Course Description
EDUC 439/639: iPad Apps for Educators
Introduces the iPad as a tool for improving teaching and learning. Covers apps that improve study habits through reflective note-taking. Teaches how to use the iPad as an audio and video capture device and create digital stories. Through multitasking, participants learn how to transcribe into text anything you speak into your iPad’s microphone, such as responses to email messages, blogs, or study notes. Shows how to find freely available content, keep your iPad organized, and write your own eBooks using Pages. Reflects on the societal impact of the iPad and its potential for helping achieve the goals of the National Education Technology Plan.
Course Modules
This course is organized into a series of modules that are presented to you via the Web. The modules are attached to a collabsible menu that organizes the modules in roughly the same order in which they will be discussed in class. You need not complete these modules in this prescribed order, however. Rather, you can work through the course at your own pace, skipping modules that do not interest you, and spending more time on those that do.
Assignments
Your grade in this course will be based on your performance on a series of assignments that appear on this online syllabus. At any time, you can view the assignments. This list of assignments provides you with a snapshot of what you need to do in this course. All the rest is optional. It is totally up to you how much of the other material you will want to complete. Your instructor will help guide you, depending on the topics you choose to pursue.
Grading
You will receive grades on three kinds of activities. First, there are communication assignments that involve you in online discussions with your fellow classmates and your instructor. Second, you will blog about your thoughts and experiences as you explore the educational technology resources presented in this course. Third, you will begin creating a Web portfolio containing your plans for using iPad apps to meet national standards, curriculum requirements, workplace needs, and/or professional development goals. These three parts of the course each constitute a third of your final grade.
Authoring Tools
The recommended authoring tool for use in this course is Google Sites, for which the course instructor has created a series of just-in-time videos that enable you to learn how to create effective Web sites using Google's tools. The videos are called "just-in-time" because you can view them any time of the day or night, whenever you need them for initial instruction or to review the procedures for doing something. The videos cover authoring concepts and strategies that you can learn as you need them.
