EdTechSandyK: November 2017

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

#iOS11 - QR Code Reader is Built In

If you and your students have access to iPads, iPhones, or iPod Touches running iOS 11, you can now scan bar codes without having to install a QR code reader app!

Just open the Camera app, point it at the QR code you want to read, and press the message that pops up on the screen to visit the website or file the code links to. It's that simple! I demonstrate how easy it is to use the iOS QR code reading function in the video below.

I also share my all-time favorite QR code reading app, i-nigma, which is compatible with iOS devices (helpful if you have older devices that can't run iOS 11 or even newer devices that just haven't been upgraded yet) as well as Android (which is great in mixed-device environments like you find in BYOD/BYOT classrooms).

If you are wondering why anyone would need a QR code reader in their classroom, take a look at my Pinterest board with QR code ideas or my YouTube QR Code playlist. I update both of these when I come across new ideas, so feel free to check them frequently!

If you have ideas for using QR codes in the classroom, please share them in the comments so we can all learn together.

All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Please see specifics on my re-use policy before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Screen Recording is Built in to #iPad & #iPhone Running #iOS11

With the release of iOS 11 in September of 2017 came a great new feature which can have multiple uses in classrooms. The ability to video record what is happening on an iPad or iPhone screen, as well as narrate over the recording, is now a built-in feature of iOS devices.

You may not realize that the screen recording feature is an option because it is not turned on by default when you upgrade to iOS 11. I found out about it through Twitter myself.

Below are instructions for turning on screen recording and using it for the first time.

To turn on the Screen Recording feature, follow these steps:

Tap the Green Circle next to Screen Recording
to enable the function on your iOS device

Open the Settings app on your iOS device.
Scroll down Control Center and tap on it.
Tap on Customize Controls.
Under More Controls, tap on the green circle with white plus mark next to Screen Recording.
Screen Recording will now be moved up to the Include section of the Control Center settings.

In the Control Center,
press and hold on the
Screen Recording button
to bring up Audio options.

Access and use the Screen Recording function by:

Swiping up from the bottom of your device to bring up the Control Center.
Decide if you want audio via the device microphone (your voice) on your recording. Press and hold the white circle icon until the Screen Recording options come up. Then tap the microphone to toggle audio recording on and off.
Tap Start Recording. You will see a 3 second countdown on the screen. Press the Home Button on your device to go back to your device's home screen during that 3 seconds so your recording will start there.
You will know recording has started and is ongoing when you see a red bar across the top of your device's screen.
To end your recording, tap the red bar at the top of your screen. Then press Stop.

Video Demo of iOS Screen Recording

In the video below, I demonstrate Screen Recording on an iPhone. I also share a few tips for making your screen recording projects better as well as a few ideas for how to get the video off of the device once it is recorded.

Slides From the Video

Since I recorded my video on an iPhone, the information on the slides is kind of small! You can view the slides that are in the video below.

Have you used the iOS Screen Recording feature in teaching and learning? Have your students? If so, please share in the comments so we can learn from your ideas. Thanks!

Sunday, November 19, 2017

#GoogleDocs: Suggesting Mode & Ideas for Using it in Learning

If you are familiar with Google Docs, you know that you can share documents with collaborators and that multiple people can edit a document at the same time. (If you aren't familiar with sharing and collaborating on documents, watch this well-done tutorial from GCF Learn Free.)

Sometimes, though, you just want to get input on something you've written or have a peer check it over for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. If you share your Google Doc in the usual way with full editing rights, your editor can wind up changing your original work to an extent that it's hard for you to tell why changes were made or even what changes were made. You could use revision history, but that can be tedious if a lot of edits were made.

Using Suggesting Mode

To get input on a Google Doc you own while retaining ultimate control of the edits, you can use Suggesting Mode. The key to using Suggesting Mode is to share the document with Can Comment rights instead of Can Edit rights. The demonstration I put together below shows how to share the document as well as how Suggesting Mode works.

As part of the tutorial, I also elaborate on the following uses of Suggesting Mode in the classroom:

Editing practice: General editing or focus on frequent mistakes you’re seeing in student writing
Peer editing: essays, lab write-ups, history research, descriptions of math processes
Teacher/student writing conferences
To learn or review material: Provide students with inaccurate notes or information in a Google Doc and have them Fact Check and correct it using suggesting mode.

The Fact Check idea was sparked by this Edutopia article on alternative note taking strategies: https://goo.gl/1Dh1T3

I hope the demonstration below is helpful. If you think of more ways to use suggesting mode in teaching and learning, please share them in the comments below.

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