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= Everyone who joins this WIKI will be promoted to an organiser! Which means that you can publish just by clicking on the EDIT pencil! So...please share your resources, thoughts and ideas! = =Security for your iPad and all other technical equipment. See

NEW FOR 2013
 The iPad User Group is starting up again for 2013. We will have our first session on Thursday 7th March at St John's PS Lambton. 4pm until 5:30pm The first session will involve getting work off the iPad, using Edmodo, Evernote, Google Drive etc. There will also be working with the new IOS and the ipad mini. If you didn't receive the email with details please email me. Terry Haddow (terry.haddow@mn.catholic.edu.au)

= MN-iPad Users =

Please feel free to commence discussion or add items of interest to the wiki.
=__App Store Update 27/4/12__=



Hi Everyone, Brad from MAC1 here again. Just thought i'd let you all know that Apple have updated the iPad App Store this morning with a great new Education section on the Featured page. This page is accessible from the PC, Mac and iPad versions of the App store. There is a really great mix of new and popular education Apps, many of them are also free. This new page will only be available for the next week so check it out while you can!



= "Making it Mobile" = A great PD opportunity from Apple. A 2 day inservice at no cost. The keynote from Stephen Harris, founder of the Sydney Centre for Innovation in learning. March the 22 & 23rd. Check the PD page for the flyer Agenda March 22-23, 2012 10am - 4pm Day one will begin with an opening keynote from Stephen Harris, Principal of Northern Beaches Christian School and founder of the Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning, followed by a series of rolling workshops: > Apply powerful principles of engagement > Create and publish multi-touch books > Using iWork, iMovie, GarageBand and more > The future of content beyond digital replicas > Empowering students to learn without barriers > > **__ Registration __** > To register for this event visit scil.com.au/mobile > > **A Talk with Fraser Spiers** (one not to be missed) Frasier Spiers is an educator in Scotland who was one of the first people to incorporate the use of iPads in education. Cedars School of Excellence is known as the first school in the world to roll out the Apple iPads on a 1:1 basis. Frasier is the head of Computing and IT at Cedars and was responsible for the planning and exception of that project. The school operates from Kinder to Year 12. He is now in high demand, world wide, because of his expertise. Frasier has kindly agreed to talk to any interested educators in the Hunter region. This would have to done using Skype and we are proposing a session at St John's for anyone interested. Because of the time difference between us and Scotland - we are proposing a session at either 7am (we will provide coffee) or 7pm (we will supply coffee again). Fraser is agreeable to either time but we need to know peoples preference. To make it a smooth operation it would be preferable to have a list of questions ready for him. If you are interested could you indicate a preferred time and if you have any questions (for Fraser) email them to me at terry.haddow@mn.catholic.edu.au. If you are not familiar with Fraser's work - have a look at his blog http://speirs.org/ This is a fabulous opportunity to communicate with some one has been down the path we are all curious about - one not to be missed. Please let us know your thoughts.

=__**Apple Education Update - January 2012**__=

Hi everyone, Brad from MAC1 here again I hope you've all enjoyed the Christmas break! I just wanted to touch base with the group and provide a bit of a summary of all the recent news in the Apple universe.

First of all the biggest news is Apple's recent education event which was held in New York earlier this month. Apple made several new announcements which will play a pivotal role for the future of Apple's education initiative.

The first announcement is the availability of a new version of **iBooks** (App Store Link) which is Apple's e-Book platform for the iPad, iPod & iPhone. This new version introduces iBooks Textbooks, a new format for textbooks that is dynamic, up to date and fully interactive. These iBooks textbooks have a number of distinct advantages over traditional paper textbooks:


 * Weight - Backpack weight is an increasing problem in our schools, with many studies now showing that students are carrying up to a quarter of their body weight in paper textbooks. This can lead to increased risk of both chronic back pain and poor posture. With iBooks students are able to carry all of their resources in a device that weighs just 600 grams.
 * Cost & Longevity - Paper books are often expensive to produce and expensive for school's to purchase, meaning that many schools reuse their books for a number of years. In certain KLA's this means that information may well be out of date long before the textbooks are retired. iBooks textbooks are comparatively inexpensive and can be updated by the publisher as new content becomes available, meaning students have access to the most current information on hand.
 * Engagement - iBooks textbooks offer a fully interactive experience that engages students like never before. Interactive photo galleries bring images to life, video's and animations are integrated seamlessly and 3D objects and graph's can be manipulated using Multi-Touch gestures. All of these features combine to enhance the learning process and create a truly engaging experience fro students.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Industry Support - Apple have worked hard to ensure this new platform is supported by the top publishers; McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are responsible for over 90% of prescribed K-12 content in the US and have all come on board with content that is available today on the iBookstore. Apple Australia is also in the process of securing content of local publishers and we can expect the range to expand exponentially over the coming months.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Apple's second announcement is the release of **iBooks Author** (App Store Link) a free Mac App that allows anyone to create and distribute beautiful Multi-Touch textbooks for the iPad.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">iBooks Author lets you create your own textbooks quickly from Apple-designed templates, each with a variety of page layouts and interactive features like video's, photo galleries and even multiple-choice quizzes. This can be useful to distribute topic area summaries or even study guides to your students, the possibilities are literally endless. Once you've finished building your book you can preview it immediately on your iPad, submit it to the iBookstore for purchase or free download or even export it in iBooks format for distribution among staff & students.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The last announcement is the expansion of the iTunes U ecosystem and the availability of a new iTunes U App (App Store Link) which is available for free on iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone devices. For those of you who are unfamiliar, iTunes U is now the world's largest online catalog of free education content. With iTunes U you can access more than 500,000 free lectures, videos, books and other resources from colleges, universities and K-12 school's from around the world.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">With the new iTunes U App you can also subscribe to courses and automatically receive new content as it becomes available - best of all it's completely free.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">With these announcements 2012 is off to a great start and Apple has once again established itself at the forefront of education technology. I will be working with Terry Haddow at St. John's Primary School Lambton over the coming weeks to plan another user group to cover all of the new information. In the meantime if you'd like any more information of if you'd like to arrange a meeting with me please don't hesitate to contact me.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Regards,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Brad Eggleton

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">beggleton@mac1.com.au

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">0409 595 050

__**NEW IPAD USER SESSION:**__ A new operating system for ipads, iphones and ipods has been released. If you have not updated or are curious of the new features that are incorporated into the new system come along to our next session. Brad from Mac1 will run through the more interesting features or the ones that may be beneficial for the educational setting (there are over 200 new features in the new system)

iOS 5 The other major aspect of the new system is the ability to use icloud with various devices. icloud

St John's Lambton Tuesday 8th November; 3:30pm

The Learning Federation(SCOOTLE) is now making Learning Objects available as apps for the iPad.

= __Special Event: Apple Learning Tour__ =

Hi Guys,

As you may already know the Apple Learning Tour is coming to Newcastle on Tuesday 20th September.



This is a great opportunity to experience how the iPad, Mac as well as apps and digital content can promote curiosity, creativity and collaboration amongst students and teachers and empower learning across all subject areas. You will also have the chance to speak directly with representatives from Apple and discover how easily these valuable tools can be integrated into your learning environment.

Space is limited and registrations close Tuesday 13th September

Please register online at the following link:

[]

Regards,

Brad Eggleton

MAC1 Newcastle

P: 02 4965 3500 M: 0409 595 050 E: beggleton@mac1.com.au

==

==

<span style="color: #ff2300; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">New Mac1 Education Representative
Hi Everyone!

I’d just like to take the opportunity to introduce myself as the new education account manager for Mac1 Newcastle, taking over from Adrian Emerton. Whilst I am new to this position, I have been working with Mac1 for the past 12 months and also in Apple retail in a variety of different roles since 2006. Aside from my professional work I have also been using Apple products personally throughout my higher education and currently as a part-time student at the University of Newcastle.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to emphasize that Mac1 remains committed to education in Australia. We believe Apple has the best technology products in the industry, with revolutionary new devices such as the iPad and a fantastic lineup of Mac computers and software that’s making it easier than ever to communicate, share ideas, and inspire a new level of engagement in learning that has not been possible in the past.

We have some great things in the pipeline and I’m very excited to get to know all of you over the coming weeks and months. In the meantime if there anything myself or the team at Mac1 can help you with please don’t hesitate to contact me:

P: 02 4965 3500 M: 0409 595 050 E: beggleton@mac1.com.au

Cheers,

Brad


 * St John's Kinder Interviews**- I am utilising the iPad 2 as aid with the Kinder Enrolment interviews. - I have the prospective Kinder's reading along with an eBook, completing mazes and puzzles, counting, telling me shapes, colours as well as making Gingerbread boys and girls. It is certainly a different way to engage with the children. I can also video them reciting a nursery rhyme. Certainly a totally new way of interacting and it frees me up to do more of an observers role as I assess a child's readiness for school.

= **What the ipad is NOT !** =



The trouble with something new and innovative is that sometimes people get all caught up with the idea of needing something without thinking through - what do I need it for. The ipad is no exception. Don't get me wrong - I am a great fan of the new ipad. I think it is a fabulous device. But we have to be clear on what it will and will not do. If we understand that - then the possibilities are endless. I know that sounds like a contradiction but the biggest mistake people make is thinking it is a computer replacement. It is not. And was never designed to be such.

It is not
 * a computer replacement
 * a shared device
 * a large phone
 * a device that can be totally managed over the internet

Of course - it can do all these things to a certain degree (and a lot more). But I would hate to think that someone joining this wiki thought that all they needed in their school was 15 ipads and their educational needs were magically met. Which is precisely the point of this wiki - to share our ideas, experiments, thoughts and contacts. Two areas that teachers have found it does extremely well is in the areas of administration and of special needs. In this wiki we will certainly share many apps and uses in those areas. The challenge for most of us is how we can manage the devices in a school environment and how to effectively utilise them with main stream classes and groups.