Productivity Applications

Happy Saturday morning!

This week in my mobile technology course we focused on productivity applications for mobile devices.  Since I have iPads and use iPads in my classroom, I stuck with applications for the iPad/iPhone.  I believe that iPads need to be equipped with productivity applications in order to be as valuable as possible for the classroom.  Games and interactive applications are great, but in education, sometimes you need presentation and word processing tools.  Our assignment this wee was to pull together our top 5 productivity applications.  I am not sure about the rest of you, but this changes on a regular basis for me depending on the needs of my classroom or updated applications.  I HATE to be repetitive, but I feel in order to properly address this week's topics I need to post my top 5 applications.  Below is the assignment I turned in followed by a little bit of additional reflection.  I have included a few examples of how I would or have used the applications selected in my classroom.

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Stacie’s Top 5 Productivity Applications

Name of the App: Pages
Type of Productivity: Word Processing
Cost of App: $9.99 (student edition/school discount - $4.99)
Description of App: Pages is a word processing application made by Apple specifically for the Apple iPad.

Justification: I chose Pages as one of my top productivity applications because of ease of use on the iPad.  After experimenting with GoogleDrive (which has the potential to become VERY awesome) and CloudOn, I found Pages to be the easiest to use in terms of text manipulation and image upload.  Documents created in Pages can be emailed or saved to a WebDAV drive (file storage) which allows teachers to collect assignments.  There are many ways to convert .pages documents to .doc or I can collect and read student assignments on my iPad (so I am on the go.)  Overall, when I am typing an assignment or preparing anything in a word document, I do not want the majority of my time spent fighting with the formatting and selecting a font.  I have the same expectation for my students.  The Pages application fits the needs of my classroom and the assignments I assign my students.

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Name of the App: Prezi
Type of Productivity: Presentation
Cost of App: FREE
Description of App: Prezi is a non-linear presentation tool that can be accessed and used from multiple mobile devices as well as the computer.  By creating a Prezi account all of your devices have access to all of your presentations.

Justification: While I was not blown away with the Prezi application for the iPad in terms of creating a presentation, I do adore this productivity application in the sense that I can access my presentations on any of my devices without any problems.  I have shown the same Prezi from my computer, iPhone, and iPad without any problems in the flow or formatting.  This is by far one of the most valuable features of the Prezi applications.  As I have mentioned before, downloading my Prezis to my phone has been a lifesaver when the Internet suddenly goes down in my class.  Since the iPad application allows you to create or edit presentations, if I find an error in a presentation while I am presenting or information needs to be updated, I can do it without interruption or stopping at home/school to update from a computer.  I demonstrated this mobile technology while presenting at a symposium in May – my Prezi was shared from my iPad.

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Name of the App: Qrafter
Type of Productivity: QR Codes
Cost of App: FREE/$2.99
Description of App: Qrafter is a QR code reader that allows the user to save QR code images with text and notes.  It also scans the website associated with the QR code for problematic content.

Justification: Qrafter is a great application for organizing QR codes.  I have used other scanners in the past, but none have done such a thorough job of organizing the site content, user notes, and the QR code in one place.  This is an application that I would recommend in a 1:1 setting for students or for teacher use when there is only one iPad in the classroom.  In a 1:1 setting students can scan QR codes, organize the information, and then access it whenever they want.  This is great for study guides, helpful websites, and assignments shared in GoogleDocs.  On the teacher’s iPad, he/she can do the same (organize codes) but can pull them up at any time to display on the SMART Board for students to scan.  In my opinion, most QR codes look the same, so by having them organized with words and user notes, it makes accessing codes much easier!

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Name of the Bookmark: dotepub
Type of Productivity: Converts any webpage to an e-book
Cost of Bookmark: FREE
Description of App: Dotepub is a website with code to save on your iPad that allows the user to turn any website into an e-book accessible through the iBooks application.

Justification: While this is not an application, it is a VERY handy productivity tool for the iPad.  By following the directions on the website and installing the bookmark, I can turn any webpage into an e-book that I can access through iBooks without Internet or 4G connection.  As an educator, I found this to be very valuable in the classroom.  I teach a number of intriguing adult topics like clean energy, sustainability, restaurant management, etc.  With adult topics come adult advertisements on websites.  By converting websites with ads to e-books, none of the ads or images were saved, just the content.  I have done this for a number of websites and created articles the students can read in the Reading Nook station or during activity rotations for a unit.  I have also used it for articles I find interesting and want to be able to read later when I won’t have access to the Internet. 

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Name of the App: iMovie
Type of Productivity: Digital Movie Creation
Cost of App: $4.99
Description of App: iMovie allows users to create and edit movies or movie trailers and has templates that users can use for their films.

Justification: This is an application that I have recently begun finding value in as I spend more and more time playing with it.  I have just finished creating a Back to School night trailer introducing my class to the incoming students and parents.  I can also see students using the iPads to document (in pictures) their progress through an assignment or project and then creating a movie trailer as their culminating activity to share with the class what they were able to accomplish and learn.  I have not done anything with the full movie aspect of the application, just the movie trailer part and what I have done I LOVE!  It is also incredibly easy to use and does not require any of the movie editing skills Window MovieMaker does (which is easy to use, but can still be tough when you start to layer things.)  My students can pull photos from the photo stream stick them in the movie trailer template they have chosen and have a video by the end of my 47 minute class period.

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I am a CRAZY multitasker and adore finding more and more ways to do at least two things at one time.  My husband considers this a flaw, especially when he wants to sit down and watch a movie with me and I HAVE to be doing something else (like cutting out lamination or planning our weekly menu) at the same time.  All of the applications above make my life easier and/or more mobile.  I love that I can convert all of my graduate reading articles and journals to e-books to read while I am waiting for the oil to be changed in my car or the at the doctor's office.  Pages has allowed me to complete assignments while in the car so that I can submit them as soon as I can connect to the Internet.  In the classroom, I am far more organized and can provide my students with the same flexibility.  This summer I am drafting a BYOD (bring your own device) plan for my classroom in hopes of allowing my students to bring in their mobile devices.  Through the use of productivity applications like the ones above, my students will be able to work on the go.  I have a number of students who end up "stuck" at the little league fields because of a siblings game for four or more hours in one night.  If the student has not taken their books along because they did not expect to be there all night, they can now do their work on the go and submit it as soon as they have service/Internet.  I can think of a number of parents that would appreciate this option as well.