look at using the iPad as a document camera. In addition to simply viewing student work, the iPad can also very easily snap pictures. From there, teachers can quickly load that image into an app like Doodle Buddy or Show Me to create an environment where the work can be easily annotated, highlighted, or otherwise marked up by either the teacher or other participating students.

I'm sure I'm missing all kind of fantastic ideas. What are your thoughts?

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10 More Free iPad2 Apps for Teachers

Last month I shared 10 free iPad2 Apps for Teachers and it has become one of the most frequented posts on my blog (Over 1,000 hits in the past month). Since then I have continued to practice tightwad downloading of apps and I’m now ready to share 10 more of these awesome and completely free tools for teachers.

Timer+
This simple timer is extremely easy to use and looks great on the large iPad screen (despite the banner ad at the bottom). Some might say that a timer app is a waste of such a robust device, but it’s a lot quicker than digging through your desk drawer looking for the old egg timer.

QR Reader (Scan)
I mentioned in my last post all of the possibilities QR codes bring to the classroom, and this is just the app for that! It’s free and quickly scans and recognizes QR codes.

Popplet Lite
Popplet is an easy-to-use mind mapping tool similar to proprietary software like Inspiration/Kidspiration/etc. It integrates with the iPad’s dual cameras and photos app so images can be quickly added to the popplet diagram.

GridPaper
I admit that this app is in need of some updates, but it’s still worth the download. GridPaper recognizes complex math problems, exponents, and even multi-step equations (kind of). It’s like a more organic version of a graphing calculator. The app still struggles with some finger gestures, but I suspect this will be one to keep an eye on in the future.

Atoms HD Lite
This is an excellent review tool for chemistry students looking to practice labeling neutrons, electrons, and protons of an atom.

MindMash
MindMash is similar to Popplet but it focuses more on functionality rather than aesthetic appearance. Users can combine text, writing, and images to create mind maps, brainstorm, or take notes.

RSGS URL
Url shorteners like bit.ly and tinyurl have become so popular that the shortened address is actually becoming quite long (at least by the 140 character Twitter standard). Rs.gs is not a pretty name, but it’s handy on the iPad and pumps out urls that are no more than 8 characters long!

ShowOfHands
ShowOfHands is a polling app. There are a continuous stream of general opinion questions and after voting, the app displays a ton of different percentages based on demographics (age, gender, and political party, etc.). It even shows poll winners by state. Aside from this app being strangely addictive, it could be used in a history/economics/political science class to get a snapshot of varying opinions across the country. Because of the math, this could also be used to generate some interesting data for percentage or graphing lessons.

Verbally
The iPad is a natural fit when it comes to assistive technology. Take for example, the $190 alternative communication tool called Proloquo2Go. It essential takes the place of an augmentative speaking device that can cost into the thousands. Unfortunately, it's still $190 more than I'd like to spend for an app. Luckily, Verbally is there to fill the void.

Pocket Pond
Every teacher needs time for quiet reflection. Pocket Pond is surprisingly cathartic. Lazily drag your fingers across the screen and watch the water ripple and fish disperse. It’s like having a koi pond in your pocket (without the obvious problems that would ultimately arise with carrying fish in your pants).

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10 Free iPad2 Apps for Teachers

My wife is the best.

For our fifth wedding anniversary, she surprised me with a new iPad2. The first thing I did was search the app store for as many free apps as I could find. With the dual cameras and 3G capabilities, the educational possibilities have greatly expanded since the premiere of the original iPad.

Here is my list of top apps for the classroom.


AppStart

AppStart is basically a static list of promoted apps for the iPad2. It was the first app I stumbled across while looking for new and exciting things to download, so I figured it warranted heading off this list. The layout is beautiful and it contains some good information. My suggestion – download it, glean as much as you can, and then remove it.


Dragon Dictation

This simple app features a single red record button in the middle and allows anyone to record their voice using the built-in microphone. This has a natural fit in the classroom as assistive technology but can also be used so students can practice their oral fluency expression and speaking skills. Dragon dictation is surprisingly accurate and this makes it a useful tool in the classroom.

Photo Mess

This collage app makes it easy to resize, re-orientate, and manipulate images taken from either of the iPad’s two cameras. This is a great way to make expressive collages on the fly – both as a student project or as an assessment tool.


Photoshop Express

This is the free equivalent to the online Photoshop Express and is especially useful in conjuction with other apps (such as Photo Mess). While it is lacking some of the more spectacular features of the full Photoshop software, it is still an excellent tool for cropping and other basic editing on the iPad.


Junaio

This app uses geo-location to tag a specific location with either text, picture, or 3-D model. At first glance this may appear to be too intricate to be used in the classroom (especially one in a middle school such as mine). But this is not the case. I wouldn't expect students to use this app, but not because it is too difficult. Instead, teachers could use this app for outdoor activities and field trips. I teacher could go to the location ahead of time and place markers. Then, on the date of the trip, students could take the iPad2 to add use it to view the markers and get additional virtual information about the physical location that they are seeing. With Junaio, every outing becomes a potential virtual field trip.

Splice

Capturing video is not very useful without a way to edit and polish it. Despite the iPad2’s dual cameras it does not come loaded with any video editing software. Slice is just that. It doesn't have a lot of special features, but it does the basic editing that most people typically need. This is useful in the classroom to create quick student videos, video assessments, or even on the go vodcasts.

Wikipanion

It's surprising how many companies have not yet created official iPad apps (Facebook, for example). Wikipedia is also one of these offenders. Luckily, Wikipanion is an excellent substitute. In fact, it has features that the native iPhone Wikipedia app should probably consider adding in future versions.

Tour Wrist

Here is another app that makes for an excellent digital field trip. This one, however, uses free recorded 3D Panoramic images and the iPad2’s built in accelerometer to turn the iPad into a pair of binoculars (for lack of a better analogy). There are tours for buildings, museums, airship hangers, etc. An additional app is in the works to allow 3rd parties to add to the available tours on Tour Wrist as well. This is something to check back on!

Confer Lite

This app allows a teacher to add a classroom list of students and then track and monitor individual progress by lesson/activity. It is not a gradebook; instead it allows the teacher to qualify (rather than quantify) students’ learning behaviors. It’s an amazing app, but I don’t think it would work in a regular classroom. This app is probably best geared toward small group instruction situations.

Photosynth

Photosynth is actually an iPhone app, but it still works great on the iPad2. This handy apps creates panoramic images almost instantly. Last fall, I wrote this tutorial on how to do something similar using a digital camera. Using this method, it takes about 30 minutes to create a panoramic image. Using Photosynth, it takes about 30 seconds.

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