Embrace Possibility

In This Edition:

A piece on Learning Management Systems — Important updates, including Google’s new storage policy — Shorcut: Hot Corners on Macs.

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Hello, Vampires! Thank you for opening this week’s Tech Bytes newsletter. We continue to share ideas, strategies, and articles to ignite your curiosity and deepen discussions around the use of technology in the classroom. 

This week we introduce a new section to the Tech Bytes Newsletter that focuses on pedagogy and practicalities for using iPads with learners, young and old. With Power Up Student Learning with iPads below, our focus from our Guiding Statements is:

Embrace possibility

  • leverage digital tools to document and reflect on their learning process

  • actively identify and explore real-world issues and problems, asking deeper questions, evaluating information, and pursuing answers and solutions

  • know and use the design cycle for generating ideas, testing theories, and creating innovative artifacts

  • exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems, taking risks, and welcoming failure as an opportunity

In the 10th grade Journalism class, a team of graphic designers have been using iPads to create original images for the school’s high school online newspaper, The Bite. They also design artwork for the newspaper’s Instagram account and podcast series on SoundCloud. 
One of many pieces created by Vittoria for The Bite.
“Procreate is my salvation; it is a complete application, it forms various types of brushes, all color shades, types of sheets and drawing assistance. I created this image when I was still at the beginning of my learning, so I applied very basic techniques. My idea was to convey to every woman that the differences do not make us inferior. Each of us has a characteristic for which it differs from the rest of society, otherwise we would all be the same and boring.” -Vittoria 
Artwork by Eliza for the podcast series by Jaden.
Additionally, these students have extended their knowledge of iPad’s Procreate app to create digital artwork for their Personal Projects, as seen here with Gaby’s Eco Gecko Instagram post and Eliza’s portrait.
Artwork by Gaby. Check out The Eco Gecko on Instagram for more eco-friendly tips.
A portrait created by Eliza for her Personal Project.
“This portrait of someone I found on Pinterest was done on Procreate, using various brushes, the smudge tool, and quite a few layers. For instance, using a textured brush for the clothing instead of drawing the details manually makes it look more uniform, and the smudge tool helps blend everything together cleanly!” -Eliza

If you would like to share something that is happening in your online classroom in a future edition of Tech Bytes, please let the Digital Learning Team know

iPads are powerful tools. 

As seen above, the possibilities to nurture creativity are endless. Here is an example of how the device is used in the workforce as well. Rob, featured in the video, is an artist in Hong Kong who also uses the app Procreate. If he could do this in 2014, pre-Apple Pencil, imagine what he can do now…

Some practical iPad tips:

  1. Here’s how to share your iPad screen while on a Zoom call on your MacBook. 
  2. There’s always a quicker way to do things. Here are 44 of the best iPad shortcuts and gestures for iPadOS 2020.
  3. Not ready for shortcuts? No worries! Start with the basics: the official iPad User Guide covers all you need to get started.