Tiny Tap App for Digital Storytelling...Or Flipped Teaching

Update 3/7/2014: I just updated the app and I was very happy to see they added a "Jump" option to the Sound Board activity! This allows you to make a region of the screen a sound AND a link to a new page. Story lines can now branch, making for "choose your own adventure" style, interactive fiction. This was the feature I was waiting for, so multiply the positive of this original post by at least five!

Tiny Tap is a free app for iPad that allows the user to create very simple games. I installed it at least a year ago and used it with a few young children, including first graders. Recently I discovered newer features that could make it excellent for digital storytelling or maybe even flipped teaching or blended learning.

The primary activity in the games is to tap the correct part of the picture. You can record an audio prompt, such as, "Tap Grandma's picture." When the user taps Grandma a success sound is played and a balloon rises on the screen. I have found students enjoy playing the simple activities.  As soon as I show them how to make them, they immediately want to make their own questions by choosing the "answer area" on their pictures.

At some point the app was updated and I noticed it had a few more bells and whistles. One time when I tried to show someone how to use it, I ran into trouble with getting the imported picture to "stick". I didn't have time to figure it out and I didn't come back to it for many months.

But this week at the family Thanksgiving dinner I decided I'd show it to my nephew. He is in kindergarten now, so I was curious if the app would be simple enough for him to make a game. (I knew he'd be able to play one I made, but I was hoping to encourage some creativity rather than just another gaming experience.)

I learned that with a little assistance he picked it up quickly. I also discovered they added two other types of activities. Now instead of every page being a guessing game, there is also:

• Sound Board - A picture is displayed and you can enclose areas that are "buttons". For each one, you can record narration or a sound.
• Say Something - This allows you to add narration to a page.

By using Say Something, the app becomes a very nice tool for telling a story involving pictures and narration. 

It is easy to import the pictures. (I learned that to stick the picture in place after importing it from the camera or Camera Roll you have to double tap it and choose "Stick".) Once imported, they can be resized and arranged. There are a few simple art tools to write or draw on the page.

Next, you can add one of the activities. Once I showed my nephew how to add a question he was excited. He made a few pages with ease. There are a few steps, so I had to remind him where to click the first few times.

I love the potential for a narrated story that has guessing activities or a Sound Board in it. Imagine a story about a toy coming to life and hiding. The question pages would provide fun for the child to identify the hiding place, possibly based on carefully listening to the previous pages. The Sound Board pages offer a lot of room for creative uses, such as an exploration to gain clues by tapping different areas or just a "play area" where objects might make fun sounds.

Besides making simple lessons (flipped teaching or blended learning for lower elementary?) I imagine teachers could use this to teach procedures in the room at the start of a school year. Pictures and narration would explain things first, then question pages could quiz them.

If you make an account you can share the activities. This should allow you to load a creation on multiple devices. They also can be shared on Facebook too, so it could make a great end product parents and family could see from home.  (Sharing requires the user to "tap and hold", so it's unlikely a young user is going to share or access something without an adult's assistance.)

If you make any fun creations like these using Tiny Tap, I'd be glad to hear it! Please share as a comment or by email.

Favorite Free Apps for Video Slideshows, Tutorials and Frustrating Tech in School

This past week was our district technology professional development.  It's my one big show of the year.  The  topic I was given was project based learning, but I used it as a backdrop to challenge everyone to try something new, creative and passionate in their classrooms.

To provide a concrete example we kicked the session off with Tech's a Maybe, a rewritten version of the popular song.  If I get a chance to finalize it, I'll post a recording here.  

I put together a few tutorials and examples based on iPad apps and other processes I use to create narrated video slideshows.  They're posted on the site I created for the district PD, but here are the links by page:

• Examples free apps for video slideshows* - One example was created with Pixntell and the other was with Videolicious.
• iPad tutorials for free apps for video slideshows - How to make a quick narrated slideshow with Pixntell and Videolicious.  There are also tutorials for transferring files using Google Drive and one for Educreations (a good free app for flipped teaching video lessons).
• Tutorials for creating narrated slideshows on a PC - These tutorials are for older versions of PowerPoint and Photo Story, but that's what most lab computers still use in our district.

*A couple notes about pros and cons of these free apps from the tutorial page:

Pixntell is limited to five slides and there are no bells and whistles, but it is a very simple app for making a narrated slideshow.

Videolicious makes a nice looking slideshow that includes pictures, narration and music.  You can even add video clips, though it is not addressed in this tutorial.  

The potential negatives are your video will be limited to one minute and you give up some control on the panning and zooming.  

Doodlecast App for Video Lessons

I have been using Explain Everything for my video lessons on this site, but last week I discovered Doodlecast.  It was free for a limited time and now I see it's still on sale for only $0.99.  I haven't had a chance yet to do a full lesson with it, but I really like what I see so far.

As I mentioned in my review for Explain Everything, that's a great app but I really wanted something that allowed for editing the recording itself.  Doodlecast appears to offer that to at least some extent.  I've tested the feature in a limited way so far and I was able to stop the recording, trim some of the end off and then continue recording from that place.

It also has a pointer for use when presenting, though not with as many options as Explain Everything.

So right now I can't say for sure I'll prefer Doodlecast over Explain Everything, but for this low price I wanted to at least pass the information along.  If you get a chance to try it, I'd love to hear what you think.

GIMP Tutorials - Lessons for photo editing in high school and middle school

I have been very busy in and out of the classroom so far this new school year.  My favorite part has been the time I've spent with Digital Media courses at our high school and middle school.  Somehow they managed to schedule both classes at the same time of the day!  Since I can't physically be at both of them I have been using video tutorials as one way to assist the classroom teacher and instruct the students.

First, here are the related lessons.

Below you'll find the tutorials for GIMP, a free image editing program.  I hope these could be useful to anyone who might be "flipping" a tech course or possibly for an online course.

Update 10/4/2013:  I posted the most popular tutorials on YouTube and have them in this Playlist now.

• Introduction to GIMP - Brief explanation of what the program is like, how to navigate the multiple windows and how to open files
• Saving files in GIMP - Some of this is specific to our network, but I talk about saving as jpeg.
• Paint Brush and Clone Tools - I explain how to use the Paint Brush as a line tool and how to erase parts of pictures using the Clone Tool.
• Drawing with the Selection Tools - GIMP doesn't have a tool to draw shapes, for example, but this shows how it can be used to accomplish the same thing.
• Using Layers in GIMP - This is probably the best feature of GIMP and the one students have the hardest time with. 
• Using the Text Tool in GIMP - Text in GIMP is pretty easy, but students need to understand Layers first.
• Combining Images in GIMP - This shows how to take parts of one image and paste it into another for simple special effects.
• Neon Logo Tutorial - My version of a popular logo effect that I learned from a couple YouTube tutorials

And here's a quick talk about learning software in general.  I address the difference between learning the software and learning how to learn new software.

Explain Everything - iPad app for flipped teaching

I have posted previously about some free iPad apps that can be used for flipped teaching.  I recently broke down and paid the $2.99 to buy Explain Everything.  I was told it is the ultimate app for video tutorials, supplying all the things that those free ones were lacking.

From what I've seen so far, that's been mostly accurate.  I really like the laser pointer feature and the entire app is intuitive and easy to use.  I am glad I purchased it and I'm sure I will use it more than I do the free ones as I get more comfortable working around the couple quirks.

Here are the pros and cons I see at this point:

Pros:

• Presentations can be shown live or narrated then exported as a video to the Camera Roll (or to other usual locations).
• Laser Pointer allows for pointing out areas of the screen during recording or presenting.
• Web browsers can display online content.  (I didn't use this much yet, but it looks like a great feature if it works even with complex websites.)
• Can import pictures or even entire presentations (PowerPoint is an option) from Dropbox or Evernote.  (I haven't experimented with importing from Evernote and see my note below about Dropbox.)

Cons:

• It's not free.
• I can't get it to import anything from Dropbox!  It might be me, but so far I can't even get one picture to import correctly.
• When re-sizing objects it is too easy to rotate them at the same time.  It would be good to have a snap feature at every 90 degrees for objects.  I simply gave up trying to straighten a couple rectangular images perfectly .
• Like all the free apps I mentioned previously, there's still no way (that I can see) to undo or edit part of the audio recording.  Since you can export to the Camera Roll, though, it's easy enough to edit the mistakes out in iMovie or another editor.  That's what I did in the sample below.
• Note on 9/4/12:  Noooo!  It did the same thing I ran into with other slide creation apps.  Today I put together four slides for a presentation.  Before I had a chance to record I had to do something else, but I left Explain Everything open.  When I came back to the iPad and turned it on I tried to edit it and the app shut down immediately.  I lost all my work.  Educreations used to do this to me and I made a note about it in that review.  It could be attributed to any number of factors beyond the app itself, but I wanted to pass it along.

Here's my first attempt at a video tutorial using the app. It explains how to use the Say Anything flipchart in the classroom. For purposes of this overview of Explain Everything, you'll see all the important features of this app in the first two or three slides.

Sophia.org - Online Lessons for flipped teaching or just learning on your own

I was surprised that no one at a recent flipped teaching workshop had heard of Sophia.org.  I came across the site at least a year ago and I've put a few lessons there myself.  I hope to do more in the weeks ahead.

Sophia is a combination of a social network and a lesson repository.  The learning "packets" are categorized and rated by users, so ideally you'd be able to search for any topic and find a variety lessons for it.

I suggest any teachers who are flipping their classroom should put their lessons on Sophia in addition to where they post them for their classes.  It could be a great place to develop a following or to get feedback from other teachers and learners.

My few tutorials are posted on this page at the site.  I tried to break free from the very academic lessons I was finding by posting my lessons from here on how to make games.

When I first stumbled on Sophia I thought it sounded exactly like the vision of learning described in Disrupting Class.  I loved the book and was excited to see the predictions in it coming to life.  I soon learned it was created by one of the authors of that book, making it a little less surprising.  I have remained hopeful nonetheless.  (Though I'm never motivated by accumulating little icons.)  The fact that no one had heard of it at the workshop wasn't encouraging, but I still think it has potential and I will continue to support it.

Check it out first by searching for something you'd like to learn.  I would love to hear if you find it useful.  Next, think of how you could present your favorite thing to teach.

iMovie for Digital Stories and Flipped Teaching

In the past I made a few suggestions for using iPad apps for digital storytelling and flipped teaching.  I also have been trying to squeeze the most out of a few free video editors.  Then someone finally convinced me to spend the $4.99 on iMovie.  I'm very impressed with it so far.

I made the short video slideshow below that describes an experience* I had with some creativity games at the middle school level.  I love how intuitive is to arrange the pictures, set the length and adjust the pan/zoom settings.  Narration is equally as simple--just talk while the pictures go by.  Keep what worked and do the other parts over.

I haven't used the app to record any lessons for flipped teaching yet, but it makes a portable recording studio and I can't see why it wouldn't be perfect.  Cutting out a part of a clip is a swipe down to split it and a hold and drag to remove or rearrange it.  Prop the iPad up to record you presentation at the board, edit and upload to YouTube.  I am amazed at the power and creativity that this app allows.

I also love that songs from GarageBand (another $4.99 app that still fascinates me) are easily exported directly into iMovie.  I put a simple loop in the background of the video below just to try it out.



*Two notes about the classroom experience:

• My designated camera person did a good job, but she missed all the opportunities showing the class laughed A LOT as we played!
• I will have a followup post soon about the creativity exercises I mention in the video.

More Thoughts on Flipped Teaching

A couple months ago I attended a workshop at our ISD on flipped teaching and I wrote a post about it and featured some relevant iPad apps.  This past week I attended the second half of the training.  I am also working closely with two high school math teachers from our district that plan to flip a couple classes next year, so it has consumed a lot of my attention.

After spending all these hours exploring the topic, I don’t have much more to add than what I said before.  It has been very effective because it transforms the role of the teacher in the best ways.  All the time spent on a subject, whether at home or at school, is used more efficiently and the goal of learning takes center stage.

We know that time spent on traditional homework is often not used efficiently.  As so many frustrated parents and students have discovered, there are countless ways to complete assignments without actually learning the important concepts.  There are also a lot of ways to get stuck and not know how to properly finish an assignment.  But by having students watch videos and participate in online discussion the teacher can better guide the use of time even though he or she is not physically there in the room with the student.  In short, work at home becomes effective, so students and parents see the value.

Some teachers are quick to point out reasons that flipped teaching won’t work, but there are some simple facts that we hear repeatedly for those who try it:

• Students like it.  
• Teachers like it.  
• Grades are improving.  

When I look over the trends that have come and gone in the past 18 years of my career, I can’t think of any others that get such high marks in those three areas.

The only downside I see is that getting started is a huge job.  Teachers essentially have to guide the learning in class at school and at home.  The good news is the time making videos or compiling existing ones is an investment and many teachers are choosing to make it.

Here are some resources I have come across in the past few months since my initial post.  I recommend them to anyone considering making the investment of time over the summer:

First, here are two articles from Alan November's work:

• Responses to common criticisms
•  A broader look at how this model "makes thinking visible"
• Responses from questions generated during the above webinar

Here's an active Facebook group for teaching in a flipped classroom.

And to wrap up, I liked what Sal Khan had to say about flipped teaching in a segment on 60 Minutes.  Let's not think it's about watching videos at home.  It's really about making learning fit the learner.

“I kind of view that as a step in the direction. The ideal direction is using something like Khan Academy for every student to work at their own pace, to master concepts before moving on, and then the teacher using Khan Academy as a tool so that you can have a room of 20 or 30 kids all working on different things, but you can still kind of administrate that chaos.” (Taken from the transcript.)

Moving Technology Out of the Classroom - Thinking about flipped instruction

I attended a workshop last week on the flipped classroom model of instruction.  The basic idea of flipped instruction is that the students get the lesson at home, usually in the form of a video, and then they work on activities or assignments in class (instead of having them as homework).

It is getting a lot of attention lately.  In fact, in the four years that I have been doing this ed-tech job this is certainly the most promising trend I have seen.  My own experience with it has been limited, but very positive.  (I just used video for instruction and I wrote about it in this project.)

I think the strength of this teaching method stems from the fact that it allows both students and teachers to put the technology to use for what it does best.  For teachers, it takes the most inhuman part of the lesson, the lecture, out of the classroom.  I found while making the video lessons that I was becoming a better communicator.  I started to enjoy making lessons again.  I could present the material exactly as I wanted to in video tutorials without being distracted by things like individual questions or classroom management issues.  ("Ryan, are you listening?" or "Girls, can that wait until after I'm done?", etc.)

And almost all evidence I have seen personally and read about indicates that the students really enjoy learning from the videos.  Every student I have spoken with expressed how helpful it was to be able to watch parts of my lessons over until they understood it.  No longer did a struggling learner have to raise a hand and stop the lesson for the entire class if he or she missed a step in my solution to a math problem.  The videos don't have to be terribly exciting, just clear.  (Case in point - the man who is probably most famous for simple video lessons)

Of course, the materials that a teacher creates or points out in a lesson do not have to be limited to video.  Beyond just recording lessons, by delivering the instruction this way at home, a teacher can provide a wide range of tools that allow students to learn in the way that is best for them.  And maybe best of all for later success, students will find that they can learn many things without the teacher being right there to bail them out.

Technology is best when it makes things fit.  The pioneers of the flipped classroom model have found that it can be used this way to better fit the needs of learners.  The results are classrooms where learning is taking place.  And more importantly than technology doing its job, teachers can now work with individual students and can more effectively develop human relationships one on one with students in the classroom.  In the end, the technology will go to the sidelines and this will prove to be the real advantage.