Technology for Teachers

If you could tell/ask your Principal (or building leader) one thing about technology, what would it be? Please use the comments option below to post your thoughts.

cross posted @ www.PrincipalThoughts.org

Well, it finally hit me tonight.  I spend so much time searching for what others are using their iPhones for that maybe it’s time I post some of what I’m using.  As an educational administrator (Dean of Students and Activities Director) I use my iPhone more than any other tool.  Each day I have to charge it as I drain through the battery.  A common theme I find from the apps I use is their ease of use and web accesability options.  By web accessible I mean an alternate version is available for me to grab from my laptop or desktop.  I always have copies of information I need available with an internet connection and when I don’t have that I can access the info directly from my iPhone’s data connection.  The only information I can think of that I don’t have direct access to are items that present a data privacy concern (suspension records, specific student related communication pieces, etc.).  These are still housed on our in district network and I have to access them from my desktop.  Our student information system is accessible from my phone but does not meet the "ease of use" condition I mentioned earlier.  I usually only use it to check student schedules.

Here are a few screen shots of my first couple pages as well as the Google App:

 Here’s a short list of the apps I use the most:

• Google App
  • I use this to access my email through my gMail account, I forward my school email to it and keep a copy on that platform as well.
  • My iPhone calendar is synced to my Google Calendar.  Adding an item to either one updates the other and allows it to be accessible on the web.  I also have my Google Calendar set to send me a text message the week before and a half an hour before scheduled events.
  • I post all of the information I need to access (that doesn’t contain sensitive data or items that pose a privacy concern) directly into Google Docs and almost all of my time is spent enteriing directly into Google Docs. I can access from the iPhone, my computers, and have sharing capability with the many groups that I work with.
• Toodledo
  • A to do list that allows me to sort by priority as well as due date.  It also automatically updates and posts to the online toodledo website.  I have this site as one of my start pages on my laptop and desktop so that each time I log in to my machines I have instant access to my updated to do list.  If I make a change online it also updates on my phone.
• Evernote
  • I use this to take longer notes be they text, voice, or pictures.  This is another site that I have set as one of my start pages on my laptop and desktop.  Again, each time I log in to my machines I have instant access to my updated notes.  I have them sorted by category so I can take personal notes, Dean of Student Notes, Activities Director notes, etc.  Again, if I make a change online it also updates on my phone.
• TWC – Weather Bug
  • I’ve used both to track the weather, especially important when I have to make weather related decisions for events and scheduling.  You have to love the radar features that allow you to track the path and duration of storms.
• Facebook
  • I keep in contact with friends, family, and colleagues from around the world at a level I could never maintain through traditional mediums.
• White Pages
  • I’ll search out contacts and use the built-in app to get directions and update/add directly to my contact list.
• At Bat 2009
  • How else does a mobile guy keep up with his favorite team (MINNESOTA TWINS!!!)?
• NEWS Sites (each showing different world views through text, photo, and video).
  • BBC Reader
  • AP News
  • New York Times
• Twitterific
  • Much like my blogging, I go in spurts with Twitter.  I use twitter to network with colleagues around the globe who are in similar professional positions or share a common education and technology interests.
• TED
  • I love this app, it pulls audio and video presentations from the TED conferences.
• Wikipanion
  • Direct access to the Wikipedia.
• Clock
  • One draw back to this dang phone.  It has a use for everything… I even use it as my alarm clock to wake me up with Beatles or Kid Rock songs that I’ve created ringtones for with Garage Band.  I rarely turn my phone off…. I do try to utilize airplane mode at night though….
• BlogPress
  •  For the websites I’ve setup in our district (www.isd317.org) I try to use Joomla or Wordress as the platform.  Each of which tie in with this app that allows you to add and edit content to your websites with a rich editor directly from your phone.  SWEET.  I don’t use it too often but it came in handy when posting updates when our teams were in playoffs or at state competitions.

 If you have any questions about what I use my iPhone for in my postions please feel free to contact me or post a comment below.

Sean Martinson

Our school year has yet to start (with students) so in my role as a Dean of Students I’ve yet to fully implement my iPhone in that role.  As far as my role as Activities Director (also known as Athletic Director) I’ve begun to use a handful of apps to increase my productivity.  One of the main group of items is from Google as I use Google Docs, gMail, picasasa, Google Calendar, etc.  I recently added an app called MiGhtyDocs which lets me access my Google Docs quicker.  I have a doc set with all of the officials and game workers still needed so as people call back I can quicky pull up an up to date list (the Google Doc also lets me make it viewable to people as a webpage).  I still use Evernote off and on.  I’ve also recently added WhitePages which works pretty slick as an iPhone phone book.  I also have the WordPress App installed but I’m waiting for our seasons to get in full swing to see if I use it to post mobily to wordpress blogs for our Activities Department.  I added Adventure to see what the pre-k style apps are starting to look like, a bit too simple for my daughter though.  So all in all I’m increasing my productivity through the use of this phone.  I’ve been able to import all of the contacts from around our state that are using the same program for their Activities Departments and I await a list of all the ADs in our state.  Pretty sweet phone.

• Google iPhone Apps: http://www.google.com/mobile/apple/
• MiGhtyDocs: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10012949-2.html
• WordPress: http://iphone.wordpress.org/
• EverNote: http://evernote.com/about/download/iphone/
  
• WhitePages: http://www.whitepages.com/
• Preschool Adventure: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/08/18/review-preschool-adventure-for-iphone

(I should preface that I’m the Dean of Students and Activities Director at a rural school district in northern Minnesota and am due to receive an iPhone this coming week)

First of all I’m going to sync my iPhone to my laptop as it’s what I’ll have at work.  Hope that works okay but I can’t see any issues yet…

This list also doesn’t incorporate all of the contacts that I’ll load (school, AD, etc.).

Okay so what have I added so far to iTunes or noted for future addition even before I have the iPhone:

• Infinite Campus
  • Our Student Information System, I have to add the URL for the mobile interface.
• First Class
  • Our email system, until push is working have to do the mobile interface as well.
• Athletic Scheduler
  • Our activies scheduling software, also Facilities when it’s running.
• MSHSL
  • A link to our State High School League Website.
• District Site
  • Of course, our site.
• FaceBook
  • I use this to communicate with friends, educators, students, and other school community members.  I welcome any discussions this brings about.  I have only one version (no private areas) for my account.  Again love to hear the discussion begin about educators and administrators using FaceBook (yes I’ve had students contact me through FaceBook, some during school apparently).
•  Twitterific
  • I use this in communication/collaboration with other educators at www.Twitter.com/smartinson, I hope this app will improve my use of a great collaborative tool.
• WordPress???
  • I see an App for TypePad, probably only a matter of time before I can access a plugin to allow me to add content here as well.  Sorry TypePad, I like having control of my entire account.
•  An EDUCATION Category?  Sweet.
  • Yes a category started for education, so I’m not the only one who can see the iPhone grabbing hold in education?  Although I appear too cheap to spend any $ yet.  May change once I have the actual phone…
•  Games?
  • Okay, how old am I, not putting any games on it.  This is a productivity tool (for me anyway).
•  StarMap
  • OMG (oh my gosh!), scratch earlier… guess I’m not too cheap..  "A complete hand planetarium for beginers and advanced astronomers."  I am so in, I’ll drop the $12 on that one.  I’ll wait to see but this looks like a sweet app to turn students on to science.
• EverNote
  • Another OMG, an external brain, who couldn’t use that!  Had to sign up for their services as well.  I’m interested to see how the snapshots and their online service truly connect.  Now I need to learn how to use the site.  http://www.evernote.com
    
•  Picasa?
  • No app for Google’s Picasa, yet.
• WeatherBug
  • This should help me avoid the shorts on 30 degree days and the pants and long sleeve on 80 degree days.  If you lived up here you’d know what I mean, come on, can’t we just look out the window any more?
• Spanish English Dictionary
  • Okay I didn’t buy it but how many Spanish students with non-tech aware teachers just made a hey day?
• NY Times
  • I was thinking of getting a Kindle, maybe this app will knock out the need for that…
•  Health/Fitness
  • Plenty of apps but it’s getting late….  I use www.gyminee.com and they are supposed to run with an iPhone, we’ll see.
• Utilities
  • Still have to look through these, time for bed..

NOW IF ONLY I COULD GO WITHOUT SLEEP.

ps.  It’s been so long since I’ve used WordPress (the software running this blog) that I’m blown away by the changes/updates.  PS.  I use Bluehost for my sites and many school sites…. bluehost.com, not .org!