Basic iPad Tips and Tricks for Teachers

The changing face of education has unleashed the mighty power of technology in as many forms as possible. Technology assisted learning has taken up the reins of education to provide students with a more enriching experience. Most schools across the globe have been investing heavily in this integration. Parents, teachers and students are rooting for its success.

In the midst of all this incorporation, Mr. Fuller, a grade 4 Math teacher, found himself struggling with the book-like device the school authorities had thrust into his hands with a smile. The iPad got the better of him. The apps weren’t working as he had expected them to. “What are these apps anyway?” he muttered under his breath. He tried desperately to rummage through his brain for the iPad tips he had learned in last week’s professional development class, but they seemed to elude him somehow.

“Explore”, they had said. But his attempts were not helping him in any way. After enough probings and failed efforts, Rory, a higher grade student who happened to be passing by the classroom, put him out of his misery. “There you go, Mr. Fuller, that’s how you close the app,” Rory came to his aid.

Mr. Fuller isn’t alone in this. He has numerous counterparts around the world who find it equally difficult to grasp the basic functionalities of the iPad. Maybe you are one of them. But you see, changing times demand extreme measures. And learning the iPad is one of them. The more you acquaint yourself with these iPads, the better the knowledge will serve you in the classroom.

Still not on the same page with me? First of all, take a deep breath. The iPad isn’t here to choke your stand-and-deliver skills. It will only help you in extending your existing practices. It is just another tool in your arsenal. How you wish to use it in your classroom is completely in your hands.

Here’s the good news. Apple tries constantly to make things easy for its users. One of the core design principles of Apple is to make their systems as intuitive as possible. If you are still struggling with the iPad, I have a few effective tips to get you going.

It’s easy. All you need to do is put in a little effort.

     1.  You just got an iPad – Now What?

So you’ve got hold of the iPad. It sits well in your hands, you switch it on and it greets you back. What do you do now? If you have been asked to use the iPad in class, chances are, your students will be using iPads too.

The first of the common mistakes that most educators commit with the iPad is loading it up with as many apps as seem handy. Get this: apps are not collectibles. These apps will:

• confuse you and you will find yourself groping for the useful ones among the hundreds you have downloaded.
• eat into the precious memory of your iPad, leaving little room for anything else.

Focus on a few apps that work.

In addition, you must start thinking about setting limits. For example:

• How many apps would you allow?
• How many pictures would you allow on the camera roll?
• What activities would you allow on the iPad?
• What will be the proper etiquette for using iPads in the classroom?

With the modern-day classrooms teeming with the highly tech-savvy generation, the iPad can quickly become an outlet for wasting classroom time (a certain game that goes by the name of Candy Crush comes to mind). This should not happen at any cost. The iPad is an effective educational tool. You would need to come up with a plan to keep it that way.

2.  Setting a Passcode

The next thing that you need to do is set a unique passcode for your device and ask your students to do the same. This way, all data remain protected. Here’s how you can accomplish that:

• Open the ‘Settings’ app
• Tap on ‘Passcode’ and select ‘Turn on Passcode’
• Now enter your 4-digit passcode and confirm it

Your passcode is set.

That’s not where it ends. An equally important task that comes right after setting a passcode is remembering it. Nothing can be more embarrassing than getting locked out of your own device just because you have lost the passcode.

     3.  Launching and Closing Apps

Many teachers, like Mr. Fuller, mentioned above, struggle with apps. These apps appear to be little boxes of delight that just refuse to show their colors when needed. Here’s how you can work them:

For launching an app, tap on the app’s icon on the Home Screen. There are two ways to exit an app:

• Clicking on the Home button at the bottom of the iPad would close the app temporarily. If you perform this action, the app would retain the state that you close it in and you can return to it later.
• If you wish to close an app completely, click on the Home button twice. The apps that have been closed temporarily will be listed here. Swipe across to locate the app you wish to close completely and swipe it up and away. Or, you can tap and hold the app and then tap the ‘-‘ sign to close the app.

Now wasn’t that easy? Try it now.

 4.  Taking a Screenshot

Sometimes employing an iPad in teaching requires you to take screenshots that you might need to refer to at a later date.

A screenshot is a picture of what appears on the screen. To take a screenshot with your iPad, press the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons at the same time. As soon as you do that, you will hear the shutter sound and the screen will flash. This indicates that the screenshot has been taken successfully. The screenshot will be saved in your iPad’s photo gallery.

5.  Organizing Your Apps

With the several apps that you end up downloading, locating the right one at the right moment becomes a bit of a chore. Therefore, it becomes extremely important to arrange the apps appropriately. Say, for example, you have a couple of apps (say, 4 apps) related to Geography. Our aim is to create a folder containing these related apps.

Here’s how you can organize them on your home screen:

• Tap and hold the app until it starts to wiggle.
• Now drag it to the location you wish to place it in.
• Repeat the first step for the second app and place it on top of the first app that you have placed on the home screen. This will create a folder for those two apps.
• You can do the same for the other two apps.
• Once the folder is complete, you can rename it.

You can place as many apps in a folder as you wish.

The taskbar at the bottom of the home screen has six spots to house your favorite apps. You can place your folders here as well. Apart from that, you can also drag a folder to the right or left edge of the home screen to move them to another page.

6.  Keyboard Tips

Did you know that your iPad’s keyboard has a lot more to offer than what meets the eye? Let’s find out what else could be done with it other than the mainstream work.

• Split keyboard: Visit ‘Settings’ and turn on the ‘Split Keyboard’ option. Now pull up any app that requires the keyboard. As soon as the keyboard pops up, place your thumbs on it and pull it apart. The keyboard will split right in front of you!If you wish to bring that back to normal, you can place your thumbs on the split portions, one on each and pull them back together.How cool is that!

• Extra letters: Did you know that quite a few extra characters are lurking underneath the visible characters on your keyboard? You can uncover them by tapping and holding the visible characters. The hidden characters are similar to the ones they are hiding behind.

• Keyboard shortcuts: Tired of typing the same phrases again and again? Now you can do away with this hassle by assigning shortcuts to the phrases you require to use repeatedly.Go to: Settings app → General → Keyboard → ShortcutsTap on the ‘+’ sign on the right to create a new shortcut. Now type in the phrase and the shortcut that you wish to assign to it and save.Now if you type the shortcut somewhere, the phrase will automatically pop up as a suggestion. Tap the space bar to replace the shortcut with the phrase.There are a number of other keyboard shortcut options that can come in handy.

• Tidbits: These come in handy, always:Double-tapping the ‘Shift’ key will turn on the Caps lock.
  Double tap the Space bar to type a period and a space.
  Tapping on the keyboard icon will hide the keyboard. 

     7.  Setting Restrictions

Since you will be working with students, the iPad could quickly turn out to be a distraction in class. Good news is, there’s a solution to that. You can restrict access to various apps and features for students on the iPad. Here’s how:

Go to: Settings → General → Restriction

Tap on ‘Enable Restrictions’ and enter a passcode. You must note this passcode somewhere to prevent losing it, because if you do, then you would have to erase the device and set it up from the beginning as a new device.

That completes our basic iPad tips for you. Now all you need to do is apply these to achieve a fulfilling iPad experience.

However, this is not where it ends. With the updates that technology churns out by the minute, you would need to keep yourself constantly updated to stay on top of the game. As much as your professional development sessions at school will help you, so will self-study. Go through the numerous iPad blogs and free webinars out there to gain more knowledge about how to make the most of the iPad. You must also create your own Personal Learning Network on social media to receive updates on the iPad’s apps and features.

What other tips would you like to add to this list? Share those with us in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.