Pen and Touch Inspiration

Wacom is a lot more than just Bamboo Paper and a cool Stylus in funky colours. I was invited to a recent product launch by Wacom Australia. I was interested because I wanted to see if these products could be utilised within a school setting. The launch was really about the new CintiQ 24HD - a beautifully designed interactive pen display on a massive 24" widescreen workspace. This is the flagship of their product range and sets a new standard for professionals working in 3D design, animation, game development, industrial design and visual effects.

The launch did however also re-introduce the full range of Wacom products - CintiQ, Interactive Pen Displays, intuos tablets and of course their Stylus and Bamboo Paper app. The most impressive of these from a educational point of view was probably the Bamboo Tablet range. These tablets and the ultra responsive pens are a far cry from the original tablet devices. The Wacom tablet and pen combinations come in 4 models, all moderately priced and well within the budget constraints of most schools.

One of the most impressive things about the Wacom products are the institutions that have aligned themselves with Wacom products. The Enmore Design Centre - Sydney Institute is a design school that Ikea has bought designs straight from the students. Wacom have also been involved in some innovative projects - the best is probably the Advanced Teaching Concept Space at the University of Queensland. 

By coincidence I had a number of students at my school who happened to be using Wacom tablets to produce artworks for their Higher School Certificate Body of Work. The students were the ones that sold me on the quality and features of the Wacom tablets.

The tablet works directly with the image manipulation software that you are using and is simply connected via USB. The pens are wireless. These tablets are a great example of why iPads may not be your only choice of device within a school or department. 

The beauty of the pen is the balanced and responsive feel of it whilst in the drawing process. Many students were more comfortable achieving their effects using the pens as opposed to a mouse. The pen made them feel more like they were actually drawing and they were able to create a better nuance in the use of line and depiction of colour. The nib is touch sensitive - the more you press the wider the line or more intense the colour. The pen allowed the students to create a quick and productive workflow that meant that some of these illustrations were created within relatively sort period of time.

So, this is the challenge. A challenge not to discount other devices simply because they are not iPads. These tablets are certainly one of those devices that fall into the category of non-traditional teaching aids but I know people who now exclusively use tablets and have totally given up using a mouse at all.

The young man who produced these works is exceptional, rarely have I seen works of this quality from a 17 year old student. Having said that I have also seen some absolutely wonderful artworks produced on the iPad. There is no reason why you could not attempt this style of portraiture using any number of iPad apps but there are other devices for creating artwork within the digital format. We need to keep an open mind.

iDevices in the Science Lab

Can you record what you see in a microscope using an iDevice. One of the Science teachers came into the staff room very excited yesterday. She had been working with her senior science class with the normal light microscope looking at red and white blood cells at 400X. They were discussing how they could document their experiment. One of her students just grabbed his iPhone, placed it on the eyepiece of the microscope and took a photograph. Here are the resulting images.

The pink dot in the top left corner is a white blood cell

These images where use to grid up and count the cells before drawing the diagram.

This was so good because the NSW Biology Stage 6 Syllabus states that students must:

• use a technique using prepared slides and
• measure the field of view

Module 9.2 includes a section on Maintaining a Balance. In Section 2 the second practical bullet point is

• performs a first hand investigation using the light microscope and prepared slides to gather information to estimate the size of red and white blood cells and draw scale diagrams of each

The beauty of this is not the use of technology itself but that the technology increased motivation and the subsequent task became easier to perform. The drawing and documentation became a real learning experience and the students were able to contribute to their own learning by discovering new ways of documenting their own experiments.

It would be easy to take this further again. Looking at hormones under an electron microscope would give you beautiful images of crystalline structures. This opens up some great links between art and science. This is itself a discussion that has gained attention lately and one area where a cross curricula project could be beneficial to develop.

Progesterone, Estradial, Estrone, Methhotrexate, Testosterone,and Diethylstilbeshol

These are images of hormones as seen under a microscope, from the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University.

I would love to hear how you have used iDevices in your science lessons. Include them in the comments section so we can share these ideas with others. Science teachers do get to do some pretty cool stuff.


To see what is possible check out Princeton University's 2011 Art of Science winners.

http://www.princeton.edu/artofscience/gallery2011/index.php%3Fp=1.html

Related Article: Great microscope accessory
http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2011/04/ipad-accessories-for-learning.html

100 Essential iPad Tips and Tricks

Change the way the default apps and the operating system behave, to make them suit your particular needs. You’ll also discover ways to squeeze more functionality out of the default apps.

The guys over at tcgeeks.com have put together another great article on the iPad. Where many articles before have focused on the settings and technical aspects of getting the most from your iPad, this article is really about customising your ipad. The iPad is an incredibly versatile device that can enhance your life in many different ways but all iPads behave identically when you first get them out of the box. That’s no reason for us to use our gadgets in the same way as everyone else. Be sure to check out the rest of their site at tcgeeks.


01 Which Direction Am I Travelling In?

When using the Maps app, you can see your current position on the map as a blue dot. If you’re unsure which direction you are walking in, simply tap on the compass arrow icon on the top bar. A torchlight-style beam will emit from the blue location dot, indicating your current direction. So you need never get lost again.

02 Share Your Location

If you want to rendezvous with a friend, tap the ‘i’ icon by the pin that indicates your current location. Tap the ‘Share Location’ button and then email or MMS a map reference to your friend. They can tap the map’s URL link and view your location as a pin in their own Maps app.

03 Drop a Pin

If you can’t find a precise location via the Maps app’s handy search option, you can tap on the curled paper at the bottom right and press ‘Drop Pin’. You can then drag the pin to a point on the map (or just tap and hold on the screen), tap the blue ‘I’ icon and click on the ‘Directions to Here button’.

04 Get Bus Times

By default, the Maps app’s Directions function displays the route and time it’ll take you to get to your destination when travelling by car. If you click the Bus icon you’ll get walking directions to the nearest bus stop, then see the relevant bus number and departure time to take you to your destination.

05 Instant Traffic Repport

If you’re not sure what route to take, tap the Maps app’s curled paper (at the bottom right) and toggle the Traffic button on, Clear roads will be marked with green, slow moving traffic will appear as amber and real snarl ups will be highlighted by flashing red lines. You can then plan a faster route.

06 Give Turn-by-Turn Driving Directions

The Maps app’s Directions menu displays routes as a line from A to B, but this is not suitable for a driver to access safely while on the move. Tap ‘Directions’ at the top of the window then tap ‘Start’ in the directions bar. Now tap the list icon in the blue bar for turn-by-turn directions.

07 Pause Your Downloads

If you’re trying to update a bunch of apps at the same time and don’t feel like waiting forever for one of them to finish, it’s possible to pause the installation of an app and form your own orderly queue. Simply tap an app icon while it is downloading to pause the process. Tap it again to resume.

 08 Create Big Print

If you don’t always have your reading glasses to hand, it can be a hassle having to squint to read small fonts within text messages, notes or emails. Pop into Settings>General and scroll down to Accessibility. Then use the Large Text option to make the words in many applications look larger.

09 Perform a Double-Tap Zoom

For a closer look at your app icons, turn on the ‘Zoom’ option in the Accessibility menu. A double tap with three fingers will then magnify a part of the screen. You can scroll around the zoomed screen by dragging with three fingers. Double-tap with three fingers to zoom out again.

10 Activate VoiceOver

You can get your iPad to read out the contents of any screen (including button labels) by turning on the ‘VoiceOver’ option (in Accessibility). This will dramatically change the way you interact with the iPad, but is handy for listening to a book while on the move.

Read the full 100 tips and tricks article http://www.tcgeeks.com/ipad-tips-and-tricks/