Learning in Hand

Got a smartphone or tablet? Then you could be drawing your own illustrations, clipart, and avatars! In Learning in Hand #32 I share examples and show techniques for creating your own artwork, even if you don't consider yourself an artist. My technique is based on tracing photos, so don't worry if you are embarrassed by your drawing skills. The video features the free Adobe Illustrator Draw app for iPad, iPhone, and Android, and the techniques can certainly be used in other drawing...

Learning in Hand Show #31 is about giving your learning centers or stations a makeover. The collection of activities teachers provide their students at a center can be enhanced with technology, even if there’s only one computer or tablet available. Watch the video to learn about some of the websites and apps that can help you set the course of the center, provide content, support creativity, and capture responses. Visit http://learninginhand.com/30 for a transcript with links.

Learning in Hand #28 is about some of what's new in Apple's iOS 8. Instead of showing you the major features you might already know about, Tony Vincent demonstrates the lesser known additions that teachers, students, and parents will be interested in. These include additions to the Notes app, predictive typing, dictation enhancements, sharing options, zoom improvements, speak screen, time limits, and updates to the photo library. Go to learninginhand.com/28 for a transcirpt of this...

Learning in Hand #27 is all about the Stick Around app for iPad. The idea behind Stick Around is simple: players move stickers onto the correct spots on a background. The thing is, you not only use Stick Around to play these sticker puzzles, but you use it to create them as well! Watch to learn how to play Stick Around’s sorting, labeling, and matching puzzles. You’ll see that stickers can have notes, arrows, comments, web links, and audio. You’ll also see that stickers don’t have to be...

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #20: Classroom Dos and Don'ts gives technical and management tips for teachers using iPod touches in their classrooms. Listen for some helpful dos and don'ts, including how to name iPods, charging solutions, cheap accessories, playlist use, transferring apps, and much more. You can see the entire list at tonyv.me/do.

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #19: Maps, Screenshots, & Comics shows you how to take a tour of Washington, D.C., take photos along the way, and use those photos in a comic strip--all on an iPod touch. The Maps app, the screenshot feature, Google Earth, and Strip Designer are used to create an informative comic strip.

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #17: Favorite iPod touch Apps was recorded live. It was supposed to be a call-in show, but no one called in. Fortunately, there were live listeners in the chatroom who asked great questions. Besides sharing some useful information about the App Store and installing apps, listen for information about the Google Moderator series designed for educators to vote for their favorite apps. You can find the series at tinyurl.com/edapps. Please contribute your own and...

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #16: iPod touch Tips shares some of my favorite tips and tricks for Safari, text entry, and the Home screen. In the video I do not attempt to show you the basics of using iPod touch. Mostly because Apple.com has a great iPod touch Guided Tour video and 116-page User Guide. Instead, I share tips that I hope are at least partly new to even experienced iPod touch and iPhone users. Go to learninginhand.com for show notes.

This is the podcast's first video episode. In the video I show different ways to create hyperlinks to items within the iTunes Store, like podcasts and apps. The episode is particularly relevant for iPod touch and iPhone users, as the same hyperlinks that work with a desktop browser and iTunes also work with mobile Safari, mobile iTunes, and the mobile App Store on the device itself. Watch all 10 minutes of Episode #15 to learn how to link to media and apps in iTunes and see how those links...

Episode #14: Voice Recording This is Learning in Hand: iPods. My name is Tony Vincent and this is the show where I share tips, how-tos, and ideas for iPods in teaching and learning. Episode 14, “Voice Recording” recorded September 2008, happens now! A popular student and teacher use of iPods is voice recording. While you can use a computer for recording, it’s handy to have a portable recording device for lectures, class discussions, announcements, interviews, and notes. Portable voice...

Episode #13 is full of ways to extend battery life, care for batteries, and advice for charging. You know how important a battery is to an iPod. If an iPod's battery is completely drained, you can't use the device until you plug it into a power source. And, after a couple years of use, a battery's capacity to hold a charge diminishes. What you actually do with an iPod greatly affects how long one charge will last. This episode discusses some of the things that drain the battery the most....

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #12 gives an overview of the free 34-page booklet I recently made available. The PDF is titled Podcasting for Teachers & Students and in it, I focus on free and cross-platform software so that both Windows and Macintosh users feel included. First, learn what a podcast is and then learn to find, subscribe, and listen to them. You probably already know how to do that, so most of the booklet tells about creating a podcast using Audacity, Levelator, and iTunes....

Episode #10: Artwork & Lyrics by Tony Vincent This is Learning in Hand: iPods. My name is Tony Vincent and this is the podcast where I share tips, how-tos, and ideas for iPods in teaching and learning. Episode 11, "Artwork & Lyrics," recorded March 2008, happens now! I'm going to tell you about two things you can add to audio files that make them more useful on an iPod. While almost all references you’ll find to artwork and lyrics deal with music, the audio files do not have to be songs....

Episode 10 focuses on various kinds of educational image sets that can be viewed in the Photos section of iPods. First, learn about commercial sources of image sets, like iPREPpress and Raybook. Explore many different kind of image sets, including visual books, study aids, flash cards, matching games, math manipulatives, converters, response cards, and more. In fact, you can visit learninginhand's Gallery of Educational Image Sets and download lots of great learning tools and resources for...

You probably know that you can sync photos to an iPod. After all, it’s an option in iPod’s Main Menu. Photos of your children, pets, and vacations are fun to show off on iPod’s screen. Episode 9 covers the basics of putting photos on an iPod and then tells you about viewing PowerPoint and Keynote slide shows on an iPod.

An iPod is easy to sync with one computer. In fact, it’s really easy to sync multiple iPods to one computer. But, when you want to sync the same iPod to two or more computers, things get tricky. You can enable "manually manage music and videos" so you can connect an iPod with more than one computer without having those computers erase the iPod’s content from the other computers. But, it also means that you'll have to hand-pick the audio and video when you want to update the iPod.

iQuiz is a game for iPods with fun game show sounds and slick graphics. iQuiz comes with sample quizzes, but the real power comes from teachers and students making their own quizzes for iQuiz. iQuizMaker is software for Mac and Windows computers that makes it easy to create quizes and sync them to iPods. iQuizShare.com is a site for downloading and sharing quizzes. Like iQuizShare, iQuizr.com is a place for downloading and sharing quizzes with the added feature of being able to create...

When you think of iPods, you think of those white earbuds. While iPods are designed for audio (and some for video, too), iPods with screens can also display text. In the Extras menu, you'll see the Notes option. That's were you can view text files that have been placed on the iPod. Learn how to copy notes to iPod along with the limitations and workarounds.

iPods are great little devices and almost all of the time, they work just fine. However, use an iPod long enough, and you’re bound to have a problem or two. After checking to make sure the Hold switch is in the off position and the battery has a charge, it’s time for the Five Rs of iPod troubleshooting: reset, retry, restart, reinstall, and restore.

Despite its lack of display screen, the $79 iPod shuffle can be more useful than you might think The iPod shuffle's 1 GB of memory can store more than 12 hours of audio (240 songs), which means the battery will need to be recharged before the shuffle has played all of its audio. In classrooms where a computer for syncing new content is usually available, 12 hours of audio is not really all that limiting. Listen to all 11 minutes 37 seconds of Episode #4 to learn about using the power of...