Back to School Technology for everyone!

Jeff sits down with Mark Greentree of EverydayMacSupport, and Stephanie and Terry O'Brien to discuss some of the great new technologies students will use in school.

Topics Covered:

• Getting a New iPad… Should I be nervous?
• iPad vs Laptop
• What to do with your new technology
• Great apps for your classroom and how to use them
• Cases and keyboards for your iPad
• Refurbished iPads and Laptops
• Purchasing on a budget
• Document sharing… cloud computing… iCloud

Apps Discussed:

• Toy Story Read-AlongBy Disney Publishing Worldwide Applications
• A fully interactive reading experience packed with Games, Movie Clips, Coloring Pages, Sing-along Tunes, and Surprises on every page. Hear the story read aloud, record your own narration, or explore at your own pace.
• Balloonimals HD:By IDEO
• Balloonimals HD is a magical iPad activity that will entertain kids of all ages. Simply scribble and swipe to create and play with beautifully animated 3D balloon characters.
• See.Touch.Learn.
• See.Touch.Learn.™ is a picture learning system designed by professionals specifically for those with autism and other special needs.
• Thomas & Friends: Thomas Gets His Own Branch Line
• Little Engineers can Read, Play, Listen and Record with their favorite blue engine!
• Dexteria
• Dexteria is a set of therapeutic hand exercises (not games) that improve fine motor skills and handwriting readiness in children and adults.
• GarageBand for iPad
• GarageBand turns your iPad into a collection of Touch Instruments and a full-featured recording studio — so you can make music anywhere you go. Use Multi-Touch gestures to play pianos, organs, guitars, drums, and basses on your iPad. They sound and play like their counterparts, but let you do things you could never do on a real instrument.
• iMovie for iPad
• Make beautiful HD movies anywhere with iMovie, the fast and fun moviemaking app for iPhone, iPod touch, and the amazing new iPad 2. Designed for the Multi-Touch screen, iMovie puts everything you need to tell your story at your fingertips.
• Keynote for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad
• Exclusively designed for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, Keynote makes creating a world-class presentation — complete with animated charts and transitions — as simple as touching and tapping. Use full-screen view to present right on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
• Pages for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad
• Exclusively designed for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, Pages lets you create, edit, and view documents wherever you are. Every page looks stunning and clear on iPad — and also on iPhone 4 and the latest iPod touch, thanks to the high-resolution Retina display.
• Numbers for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad
• Exclusively designed for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, Numbers lets you make compelling spreadsheets in minutes — with tables, charts, photos, and graphics — using just your fingers. Choose from 250 easy-to-use functions.
• The Princess and the Frog Read-Along
• This FULLY INTERACTIVE App includes GAMES, MOVIE CLIPS, COLORING PAGES and MUSIC to sing along! You can even RECORD YOUR OWN VOICE reading the story.
• Shape Builder – the Preschool Learning Puzzle Game for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• Shape Builder educates & entertains your little one with easy to move shapes that snap into place on top of silhouette puzzles. Each puzzle has 5 to 10 pieces & after positioning all of the pieces, the real image is revealed along with a professional voice recording of the word spoken by Jill Dews, a licensed speech therapist that specializes in early child development.
• Toontastic
• Lights, Camera, Play! Toontastic is a Creative Learning tool that empowers kids to draw, animate, and share their own cartoons through imaginative play.

About our Guests:

Stephanie O’Brien M.S., BCaBA, has been working with children with autism and other developmental delays for over 10 years. After listening to a guest speaker in college speak about Autism and methods for helping children acquire language and motor skills, Stephanie was convinced that this is where she wanted to focus her efforts. She obtained her M.S. Degree in Early Childhood Special Education from Fordham University, and is a Board Certified Associate Behavior Analyst. Stephanie works directly with children with Autism, trains parents, teachers, and therapists, delivers workshops, and consults with school districts on their programs. She is also on the Advisory Board at Brain Parade, helping to develop See.Touch.Learn. It is an application for the iPad, designed for students with Autism and language delays. Her expertise has taken her across the United States, Canada and as far away as Tokyo, Japan. Stephanie has developed and administered programs for schools and districts in WI, MN, PA, CT, NY and New Jersey where she lives today.

Terrence P. O’Brien has been teaching in Moorestown, New Jersey for the last 14 years.He has taught Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade.Terry also enjoys coaching the 8^th Grade Boys Soccer and Baseball teams.Terry received his Education degree from Rider University and his Masters degree in Education from Marygrove College.Terry also coaches Chess and other strategic games during the summer at his camp, Plan of Action.You can contact Terry at POAcamp@aol.com.

Mark Greentree is the principle blogger and podcast creator of www.everydaymacsupport.com. His aim is to inform users at all levels of experience how to get the most out of the Apple hardware and associated software. He is also one of the lead hosts on Not Another Mac Podcast, an Apple based round table discussion with Mac users and experts from all over world.

When Mark isn't producing content for the Mac community he is a at home father to his two children under the age of 5. Hence, educating his children is one of his top priorities and that makes him well suited to be a guest on the TeacherCast podcast. Mark is able to bring a different type of discussion to the table as a result.

Mark is also a qualified photographer and worked for over five years as a scientific and industrial photographer for CSIRO Australia before leaving and working for himself.

Recorded August 2011