Monday, October 28, 2013

Using the Classroom iPads to Create and Submit Assignments




I’ve been asked by several teachers lately how students can submit assignments from the iPads to the teacher.

The problem with many of the solutions you find online is that they are designed for schools that have a 1:1 iPad program where each student has his/her own iPad all the time.  In our current situation, where we share classroom sets of iPads that may be in your classroom today but in another teacher’s room tomorrow, and where students/teachers can’t install a particular application that stays logged in all the time, it is harder.  Another problem is that many apps require students to login using email addresses (which many of our elementary students do not have).  Add to the mix that we are limited to Free or Low cost apps, and the task seems difficult indeed!

However, I do have several suggestions.  There are several free APPS that allow the teacher to create a class and allow students to create accounts in that class without using email addresses.  The two that come to my mind immediately are Edmodo and Showbie.  Once you have created your class account, you give the code to the students so that they can join your class.  Any assignment they create or upload will be visible by you.

I know that Showbie will actually allow you to create documents from within the APP.  I’m not sure about Edmodo.  If not, then there are other free APPS that can then be shared with or opened in Edmodo or Showbie (or even copied and pasted into Edmodo or Showbie) in order to submit them to the teacher.   I use a 99-cent app called Notability and also the free apps, Side by Side and Documents Free (plus others that require permanent email logins).  Several of these apps will also allow you to use the microphone on the iPad to convert speech to text for students who have difficulty with typing (or for those of us too lazy to use the iPad keyboard).

Have some of you found an easier way to submit electronic student documents from the iPad without using email?  Would you share? 

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