Introduction to iPads iOS 7: Part 1--Hardware

How does a teacher start to use iPads in the classroom? This post will include the basics for getting started. Part 1 focuses on the hardware fundamentals with iOS 7, while Part 2 focuses on iPad integration in the classroom.

Hardware basics
  • Turning on / off the iPad: Hold the sleep button for five seconds until you see the apple appear on the screen to turn it on. To power down, hold the sleep button for five seconds, then  "slide to power off."

  • Putting the iPad to sleep: Press the sleep button. To wake it up, press either the sleep button or the home button. Use this feature to save the battery or to have students' full attention.
  • Open an app: Tap once on the app you would like to open. If it is not on the first page, you can swipe through the pages with your finger to look for it. If you have many apps/pages, then you can find it with the Spotlight search. Just go to your Home screen by pressing the home button, and swipe down from the middle of the screen, then the search field will appear.
  • Typing: The onscreen keyboard appears when a blinking cursor is observable. Place your finger where you want to type to move the cursor to that spot. Double-tap the spacebar to insert a period (including the space and the shift for the capital letter of the next sentence). To insert numbers, go to the number and symbol keyboard by pressing the number and symbol keyboard key.

  • Scrolling: To scroll up or down a page, drag two fingers up or down the iPad.
  • Zooming and shrinking: To zoom in, place two fingers on the iPad and stretch them apart. To shrink what is on the iPad, place two fingers on it, then pinch or pull them together.
  • Cut, copy, or paste: To cut or copy text, highlight the word or words first. To highlight, double-tap a word, then use the blue circle bracket to pull to the beginning of the desired text to highlight, and the ending circle bracket to the end of the text. Then tap copy or cut. Tap finger at desired placement to paste text. Hold finger in place to see text under a magnifying glass. In case of mistake, simply shake iPad to undo.
  • Screenshot: To create a screenshot, press the sleep button and the home button simultaneously. It will save in the Camera Roll album (see icon below).
Camera Roll icon
  • Saving images: To save an image, hold finger on image until "Save Image" or "Copy" choices appear. Then select "Save Image" to store it in the Camera Roll album.
  • Exiting apps: To minimize an app, tap the home button. To completely exit the app, double-tap the home button to view opened apps. Flick the app up to close it. Scroll through the list of running apps by swiping to the next page.
  • Basic care for iPad: Use dry microfiber cloth to clean the iPad. Don't use cleaning products or compressed air. See Tip #9 for more information. Keep iPad (especially the charging doc) dry. 
  • Troubleshooting tips: If the iPad does not respond correctly, 1) check battery to see if it needs to be charged; 2) close apps that are minimized and running in the background (see "exiting apps" above); 3) shut down iPad normally, then restart it; 4) check how much available storage is left and if it's getting close to running out, take off some apps, pictures, video, or songs; or 5) if all else fails, try a hard reboot by holding the sleep button and the home button simultaneously for approximately ten seconds, let go once the Apple logo appears.

Final thoughts

There are more tips for using the hardware, but the above includes the basics for getting started. For more details, click here to download a PDF of the iPad iOS 7 User Guide, or see Tips for iPads in Classroom.

In my experience, learning how to use an iPad is easier than other devices I've introduced to teachers and students. I'd like to hear about your experiences with it.
  • How easy/difficult was it for you or your students to learn how to use an iPad?
  • What would you add to this list? 
  • What questions do you still have?
Note: This post was originally published in January of 2013, and has been updated with iOS 7 information.

Comments

Post a Comment

Directions for posting:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens.

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again.

Click here for a tutorial on how to comment.

Thank you!

Popular posts from this blog

Quality Blogging and Commenting Audit Meme

Image
Silvia Tolisano (@langwitches) challenges us in a meme to audit blogs and comments to raise awareness of quality blogging. I'm honored that both Kathleen Morris and Sheri Edwards tagged me in this meme. Here is Silvia's meme challenge : Select a blog post or blog comment to audit (Professional or Student) Take a screenshot or copy and paste the post or comment into your blog post (be sensitive whether you want to reveal any names or references) Include or link to the rubric you use to assess the quality of post or comment Audit the post or comment by describing your train of thought regarding the level of quality you would assess your chosen post or comment Suggest how you would coach the author of audited post or comment to improve Tag (at least) three educators and challenge them to audit a post or comment Leave a comment with the link to your audit post on Langwitches Quality blog posts I created a few variations of checklists as guides for qu...
Read more

Striving for Higher-Order Thinking and Depth of Knowledge

Image
A little over a year ago, I read Higher-order thinking is the exception rather than the norm for most classrooms on Scott McLeod's blog, Dangerously Irrelevant , and have been mulling it over, wondering if our school district is any different. Over the past year, our teachers periodically collect data with their teams on the types of questions/tasks they ask students. One teacher records teacher questions and the other records student responses on a shared Google Doc ; then teams sort through their own data, plotting teacher questions by Bloom's Revised Taxonomy , and student responses to those questions/tasks with Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) . The 2012-2013 data showed we were not very different from other districts; therefore, our teams set their own goals for higher-order thinking and depth of knowledge. The data so far for the 2013-2014 school year shows questions asked of students are up and down the Bloom's ladder, equally distributed (with a little...
Read more

Craft and Structure, Deeper Thinking, and Tech Integration

Image
What type of thinking does the Common Core ask of students when it comes to Craft and Structure? Analysis. Analyzing the author's craft and structure is a shift for students to do, and a shift for teachers to design tasks and questions that require analysis.  This is the critical thinking we want students to engage in. Shifts The big shift in this is the analysis. What does that look like at the elementary level? How do you teach Craft and Structure? There are many ways to teach craft and structure . Make sure students are analyzing the text , not just identifying the answers . Craft structure close read questions from tracywatanabe Every spring, our school district uses Title IIa funds to pay teachers to attend training. This year, our Spring Academy focuses on various aspects of Common Core... and teaching Craft and Structure is one of the sessions. I was charged with creating a training module for the K-6 sessions. Training Document: ...
Read more