including slideshow features and use of the AirPlay wireless streaming of content. Other video-based apps, such as the built-in YouTube app or Vimeo will also address these functions. A second approach to presentations is mixed media, including text, pictures, graphs, etc. that are most commonly associated with computer soſtware tools like PowerPoint. Te best of these is Keynote, also from Apple ($9.99 via iTunes App Store). While it doesn’t have all of the functionality of its Mac OS counterpart, it can open most files created on a Mac (transferred via Dropbox, email, or other apps), or can create a new presentation on its own, including complex transitions, multiple media (using pictures or video from your iPad), and presenter notes. Te user interface is also extremely easy to work with. Tere are other alternatives as well - PowerPoint users can view presentations in QuickOffice (multiple versions between $10 and $20) or Documents to Go ($10 to $17 based on functionality). Both incorporate soſtware to use either video adapter or iPad, though there is no word on AirPlay functionality for iOS5 as of the writing of this article. Other tools, such as Prezi Viewer, allow you to play presentations made with these cloud-based tools, but you will have to create your original presentation on a regular computer (mostly due to the processing requirements to create them, and the use of the Flash plug-in, which is incompatible with the iPad.
A third presentation option is to use the iPad as a whiteboard, so that you can walk around with the iPad and work with “live” content while it is simultaneously playing on your computer (while the computer is connected to a data projector or TV) or a projector using the VGA or Digital AV adapters. Tere are a few apps with
this functionality; Whiteboard HD or Share Board are probably two of the strongest. Tey give you “Smartboard-like” functionality on the iPad itself or connected via Bluetooth with a computer. Another option I like is Screenchomp, a free tool from TechSmith that lets you present and record your whitescreen space, and upload it to TechSmith’s servers for later viewing. Screenchomp can be used to create short video tutorials from the whiteboard space on your iPad, and lets you import and mark up photos as well.
A final category of apps are for online meetings or presentations, such as webinars, or videoconferencing. Some basic apps, such as Skype or FaceTime, let you videoconference over a WiFi connection for free, but you can’t actually see what each other is working on with these iPad apps. Commercial web conferencing apps such as Fuze Meeting, WebEx, and GotoMeeting allow iPad users to log in and view online meetings, which can include interactive whiteboard viewing and editing, video or slide presentations, document viewing, and video conferencing while managing dozens of viewers at one time. Tese tools range from free viewers to subscription accounts for access to online services. While this approach isn’t typical for most classrooms, these tools can be the backbone of distance and online learning courses.
For more information on these tools, or similar resources from the iPads in the Classroom conference, visit
techtools4teaching.org.
Stephen Best is a curriculum and professional development specialist at the University of Michigan, and leads several statewide science and technology initiatives.
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Winter 2011-12
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MACULJOURNAL
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