So long, iWeb, RIP

I'm saddened by Apple's decision to discontinue iWeb, Apple's website development application. When Apple introduced iWeb in 2006 as part of its iLife suite of applications, I was looking for a simple platform to create and host a website of my own for a video production company I was starting called Action Touch Media. Earlier, I had experimented with Dreamweaver, a more professional website creation software applicaiton, but it was complicated and I didn't have time to master HTML. In contrast, Apple's drag and drop UI, beautiful templates and seamless publishing to MobileMe proved to be the ideal solution for me. In June, 2011, when I released my Stick Pick app, I had built my support website entirely using Apple's iWeb (not realizing iWeb's days were already numbered).

Although Apple plans to continue supporting iWeb and MobileMe through the end of June, 2012, I decided to cut my ties a little early. I have enjoyed iWeb for the better part of half a decade, but this week, I chose Blogger, a product and service of Google. Stick Pick's new support website is live, and the links have been updated in Stick Pick version 1.02.

I hope Apple decides to revive iWeb. Perhaps they will merge it with iCloud. Regardless, I chose Blogger for my new support website for several reasons: 1) Google seems committed to supporting the platform; 2) having used Blogger in the past, I'm familiar with the user interface; 3) Blogger's service is free; 4) You can now have multiple and easily navigatable pages with tabbed menus; and 5) it can be updated from the cloud! RIP iWeb.

What iWeb did well:
-iWeb offered a WYSIWYG UI; no knowledge of HTML required. You control it all: design and content.
-The Ecosystem: Integration with iLife applications
-One button publish to iDisk
-Ability to embed: YouTube and Paypal buttons
-Blog with comments
-Beautiful templates that made it look like you are a design expert.
-Ability to Customize

Of course, iWeb did have its limitations:
-You couldn't publish or update from the cloud; always had to be tied to your machine to publish updates!
-The problem with cool templates was that everyone began to use them and they all started to look the same.

Will you miss iWeb?

Textbook Publishers Push for iPad Apps

According to a February, 2010 post by vatornews, an Online news source for emerging tech, major textbook publishers have turned to ScrollMotion Inc. to bring their textbooks to Apple's iPad. Which publishers? How about heavy weights like Houghon Mifflin, Kaplan, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson? Features included in the proposed app will include the ability for students to color-categorize while highlighting words on the page. In addition, students will be able to write text notes or record audio notes directly onto the device. They'll even be able to search the text for a key phrase! How many times did you wish you could do that when you were in school?

Is this how easy it's going to be to get e-textbooks in the hands of students? I thought there'd be shady deals in smokey back rooms between Steve Jobs, state politicians, school district head mucky mucks, and gray-haired publishers resisting new ways, much the same way music publishers resisted the paradigm shift from phycial CDs to Online distribution. But instead, it looks like it's the publishers are the ones doing the pushing. It could actually come down to a single app; granted, a single expensive app.

How much will it cost? Will school districts be able to give special promo codes to students who own iPads so they can download textbooks straight to their devices? Won't school districts save a ton of money purchasing a device like this instead of physical textbooks? Many schools in our district purchase two copies of each textbook for each student: one for the classroom, and one to stay at home. It'll be interesting to see the textbook landscape this time next year. What do you think?

Defining iPad's Impact on Education

Even before its release, the iPad (Apple's long-awaited tablet-style, e-book reading, web-surfing, content serving, most wanted gadget) has begun to define a new category of devices that will blend together the power and portability of a netbook with the form and function of an e-reader. In 2010 and beyond, competitors will race to design devices similar to the iPad, which in turn, will both improve the platform and drive the overall price in this cateogry down. Combine this with an online content distribution method, such as the forthcoming iBook store (Apple's online e-bookstore) and you've just described a beginning-to-end content distribution pipeline. One day, in the not-too-distant future, the price and convenience of this distribution chain will compel many school districts to finally abandon the paper-based text book model and embrace the digital distribution of e-text books.

How will the iPad impact education? Remember in chemistry class, when we learned the term, catalyst? A catalyst is substance that initiates or accelerates a chemical reaction. Think of the iPad as a catalyst that will cause a ripple-effect, felt not only in education, but will also be felt across the entire publishing industry.

Apple already transformed the way we buy and listen to music; now, they're going to do it with books. Most people are already used to the iTunes experience of buying music and listening to it on their iPod, so the transition to a similar experience with books and reading them on an iPad will be a natural one. I'm not suggesting it will ultimately be the iPad itself that will absolutely find its way into mainstream classrooms across the country - it could be a similar product by a yet-to-be-known start up company- or possibly a next-generation Kindle, who knows? But one day, I think people will attribute the iPad as being the device that unleashed digital e-book content, especially e-text books, into classrooms around the world.

Sony's e-reader, Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook may have been among the first to the party, but that fact alone won't necessarily be enough to keep Apple from becoming as dominant a force in the book distribution business as they are in music. Consider iTunes University, Apple's source for educational audio and video content. Since 2007, Apple has been promoting, building, and filling iTunes U with educational multimedia content, coincidentally, around the time rumors started to surface of a possible tablet-style device. And it makes sense: imagine a student reading his or her science text book on an iPad, and being able to flip to an iTunes U video on the same topic, on the same device! School districts will love the text book updates, too. Instead of having to purchase new text books every seven years, students can simply update their text book the same way you update an App.

It's an exciting time for schools, publishers, and gadget lovers everywhere. How do you think the iPad will impact education?

Introduction to iTunes U and Mobile Learning

What Is It?
There's a lot more to iTunes than music and movies. iTunes U is part of the iTunes store filled with educational audio and video content you can take anywhere on your iPod or iPhone. Everything in it comes from top universities, museums, PBS stations and other cultural institutions. It's all free--so you don't have to be a student to benefit from some of the world's brainiest people. There are over 175,000 educational audio and video files from all around the world and new tracks and new providers are added all the time.

A Little History
iTunes U was announced at Cupertino, California in 2007. The service was created to ultimately control access to educational audio and video content for college students. Member institutions are given their own iTunes U site that makes use of Apple’s iTunes Store. The online service is free to use for everyone in the pipeline. Content varies from course lectures to sports highlights with plenty of material in between.

How Do I Use It?
When you come to iTunes U, you'll find lots of ways to explore. You can check out popular downloads or other featured content or check out a category you're interested in, such as business or fine arts. You can also explore by visiting individual universities and other providers on iTunes U.

To start learning about a topic, just click on it. You'll land on a course page with all the related files, called tracks, down below (video or audio recordings of each class session). If you want to download all the tracks, click "get tracks." To get just one, click "get" or "get movie." iTunes creates a folder with the provider's name in your playlists so it's always easy to find your tracks.

Many courses or series are ongoing and you can subscribe so you can automatically receive each new episode whenever it's available. iTunes will download episodes to the Podcast section of your library. Tracks will be waiting for you when ever you're ready to learn something new. You can play your new downloads in iTunes, or sync to your iPod or iPhone and learn on the go.

If there's something in particular you want to learn about, you can use the iTunes store search field to find it fast. Filter the results by iTunes U. You'll see all the tracks that are relevant to your search. You can also view the courses, series, or programs the tracks come from.

To learn more about how Apple helps teachers connect with their students, click here.

More Tech, Please...

If your public school is anything like my public school, then you need more funding for technology-related purchases, not less. Unless you work at a brand new school that's decked out with all the latest high-tech gear, then you probably have to beg and borrow to attain anything more than you presently have. You may even feel like Oliver Twist asking for more porridge when you consider the state of technology at your school. Unfortunately, funding for technology is limited, so we have to be very creative about acquiring more than our ration of computers and tech tools. Here are three ways to build your classroom's technology inventory.

1) Ask. A couple years ago, I asked my principal if we could purchase an iMac for our school's video production program. That year, a certain amount of money happened to be ear-marked specifically for technology purchases. If I had not asked, that money may have gone unspent because in education: if you don't use it, you lose it. Some administrators are not aware of the specific tools you need until you ask. It's equally possible that your principal may be waiting for you to show some initiative; the last thing any principal wants to see is a large sum of money wasted on technology that collects dust in a closet because no one really wanted it in the first place. So ask! The worst thing that can happen is they say no. It's more likely they'll say, "Not yet." If that happens, be sure to ask the following year.

2) Write grants. A quick Google search for education grants will reveal a variety of funding agencies and organizations eager to fund innovative projects written and submitted by creative teachers like yourself. If your idea doesn't have a direct technology focus, keep at it. Work with your proposal until it includes some kind of technology component. You must have a technology element to justify your need for technology-related items. A word of caution: You'll most likely lose more grants than you'll win, so be prepared for disappointment. When you eventually win one, it's an amazing feeling of accomplishment. Then, go out and purchase those tech items for your class!

3) Donate. A wise boss once taught me that I could cover at least 10 more sandwiches with mayo if I would simply scrape the mayo jar with a rubber spatula instead of a metal knife. I had been wasting company money! Now, whenever I upgrade a piece of technology in my personal life (whether it be a tech gadget, computer, mouse, whatever...) I slip it into the classroom ecosystem. For example, my old iMac G3 is now an extra word processor. My old Palm IIIc runs math games that some students use to improve their basic math skills. I recently bought a new Kodak all-in-one printer and promptly donated my old Lexmark printer/scanner to the classroom. I plan to use this to scan and ultimately upload student work to my students' ePortfolios. Of course, donations are also a tax write-off. So go on, breathe life into your old, unwanted gear.

How are you expanding your classroom's technology inventory? Share your thoughts!