buying

Why the Apple event on Wednesday matters to teachers…

 Ideas, Information, Technology  1 Response »
Sep 102012
 

Not a fanboy.  Please try to keep that in the back of your mind.  Yes, I’m typing this on a Mac, yes I have an iPod.  BUT I have an android phone, several windows PCs and a healthy understanding of the real world.  So please, don’t think this is just a fanboy rant, it’s not.  What it is, is an attempt to point out that we’re at a tipping point in education technology and that the next step, probably made by Apple at their product launch in San Francisco on Wednesday, could change everything.

We’ve had the iPad since the Summer of 2010, an incredibly thin device which uses a touch screen and can fit in an A4 envelope. It can access the web, seamlessly handle your email, manage your media content and a host of other tasks through a wealth of apps. As Steve Jobs used to say it’s “insanely great”. The iPad launched an industry wide rethink of what IT is, what it’s for and who should have it.  Now just about every IT manufacturer has a tablet device, there are a variety of operating systems, and app development is a major growth industry. If you still think IT is sitting behind a massive grey box and a 15 inch CRT monitor or that Microsoft Word and spreadsheets is what the IT curriculum should teach you have missed this revolution completely.

Many schools have ridden the crest of this wave and already brought tablet computers into the classroom.  Schools which issue their learners with their own iPads do exist. Units are being written as we speak allowing you to use tablet computers and mobile devices in art, music and media exams. Companies are already writing apps for classroom teaching, classroom management, assessment and support. The education tablet revolution has started but it it is, at the moment, in the hands of the enthusiast.

It is widely expected that Apple will launch a smaller version of their iPad on Wednesday (I’m not an Apple pundit myself, but Engadget and Macrumors will back me up here) as well as a larger phone, refreshed iMacs and iPods. It could be quite a day. The smaller iPad is a very interesting idea as it comes hot on the heals of the Kindle Fire and a host of other Android based tablet devices.  A smaller screen would bring limitations but it would also bring a cheaper price and perhaps a price so compelling that buying a class set, or indeed one for every learner is financially wise. In the UK you can get an iPad for £329 from the apple store, it’s not the latest model but it’s cheaper than a typical PC laptop. The kindle Fire is £129, just how much would a smaller iPad cost?

The Apple argument will be that the iPad is the only real tablet proposition for schools as there are apps in place, robust app quality control and apps in every subject and for every use. Guaranteed learner engagement in a sleek, brushed aluminium case. Android and the new Windows operating system (which is just around the corner) might argue with that, but the condition is clear.  If Wednesday goes the way the pundits are telling us, we may well be seeing the argument crashing on our desks this week.

If you are not going in this direction, parents will want to know why.

eBookreaders

 Ideas, Technology  No Responses »
Sep 072012
 

So, yet more tech is released and more things to keep up to date with in the world of book readers.  I am of course refering to the new “Amazon Kindle Fire HD” which was released yesterday and can be bought through Amazon.co.uk right now.  This is great news for the UK who have not had the full range of kindle products, some of which were available in the US only.  The Fire HD is set to compete with the iPad.  At £159 it is considerably cheaper though and puts a huge challenge down to apple to make their next offering as compelling.  We should find out at the Apple product launch event next Wednesday… Sorry I digress.

Its eReaders which are interesting me today and in the Kindle range we have a number of models to tempt you.  The Kindle, Kindle touch and Kindle keyboard, as well as the Fire and Fire HD.  All at very compelling prices.  How long will it be before eReaders are given away free?  Not long I think.

Let’s also not forget the Nook and the other eReaders out there in the marketplace, a marketplace which is becoming crowded and confused.

My experience with my Kindle keyboard this Summer was great, I read Haruki Murakami’s IQ84 books 1 and 2 quite successfully on it, and then the family got hold of it for E L James’s 50 Shades of Grey and I never saw it again. There were loads of Kindles at the side of the pool as well as good old paperbacks and copies of the Sun. So the paperback is certainly not dead.

The thing that interested me though was that I saw no one younger than 30 using a Kindle.  Everyone younger than 30 was glued to their phone.  They may have been reading eBooks on them (indeed the Amazon App allows you to read your books on any device, not just kindle hardware) but they were more than likely texting, gaming, facebooking or youTubing. Kindles don’t have the coolness factor required to be seen in public with.

So should we be encouraging learners to use ebooks, paperbacks, phones or iPads (or Fire HDs)? Should we be spending our school budget on a set for each class?  Is the mobile phone ban still a sensible strategy on school?

The important thing is that learners read, and enjoy reading and surely anything and any technology which encourages that is a good thing. I’m very tempted by the Fire and Fire HD to replace our iPad which is off to university in a week or so (one of our children will be accompanying it) as I doubt I will see the kindle again for as long as they publish 50 shades books…

 

Briefing – Episode 58, The JamHub

 Ideas, Personal Productivity, Technology  No Responses »
Aug 142012
 

My experience of rehearsal rooms when I was young was that the equipment would be ropey, your ears bled afterwards and would ring for days, and that you shouted so much that your throat was ruined for at least a week.  Oh, and there was always a disgusting old sofa in the room somewhere.

I think those days might thankfully be over.  This means you can rehearse with headphones on and control the mix you get without ruining everyone else’s experience.  And no shouting, talk through the microphones at all times.  That way you need never take them off while you rehearse.

The secret is “headphone busses”, normal mixing desks will provide you with one, maybe two or three headphone outs, which have their own controllable mixing sections.  This device designs that feature up front.  Each headphone out, has it’s own mini-mixer section allowing individuals to set exactly what they want to hear. without changing anyone else’s mix.  These individual busses, yes, that is the word, give the JamHub its USP.  Each feature is colour coded as well, meaning that if you are plugged into green, your sound will be on green right the way through the unit.  Once you see the colour coding, it speaks for itself, not that the manual isn’t pretty good as well.

I’m guessing that cheaper versions will crop up soon, but I would council against trying to save money on these devices and urge you to teach how to use them safely and carefully before you let anyone rip them to shreds. They are solidly built, but tape two of them together any you’ve got a frisbee.  As I’ve said elsewhere before, run a little course that trains people how to use them and rewards the right to have access to the equipment in lessons, breaks and lunchtimes.  Having clued up and trained learners in the classroom will repay itself in no time.

Have a look at the JamHub website here for ideas on how they can be used in the classroom and experiment yourself. I much preferred using the JamHub to my Behringer mixer for practicing and I would be very interested to hear how you do use these in the classroom.

No money has changed hands and no promises made to JamHub or its distributors, but I would  like to thank Steve, Andrew and Tony for the loan of the equipment.

Briefing – Episode 55, Mac rumours

 Technology  No Responses »
Jun 192012
 

…and don’t even get me started on the difference between “want” and “need”.  The conversations recently have been “do I really need a laptop, should I get an iPad instead?” and I think I would walk away from that one too.  iPads are just amazing things in the classroom, great to teach with, super practical, very slick and helpful.  Perhaps the desktop machine is truly dead and the sensible choice is for a laptop and an iPad and we can re-claim the computer table.  Perhaps we can chuck the computer desk out of the living room at last and use the space for a new radiogram.

The Windows version of the iPad looks good as well, have a search for “Windows Surface” and see what you can find.

That’s enough technology for a while…. honest.

Briefing – Episode 44, Headphones

 Information, Technology  No Responses »
Mar 232012
 

Just like most of us I use headphones every day when listening to music and podcasts on my iPod, so comfort is a very important feature for me.  I find the ones that sit on my ears really uncomfy, and the expensive closed-back, over the ears ones are too heavy. So the small in-ear buds are my workhorse.  In a recording studio you would never use ear-buds, the higher audio quality of the over-the ear, closed back BeyerDynamic ones are an industry standard.

A recent feature which you may have come across are “noise cancelling” headphones such as those made by Bose.  These listen to the noise outside the headphones and reduce that by cancelling it out using reverse phasing.  The headphones noty only sound lovely but they effectively get rid of the rest of the noise that might creep into your head from the outside world.  Try them out at a Bose retailer.

There’s no need to pay huge amounts of money for headphones which are going to be used in a club, for example by a DJ. Go for a mid range price over the ear model such as these by Sennheiser.

Beware educational suppliers who are offering you everything you dream for and only charge you a few quid for them, they will need extreme care and loving tenderness to get them to last longer than a term.

Got any headphones advice or recomendations?  Let us know in the comments section below and please subscribe here or over on YouTube.

Briefing – Episode 43, Dry wipe white board markers

 Ideas, Inspiration, Technology  No Responses »
Mar 162012
 

There is nothing worse than a bag full of useless pens. Fact.

Just had a look on Amazon and you can get 4 white board pens from £1.98, but don’t.  The Uni InkView pens are available at WH Smiths, a shop I love and loathe in equal measure.  It seems that you get what you pay for so I would advise buying branded pens rather than the cheap white egregious rip-offs sold for pennies.

Would you like us to do more stationery reviews?  Let us know what you think in the comments section below and please subscribe here or over on YouTube.

Briefing – Episode 34, iBooks news from Apple

 Information, Technology  No Responses »
Jan 202012
 

Got an iPad?. Use iPads in your classroom?  Well this move from Apple will make it rather likely that iPads might become as ubiquitous in the classroom as iPods are in the high street. Check out the entire presentation as a podcast in iTunes.  If you just want to see sickly advertorial demonstration have a look here.  Textbooks do need a nice disruptive challenge and this might be the right idea at the right time.

Here at A* to G we’re looking at ebooks at the moment and had just about decided to go for an epub format.  This means it would not work on iBooks, although you would be able to read it using a different App on your iPad. At the moment this whole area is a nightmare for small publishers like ourselves.  I wonder if this will help or hinder.

Are you going shopping for an iPad in the next few weeks now that Apple have announced their intention for world textbook domination?  Do let us know at info@astartog.co.uk and please do subscribe either here or at our youtube channel.

Briefing – Episode 33, Tickler file

 Ideas, Personal Productivity  No Responses »
Jan 132012
 

Perhaps a little too overexcited but hey.

The new year is not a bad place to start with a new system so consider the cabinet.  If the tickler file is going to be the top drawer, what are we going to use the other drawers for?  Let us know your ideas and we’ll let you know our suggestions in a few weeks time.  Just as a hint though, throw those catalogues away, archive the ex-students work, repair or throw out the broken equipment.  Use filing cabinets as an aid to your life not a store of stuff you haven’t acted on yet…

Comment or email as usual and don’t forget to subscribe.

Briefing – Episode 10, Leads for audio and video

 Technology  1 Response »
Sep 272011
 

You will probably need a large bag of leads in your store cupboard as they do break and get nicked over time.  Microphone leads are usually XLR to XLR female to male.  You might need XLR to Jack if your amp or mixer doesn’t have the XLR inputs usually found on amplification gear.

Do you have a leads nightmare? Do you know who to speak to to get your leads repaired?  Being able to wield a soldering iron is a blessing in a school.

Briefing – Episode 1, Microphones for Schools

 Technology  No Responses »
Jun 192011
 

 

It’s always a problem to list “good” brands and “poor” brands without offending someone’s personal preferences or purchasing decisions, so here goes… Sure, Sennheiser, Audio Technica, AKG are good… others might not be.

Keep an eye out for a post coming soon on using microphones, where to place them, how to handle them etc.