Travis Allen is the Founder of The iSchool Initiative, a student-led organization that focuses on energizing and assisting mobile learning use in classrooms at all levels. Travis began this project as a high school student. He is now a student at Kennesaw  State University in Georgia.

Travis began with an iPhone and the following video as a seventeen year old high school student:

watch?v=68KgAcx_9jU&feature=player_embedded#at=20]

The iSchool Initiative Website offers:

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Computerized Math and Science instruction is being offered via ceiling-mounted computer screens on long school bus rides in Hector, Arkansas. The Hector School District, located in the heart of the Ozark National Forest, is teaming up with Vanderbilt University’s Aspirnaut Program to provide this first of its kind program to their students.

The program plans to take advantage of long school bus rides that these rural students undertake each day, and transform their school bus into a mobile learning environment. Students average more than two hours each day aboard the bus resulting in over ten hours of possible extra learning each week.  (Can you say captive audience?) Sixty percent of the students in Hector School District are located in the Ozark National Forest, and seventy-five percent qualify for a reduced lunch.

Programing is sent to five ceiling-mounted computer screens with varying content. Younger students sit in the front and view PBS shows, while older students sit near the back and take in PBS, Discovery Channel, Smithsonian Institute and NASA programming. The content is altered daily.

This could become a trend as more smaller districts across the country are forced to consolidate, and commuting becomes longer and longer.

An Arkansas bus driver commented that the high school students still like their iPods better.

Wired Educator’s View: It certainly can’t hurt. I’m surprised some corporate advertising agency has tried this before and snuck in a few commercials like the Channel ONE programming across the country.  The key is of course content.  I think it would be most effective if the teachers in the district made customized video podcasts of lessons the students are actually working on and mixed it in there as well. I have seen computer screens on mass transportation systems in big cities. Wondering if students aren’t already watching enough as it is. Let’s hear from the students and see some statistics.

My memories of math class are best summed up by  the following lines from Gary Soto’s short story, Seventh Grade, “…some of the stuff looked like the teacher made it up as she went along. It was confusing, like the inside of a watch.”  That’s how Soto’s main character Victor Rodriguez felt about Math, that’s how I felt, and I am sure the same is true of many others.

But Math has changed.

I look into my colleague’s math class and see the manipulatives and think, “those might actually be fun to play with.”  I know many math teachers are employing brave new methods to encourage students to excel. Speakers like Dan Meyer are challenging educators and schools to re-examine their math curriculum and perform much-needed makeovers. (Wired Educator is planning to interview Dan Meyer soon.)

Today I learned that Houghton Mifflin Harcout (HMH), a leader in text-book publishing, is piloting the ‘first-ever, full function Algebra app’ for Apple’s iPad titled, Holt McDougal Algebra 1 app. (Wired Educator continues to examine the iPad as a worthy educational tool and launched the iPad in Every Classroom Initiative.)

HMH’s pilot Algebra program is part of a bigger model titled Fuse that allows learners to move beyond the one-way experience of a print and digital textbook and allows the learner to interact with their studies as never before.  And what device better to allow such interaction then Apple’s iPad? (http://hmheducation.com/fuse/algebra1/index.php)

The pilot program Algebra app will be used on 400 iPads (additional resources also provided) in Washington Middle School and Hudson K–8 in Long Beach Unified; Kings Canyon Middle School and Sequoia Middle School in Fresno Unified; Amelia Earhart Middle School in Riverside Unified and Presidio Middle School in San Francisco Unified School District.  Those lucky students and teachers! As Barry O’Callaghan, HMH’s chief executive, so profoundly stated, “We believe this pilot will provide the nation with a  glimpse into the future of education.

The app promises to provide students feedback on practice questions, allow them to create and save notes, receive guided instruction, access video lessons, and more, all at the touch of a finger. The app will apparently have some customizable features as well, for both the teacher and learner. The teachers will also receive real-time feedback on student performance.

Wired Educator plans to keep tabs on this exciting pilot program.

You can learn more about this HMH’s exciting Fuse program by registering on their website. HMH’s website is complete with videos of the upcoming project and press release.

Today’s digital natives are so well versed in on-screen navigation that the best way to get their attention is through an electronic device. The new HMH Fuse: Algebra 1 offers touchscreen access to a complete curriculum in students’ preferred medium, including:

• engaging instructional content
• tutorial videos that teach or re-teach key concepts
• automatic grading on quizzes and assessments with immediate prompts for individualized review
• vocabulary support with links to audio and print definitions
• linked point-of-use graphing tools, tips, and hints
• animated, stepped-out examples and solutions

note-taking in scratchpad and audio formats, archived for future reference

Leave a comment below and win a FREE copy of iQPrompter. We will give away one promotional code to the reader who best explains why they read Wired Educator and wants a teleprompter in their classroom for their iPad.

I’m an English teacher, and I know first-hand the fears and struggles students must overcome in order to deliver a good presentation and gain confidence in public speaking.  Naturally, when I come across a solid application that can genuinely help my students with their communication skills I want to test it, use it, and share it.  Enter iQPrompter.

iQprompter is a feature-rich but easy to use prompter for the iPad that can help you or anyone create, edit, and give a quality presentation. Instead of arriving at the front of the auditorium with notecards,written papers, or worse…nothing, students can walk confidently with their iPad knowing exactly how long their rehearsed presentation will take, and have the ability to keep track and control their time. (As if their instructor is in the wings giving them cues and prompts.)

Students can type their presentation directly into the application or copy and paste it from another document. (There are numerous, un-editable famous speeches to practice with preinstalled.) When I first tested the app I wasn’t certain how to import a document.  (I do most of my typing on my MacBook.) Copy and paste wasn’t listed in the directions, however, it is an easy way to get a document say from your laptop to iQPrompter. For instance, I copied some text from my MacBook, pasted it into and email, and copied it from the email in my iPad and pasted it into iQPrompter.

Once the presentation is entered or imported students can tweak the settings and practice their presentation using controls to adjust font size and scroll speed. I believe this is the genius behind prompters on the iPad and iQPrompter in particular; students will practice their presentations. Students will want to use the iPad to tweak and edit and this is what English teachers want.  It will be the teacher’s job of course to show the students how to effectively use the prompter and not bore the audience by a flat reading.  Coaching points would include: inflection, body language, eye contact, etc.

iQPrompter offers real time scroll speed  adjustment at just a touch and the progress indicator a the top of the page is great for providing the presenter feedback regarding where they are in their presentation.  If you need to go back or forward instantly, just swipe your finger through the entire presentation to find what you need. You can also pause the scroll at  touch to clarify a point or answer a question and the timer continues so you know how long you are on stage. Once you finish a presentation it is stored with elapsed time.

Settings allows you to flip your presentation horizontally or vertically, invert colors, set alarms, and many other great features.

iQPrompter does support and plays well with the iPad’s VGA adapter.

We hope future updates address the overall look and feel of the user-interface. Navigating around the app is a tad awkward. The entire app would benefit greatly from a snazzier home page, icons, and buttons, but the workings of the app are solid. We would also like to see options for sharing and importing  presentations other than copy and paste. The timer and progress indicator, in my opinion could also be larger and easier to see.

Wired Educator recommends this app for your classroom. iQPrompter costs $9.99.

How will you use iQPrompter? Why do you read Wired Educator? Leave a comment below. One lucky reader will win a copy of iQPrompter between now and August 26. Good luck.