Noel Erskine, Technology Coordinator Norris Schools

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Amazing Screencasting and Class management apps for your iPads

Monday, January 7, 2013

Updated - 3-1-13:

There are some great apps out there that turn you iPad into a great teaching tool. Screencasting/Whiteboard types of apps are one segment of those.  Here are a few great apps to get you started!

Note: In the education arena you will hear about ScreenChomp and ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard but those do not have the features that the following apps have, so they did not make my list.

Note- The descriptions of these apps are taken from the developers descriptions in the app store.

Educreations Interactive Whiteboard  By Educreations, Inc FREE
Description
Educreations turns your iPad into a recordable whiteboard. Creating a great video tutorial is as simple as touching, tapping and talking. Explain a math formula... Create an animated lesson... Add commentary to your photos... Diagram a sports play... Offers multi-page recordings without clearing the screen each time to add new content. You can add images from the camera roll, the web or Dropbox. Upload videos to your own classroom space online at Educreations.com.  App in iTunes


Doceri By SP Controls, Inc  FREE (has an in-app purchase.)
Description
Combining screencasting, desktop control, and an interactive whiteboard in one app, you’ll never have to turn your back to the class or audience again. Doceri does it all! Multiple backgrounds can be selected from a built-in library or you can create your own custom background. There are also lots of drawing tools available. Finished recordings can be sorted into folders, saved to the camera roll, or shared to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The desktop control will only work if your computer and iPad are on the same wireless network.
NOTE from the Doceri Team: So that you can fully try out all of the features that set Doceri apart, we've created this app with a watermark that will be added to the images, PDFs and screencast videos that you share. You can remove or customize this watermark with an in app purchase - we believe that you should be able to try all of Doceri's features before you decide to buy. App in iTunes


Doodlecast Pro By zinc Roe $3.99 As of this posting, the DoodleCast Pro app is free for a limited time!
Description
The app records your voice as you draw to create quick presentations. Doodlecast Pro saves videos to the camera roll making it easy to import them into popular video editors or presentation tools such as iMovie, Keynote, or iBooks Author. Perfect for teachers, students, business people and anyone needing an elegant way to share ideas. App in iTunes

Teach By Knowmia FREE
Description
Knowmia Teach is a new free lesson planning and recording tool for teachers. This is different from the others in that it is aimed solely at teachers creating content, and not students. (Flipped classroom app use.) It helps you create short video lessons on any subject and publish them on Knowmia.com so your students and the public can find them. Knowmia Teach makes it easy to bring in visual aids from multiple sources, organize them in steps (like slides in a presentation) and use your own voice and fingers to bring your lesson to life. You can design each step in the lesson, record illustrations as you draw them, and create sophisticated animation sequences with a simple stroke of a finger. We also give you the ability to describe your lesson in a way that makes it simple for any student who is interested in the subject to find your video. App in iTunes

ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard 
Their Website
Description
Turn your iPad into your personal interactive whiteboard! ShowMe allows you to record voice-over whiteboard tutorials and share them online. It’s an amazingly simple app that anyone can use, no matter how young or old!
App in iTunes


The nice thing about the next two apps is that you get the actual video that you create. (Is is saved to a location of your choice.)  It is not hosted on a developers web site in the cloud.


Explain a Website By MorrisCooke $.99
Description:
Explain a Website is an iPad screencasting tool that allows to record interaction with a website within the iOS web browser. You can export the project and video ( MP4 format) to Dropbox, Evernote, your photo library or publish on YouTube. It features a marker, draw tool and laser pointer. You can mark and draw in 3 different colors and use two different styles for the laser pointer. All the annotations stick to the web page (and scroll with it). This 99 cent app gets great reviews for what it does. App in iTunes.  Vimeo video of app in action.

Explain Everything By MorrisCooke $2.99
Description
Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design tool that lets you annotate, animate, and narrate explanations and presentations. You can create dynamic interactive lessons, activities, assessments, and tutorials using Explain Everything's flexible and integrated design. Use Explain Everything as an interactive whiteboard using the iPad video display (via Airplay/cable).  App in iTunes  Website and Video of app.

Simple screen drawing tools. Some with collaborative features:

Whiteboard Lite: Collaborative Drawing By GreenGar Studios App in iTunes
Doodle Buddy for iPad – Paint, Draw, Scribble, Sketch – It’s Addictive! By Pinger, Inc. App in iTunes
BaiBoard - Collaborative Whiteboard By LIGHTPLACES LIMITED App in iTunes
Jot!  (Free)  ”Jot! is a simple, fast whiteboard that lets you sketch out your ideas and share them in real time. Draw, take notes, or wireframe on your iPad quickly and easily as soon as ideas come to you. Share your ideas via email or save them as photos. Collaborate in real time over the internet with Live Sharing.” App in iTunes



These apps are ones that you draw or display pics on your iPad and classes can connect to them through any web browser. (iPad and computer must be on same wireless network, similar to AirPlay with Apple TV's.)

Air Sketch Free By Qrayon, LLC (For drawing on screen.) App in iTunes

Air Projector Free By Qrayon, LLC (For displaying pics and docs.) App in iTunes




Not Screencasting apps, but some similar classroom management iPad apps that I have to tell you about!

Showbie - Effortlessly assign, collect and review student work on your iPad. Just OK, it really depends on the app files you want to distribute.  (Techy note: Distributes them via webdav.) App not for everyone. We are not using at in our school, but if we used KeyNote or other related apps, I am sure we would be using this.
Here is what I received from their support department about the product cost: 

Showbie for teachers and districts is free! At some point we may add some additional premium, paid, features or options - but they will not take away from the free capabilities.

Once you apply for your free district account here we will approve the request shortly after and here are the instructions to add your teachers:

District setup: Inviting teachers (fastest)
If you sign into Showbie via the web you will then be able to invite your teachers to your district account by following these instructions. It is very easy and you can now even invite many teachers at a time with their email addresses:
http://support.showbie.com/knowledgebase/articles/135620-managing-an-account

App in iTunes

Nearpod - Control you class iPad and deliver lessons as a teacher. (Would be great for class with iPad sets or schools with 1-1 iPads.) Free plans and ujpgrades.
The Nearpod platform enables teachers to use their iPads to manage content on students' iPads, iPhones or iPods. It combines presentation, collaboration, and real-time assessment tools into one integrated solution. How It Works:
· Teachers use Nearpod to share content with their students and to manage the flow of the lecture.
· Students use Nearpod on their iOS devices to receive multimedia content and to participate in engaging assessment and collaboration activities.
App in iTunes

GoClass aids the instructor in delivering rich content effortlessly and effectively. (Currently in Beta. Free during Beta testing.) 
Description:
GoClass is a cloud based teaching and learning platform designed for connected mobile devices in the classroom. This App allows you to use several GoClass services and features on Apple iPads, iPhones and iPod Touch devices. 


Ask3 By TechSmith Corporation Their website
Description:
Ask3 allows teachers and students with iPads to easily share knowledge and collaborate via threaded, video conversations.
By recording your voice, drawings, and images, Ask3 helps you create videos that can be shared directly to your class. Students can watch the videos you create using Ask3 and can quickly ask and answer each other's questions.
App best suited for 1 to 1 iPad environments.
App in iTunes



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