10th Anniversary

Think3 recently turned 10 years old.  

Since 2005 when we began supporting schools, we have seen significant change. Shifts from desktop computers to laptops, then the iPad exploded onto the education scene in 2010. School-owned devices are making way for students bringing their own devices and changes in the Internet/Web 2.0 have revolutionised the way we think about software, publishing, collaboration and interactivity.

Over this time we have been delighted to see teachers and school leaders expand their vision, and develop their use of technology for learning in a digital age.

We look forward to walking alongside you over the next 10 years.

iOS 9 News

Apple has announced iOS9 will be available in our 'Spring'.

 iOS9 will bring new features and significant changes for how we manage iPads in schools with major improvements to both Configurator and MDM solutions.  More details closer to the release date.

In preparation, you may wish to set your iPads to "Never Update Device" in Apple Configurator.  This will prevent the devices updating automatically when you use Configurator the first time after Apple releases iOS9.  

Then when you are ready to move your iPads to iOS9, you can change this setting back to "When Update Is Available".

Google Classroom: Inviting Teachers

Google Classroom provides teachers a way to connect their students in a 'class' to communicate, share resources, and provide a workflow for sharing documents with automatic handling of permissions – from setting a task, through monitoring students work to submission, marking and returning work to students digitally.

If you would like to share your class with a colleague in your faculty or grade, or with a team teacher – use the "Invite Teacher" in the "About" section of Google Classroom.  You may need to add them to your contacts first.

Showbie

A simple workflow for managing student work is so important when using iPads in the classroom.  Schools are finding Showbie provides a great solution, and with recent updates it's definitely worth a look.  There is an app for iPads and it works via a web-browser on Mac, Windows, Chromebooks and Android. 

Your teacher account is connected to your students' accounts through your "class" on Showbie.  You can distribute documents and resources, and students can save their work from a wide range of apps either to "hand-in" their work to you, or simply for safe keeping before the shared iPad goes back in the trolley.

When students have completed their work they can "send it" to Showbie for you as their teacher to view and mark.  Equally as valuable, unfinished work can be "backed up" to Showbie rather than risk it being deleted on a shared iPad.  Using the "Share" icon, select the "Showbie" icon to upload:

Here is a list of iPad apps that work with Showbie

Signup for a free Teacher account, put the free Showbie app on your iPad and give it a try.
http://www.showbie.com/

Make an iPad Filming Stand for your Classroom

iPads are fantastic for filming and editing inside and outside the classroom.  Holding the iPad while videoing can produce wobbly results.  What you need is a simple stand to hold the iPad while filming, or taking photos – especially when doing stop frame animation.

We made some simple stands for our workshops from some timber offcuts.  A piece of hardwood flooring 200mm x 90mm with a 10mm slot to hold iPad works well.  The size and weight provides stability, and you can prop the stand front or back with a variety of objects to get different angles.

Obviously there are fancier iPad holders for tripods, but making your own might better suite your budget!

Multitouch Books from Field of Mars

Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre have released a range of wonderful new multitouch books for the iPad and Mac to support the NSW Board of Studies Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum.

These digital multimodal books offer a gorgeous, full-screen experience full of interactive diagrams, photos, and videos.  No longer limited to static pictures to illustrate the text, now students can dive into an image with interactive captions, manipulate an image, draw, or have the answer spring to life in a chapter review.

Find out more and download these books to use in your classroom

You can make your own multitouch books for your classroom using iBooks Author on a Mac.  Attend a workshop to find out how.

BOSTES / Institute of Teachers

We are excited to announce that Think3 has received endorsement as a provider of QTC Registered Professional Development.  Check out our registered courses.

Google Apps for Education & Office 365 for NSW DEC Schools

Well, the wait is over, staff and students in NSW DEC schools now have access to both Google Apps and Office 365 learning tools, linked to their @education.nsw.gov.au account.

Google Apps for Education is a mature, web-based environment that enables teachers and students to collaborate and share their work. 

Docs, Sheets and Slides provide a rich cloud-based version of traditional office suites (such as Microsoft Office, or Apple Pages, Keynote and Numbers) with easy sharing options to invite others to work with you on your documents.  You can gather results from your class during an experiment, an excursion or fitness test.  It's simple to collaborate in a 'Doc' for an english writing task, or research a topic in HSIE.  Students can create and share a group presentation with 'Slides'.

Google Sites is a web publishing solution that can be edited right in your web-browser.  Everyone can now publish easily.  Our 'Design a Digital Unit' workshop walks you through how to transform your units of work online and share them with your students.

Don't forget that as this is all "in-the-cloud", available over the Internet, so it can be accessed from home as well as school.  This makes it easier for you as a teacher when students take their devices home and you want to check their progress.  You don't need to collect their books to mark them anymore!

Resources to get you started:
– Staff can explore these tools, by looking in "My Learning Tools" in the portal.
– Warren McCullough has created some 'QuickStarts' which you may find helpful as you get started.
– Attend a hands-on workshop to help you get started and see the potential in the classroom

App Review: Google Docs, Sheets & Slides iPad Apps

With the release of Google Apps for Education in NSW DEC, it's a great time to look at the support for Google Apps on various devices.  

While you can use Google Apps in your web browser on a Mac, Windows PC, Chromebook, iPad, Windows or Andriod Tablet – Google have also been steadily developing their apps for iOS and Android, which give a 'native app' feel to the excellent web-based Google Apps.

Let's look at the iPad versions of these apps:

• Docs – create, edit and share word processing documents
• Sheets – create, edit and share spreadsheets online
• Slides – create, edit and deliver presentations via the web 

Recently updated for iOS 8, the latest versions also include editing of tables, spellcheck and support for Touch ID fingerprint sensors in the latest iPhones and iPads.

These apps provide you with quick and easy access to your Google Apps applications, saving your login, so you can open the app and get straight to your documents.  The apps have been designed to allow for easy editing on the touch screen based iPhone or iPad with a simple menu system.

These apps are probably best used on individual iPads, rather than iPad sets shared by multiple users due to the saving of logins.  We highly recommend installing them for staff use, in student 1 to 1 programs and BYOD.

Student's creating eBooks using Book Creator

Book Creator is a brilliant, open ended apps that is a must for the Primary Classroom.  It's simple and approachable, it is an app that lets you start creating without a steep learning curve.

Book Creator allows students to create multi-page digital books rich with text, photos, videos, audio recordings and sketches.  You can use it for social stories, for demonstrating understanding or to present a individual or group project.  Books can be exported and shared, viewed either in iBooks or as a PDF.  It's an app limited only by imagination, and should be on every iPad in a primary school.  There is a free version in the App Store which allows you to try it out and make one book.  Schools can purchase the paid version in the VPP Store at 50% off.

For teachers wanting to take interactive ebooks to the next level, look at the free iBooks Author for Mac.  It provides many more features than Book Creator.  It's ideal for teachers creating resources for students to use on their iPads as well as students creating their own digital books on a Mac to then use on an iPad or Mac.

Our 'iPads in Action:  Digital Literacy' explores practical uses for Book Creator, Stop Motion Cafe and Doodle Cast Pro and our 'Creating Digital Books with iBooks Author' workshop takes you through using iBooks Author.

The students at Broulee Public School on the South Coast have been hard at work with Book Creator on the iPad.  Take a look at their work.

Upgrading to iOS 8.1 with Configurator

Apple recently released a software update for iPads, iOS 8.1

Read more about iOS8:
https://www.apple.com/au/ios/whats-new/

A number of schools have upgraded, and it seems to be working well.  If you have been waiting to upgrade to iOS8, I would approach it this way:

1. Upgrade one iPad to iOS8, run any updates to Apps to ensure you are running the latest versions, and test everything works.  If it's all good, follow the remaining steps.  If not, stop and get to the bottom of the issues before upgrading the other iPads.
    
2. Backup user data on the iPads.  Download photos and movies, get a copy of documents from all your apps.
    
3. Upgrade your Mac to Yosemite (OS X v10.10) using the Mac App Store.  It's a free update.
   https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=915041082&mt=12&ls=1
    
4.  Upgrade Configurator to the latest (at least v1.7) – it's a free update.
   https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/apple-configurator/id434433123?mt=12
    
5. Upgrade iTunes to the latest version, using "Updates" section in the Mac App Store.
    
6. In Configurator > Supervise > Settings select ONE iPad, and change Update iOS to "when update is available".  Click Refresh/Apply button at the bottom of the screen.  This will download iOS8.1 and update the ONE iPad you selected.  This will take a few hours.
    
7. Once you have added apps and profiles, and everything seems to be working well, go ahead and update the rest of the iPads.  Because you downloaded iOS 8 in Step 5, it should install on all iPads of the same model without downloading again, so it should be minutes, not hours.

If you would like assistance to manage this upgrade, contact us to book an appointment.

MacBook Air – Fixing USB Device Limit

Do you have a MacBook Air and a 30 iPad sync & charge trolley and wonder why Configurator can't see all 30 at once ?

MacBook Air is a great laptop to run Configurator, but it's important to know that some models have a software limit on the number of USB devices you can connect at once.  Sounds like this is to help with energy saving as part of giving it such an awesome battery life.

Fortunately, you can change this setting by doing the following:

1. Login to the MacBook Air as Administrator
2. Open Terminal  (It's in Applications > Utilities)
3. Run this command:  sudo nvram usb-options=”%01%00%00%00″
4. When asked, enter the Admin password for the MacBook Air
5. Restart your MacBook Air

Note: If you ever want to reverse this, use this Terminal command:  sudo nvram -d usb-options

Get ready for iOS 8

Apple is releasing iOS 8, the next major version of the iPad/iPhone software, on Wednesday night, 17th September.  Read all about it here.

For school's using Apple Configurator, it would be wise to prepare for this release, as you might not want all your iPads upgrading before you are ready.

So, before Wednesday night, ensure Configurator is set to "Never Update device" as shown in the picture below.  You will need to sync your iPads to Configurator, so they get this setting change before Apple releases iOS 8.

If you do not do this, next time to connect your iPads to Apple Configurator, even to add just one app, the iPads will be updated to iOS 8 – which may not be the best plan until the dust settles on the update.

When you are ready to update your iPads to iOS 8, simple change the "Update iOS" menu to "When Update is Available" and click Apply/Refresh for ONE iPad.  Once you checked that it's all OK, then you can do the rest of your iPads.

Google Case Study - Arthur Phillip High School

Hot off the press – Google tells the story of Arthur Phillip High School's digital learning program, which Nerida and Scott helped the school develop and impliment over the last 12 months.  Read it here.

Models for BYOD

Nerida and Scott recently spoke at the North Coast Secondary Principal's Conference on "BYOD to What?".  As schools transition from DER to BYOD, it's critical to consider both the right model of BYOD for your school, but also what learning students will be bringing their devices to.

BYOD Models

VPP with Purchase Order

A few weeks ago, Apple released 'VPP Credit' which allows schools to buys apps through the Volume Purchase Program using a purchase order (rather than only using a credit card).

Schools who are enrolled in VPP should contact their local Apple Education Reseller, or Apple Australia on education_aus@apple.com  to find out how to order.

Further details here:
http://www.apple.com/au/education/it/vpp/

iOS 7.1

Apple recently released iOS 7.1 which refines the iOS 7 experience, and sorts some issues, including AirPlay dropping out.  Read more about the update here:  http://www.apple.com/au/ios/ios7-update/

If you are using Apple Configurator, you can easily update your iPads in the 'Supervise' section, by selecting the iPads you wish to update and changing the 'Update iOS' pop-up menu to 'When Update is Available' and clicking 'Apply' down the bottom of the window.

Free Apple Apps

If you purchased an iPad after 1 September 2013 you are entitled to free copies of iMovie, iPhoto, Pages, Keynote and Numbers.  For personal purchases, just login to the app store on your iPad to redeem the apps for free.

For schools using Apple Configurator, you need to request a spreadsheet of redeemable codes from Apple.

Here are the details of doing that:

—

Apple recently announced that iPhoto, iMovie, Keynote, Pages, and Numbers will be provided at no cost on the App Store for customers with qualifying iOS 7 compatible devices activated or purchased on or after September 1, 2013. 

Customers who would like to request redeemable content codes for qualifying devices can contact AppleCare via the Volume Purchase Program support form http://www.apple.com/au/support/itunes/vpp-edu/  When filling out the form, please choose "iOS Fulfillment" from the "What do you need help with?" drop-down menu.

Once you have submitted your request, you will receive an email requesting a copy of your proof of purchase (for devices purchased on or after September 1, 2013) or a list of the serial numbers for devices purchased prior to, but activated after September 1, 2013.

Upon receipt of valid proof of purchase, eligible customers will receive a password protected spreadsheet containing the appropriate number of redeemable content codes for the requested eligible apps.  These redeemable content codes may be deployed on eligible devices using Apple Configurator or may be redeemed to individual end user Apple IDs on eligible devices.

Customers must be enrolled in the Volume Purchase Program (VPP) to participate in this program.  Customers not currently enrolled in VPP can register at https://www.apple.com/au/education/it/vpp/

Customers should expect to be contacted by Apple within 7 business days upon submitting their request.  

Education customers who purchased and activated iOS devices prior to September 1, 2013 can continue to purchase  iPhoto, iMovie, Keynote, Pages, and Numbers through the Volume Purchase Program (VPP) for Education store at a discounted price for 20+ copies. 

Upgrading your School to iOS 7

iOS 7 has been out for a while now, but your school iPads are working fine on iOS 6 – should you upgrade ?

That is not an easy question to answer.  The old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" often fits quite well in ICT, but there are a few things to consider:

1. Do you need to 'Supervise' any new iPads, as they will be forced to iOS7, so you may wish to upgrade all your iPads so they are the same.  After people get the hang of iOS7, then they are all the same.
2. Do you wish to plugin 'supervised' iPads to a Mac or PC to download photos ?  Configurator 1.4 allows you to set this, but again forced to iOS7
3. Do you have apps that you wish to run that require iOS7.  If so, it's time to upgrade.
4. Do you want to take advantage of new features such as Internet filter, or AirDrop?  If so, it's time to upgrade.

So, what is the best way to upgrade ?

First, use Software Update on your Mac to get the latest Apple Configurator v1.4

Then, if your iPads are already 'supervised' in Configurator, you can change the 'update iOS' setting to 'When update is available' and click Apply.  It will take a while for iOS7 to download the first time, then it installs on all USB connected iPads.

Alternatively, if you wish to take advantage of the new 'Allow devices to connect to other Macs' to allow download of photos and videos over USB, you will need to unsupervise and re-supervise the iPads.  Note:  Don't forget to remove paid apps BEFORE you unsupervise.

30 Years of Macintosh

It's seems only yesterday I was using the family Mac Plus with 67MB Hard Disk and ImageWriter II dot matrix printer.  But the Mac has turned 30!

Check out Apple's website for a walk down memory lane:
http://www.apple.com/30-years/

For me, it was time to dust off my collection:

MacPlus, SE/30, Colour Classic, LCII, Quadra 700, iMac Bondi Blue & Ruby, G4 Cube, iMac G5, PowerMac G4, Xserve G4, Xserve G5, Xserve RAID, and various PowerBooks and MacBooks.

What was your first Mac ?  Leave a comment.