iPad apps for teachers

One of the best things about having an iPad in school is being able to take photos easily and to then be able to share those images with students and colleagues. From conversations I have realised that lots of people haven't had the time to play with their Photos app and don't realise what it can do so I thought I would just mention a few of the features here. 

In the photos app you can you view and delete stills and videos, you can also favourite them (heart), file them into your own albums, and display images in an automatic slideshow with music from your iTunes library. Additionally you can make permanent changes to your images:

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Producing graphic images on a PC can sometimes feel like a hurdle. Sure Microsoft have introduced SmartArt whose predefined formats can be a blessing when they correspond to what you need but are a barrier the rest of the time.

Can I introduce you to Grafio, my favourite app for diagramming on the iPad - not forgetting of course that anything you draw on your iPad can be used on your computer in documents you are working on there. Grafio makes creating amazing looking diagrams both easy and fun - I love it! It's not just me either, I know one deputy head who loves Grafio so much that she uses it capture ideas during meetings and shares the resulting work as people leave the room.

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Do you ever wish that you had a flatbed scanner in your bag? Well, with scanning apps for iOS you almost have. I will be honest straight up and say that if you have an iPad 2, the camera is flatly not good enough to get the quality of images needed for these apps. Read on though because, should you ever find yourself with a device with a better camera, it is worth knowing about what they do.

If you want to capture a document or newspaper article you can take a conventional photo and this may be fine. If you use a scanning app, it still takes pictures using the device's camera but it does more than capture a snap:

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Evernote just feels like it has been around forever so it probably has! It is one of those staple apps with a massive following.  It's not a pretty app but it is definitely practical. Evernote is a supernote and organiser tool that works on (1) the web, (2) on PC/Mac desktop apps and (3) on mobile apps so basically you can get Evernote everywhere. Notes are stored in notebooks in the Evernote Cloud. 

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