iPhone App Suggestions

iPhone App Suggestions 

by Guest Blogger.....RJE's Penney Bell

My Apps tips for saving time with my I-phone:

1.  I downloaded the Key Ring App to hold all of my shopper cards—you simply scan the card and then you can open the App on your phone at the store to use your customer number. The cashier can actually scan the barcode from your screen. Walgreens, Eddie Bauer, CVS, Ford, Kroger, Lowe's, Office Depot, Office Max, and Staples are all participants that I have added to my list. It also shows you offers and sales, and lets you put your list in the App. 
2. The American Red Cross App can be added to get weather updates/warnings for any county in the U.S. I have loaded the locations for both my kids, my parents, and my house. It also offers lots of tips on how to prepare for emergencies, and what to do once an emergency has occurred. (When a warning appears on your screen don't panic—it always shows the tornado symbol to let you know it is from that App., no matter what kind of warning it is.)

Screen Capture Videos

Ever feel like you're repeating yourself over and over? Ever want to get a message out and an email just won't do it? Try Quicktime Screen Capture videos. Since we all have MacBooks, screen capture videos are SUPER easy to make. I have used this mac tool so many times. Here are some of the ways I've used it:
- make a how-to video for fellow staff members (such as how to add a printer to your computer)
- make a how-to video for parents (such as accessing iStation or how you taught a particular Math concept)
- make tutorial videos for students (re-teach a lesson or create this video so they can visit it again and "pause" you when necessary)
- Use Quicktime along with your Reflector app to make a tutorial video with your iPad (if you have Reflector installed onto your mac mini, you would have to create your video using your mac mini)

Anytime you want to show someone step-by-step how to do ANYTHING on your computer screen, use Quicktime! After you create your video, your video is saved onto your computer. From there, you can send it to YouTube or Vimeo for publishing.

With Quicktime, you can also make Movie Recordings (my webcam comes open so I can record myself), or just an audio recording. You can record yourself giving directions for your students, or you may want to record your students as they are reading, talking through a math solution, explaining their thinking, etc. There are SO many amazing uses for this application!

 Here is a screen capture video I made about Quicktime's screen capture tool:

Click here for a video that Amber Evans made. The video is a "how to" video showing us how to embed a Symbaloo onto a website.

Here is a screen capture video that I made today using my Reflector app and my macbook. I displayed my iPad on the screen and recorded myself as I demonstrated how to use the Google Earth app. This way, when your students say, "How do I do that?" or "What do I click on?", this type of video will alleviate that problem:)

With this tool or any other tool mentioned on this blog, please contact me if you want to know more or if you need any help with it. Happy screen-casting!

Screen Capture Mac Tool

Welcome to a new year of Technology Superheroes!  Thanks for joining us. We hope to provide some new learning for you.  It is not too late to join…just email Melanie or I letting up know you want to participate.  If you have an idea for a blog post, please let Melanie or I know.

Last year, I posted about a super handy screen capturing tool called Jing.  Well, my fabulous AP, Michelle Baumann, showed me a tool I like even better because it is already on my MacBook and doesn’t require a download.   If you go to System Preferences, choose Keyboard.  Up in the box towards the top, choose Keyboard Shortcuts, then Screenshot (on the left).  Check the options you would like to use, then you can click on it and rename it something easier for you to remember.  For example, I use the selection options all the time, so I renamed the “Save Picture of Selected Area as File” to Option F (using the option key by the spacebar.)  I also renamed “Copy the Selected Area to the Clipboard Option C.   This feature is great to insert quick little snapshots into emails and such! 

If you are really into using shortcuts, you can see (and rename if you like) them by choosing different categories in the box on the left.  Happy shortcutting!