February 21, 2014
iPad is a great versatile device that can be utilized for a wide range of educational purposes in our classrooms. One of the best uses is to turn it into a whiteboard canvass to record and create tutorials and step by step guides to share with your students. There are in fact several apps that you can use for this purpose, here is a list of some I have reviewed in the past, however, today I am adding three great tittles to this collection:
1- Air Sketch
Since my last review of Air Sketch a few weeks ago, the folks in Air Sketch have contacted me informing me about the new version they have released. Air Sketch is great for presentations in the boardroom, classroom, or on the go. Just fire up Air Sketch on the iPad and open the specified URL from any HTML-5 compatible browser on the local network. Your photos and drawings show up natively in the browser. There’s no proprietary client software to install, or services to subscribe to.
Other features Air Sketch offers :
- Turn your iPad into a wireless whiteboard!
- Annotate PDF documents and images live
- project PDF documents (such as exported PowerPoint or Keynote decks) to a computer on the same local network, then annotate them in real time, all from your iPad.
- Real-time sketching to your browser: Strokes show up as you draw, network speeds permitting.
- You can record them using any desktop recording tool, such as QuickTime’s Screen Recording feature.
- Or share your sketches with remote colleagues using any desktop sharing app such as iChat.
- 5 drawing tools: Pencil, pen, marker, brush, and highligher.
- A fully customizable color palette (tap on the selected color to edit it).
- Fluidly zoom and pan using 2 fingers to edit your sketches in minute detail.
- Instantly save and restore snapshots of your sketches using the camera tool.
2- Vittle
Vittle is another great iPad app that lets you easily narrate and annotate your photos and PDF slide decks to create highly engaging videos. Some other features that Vittle provides to its users include :
- Annotate and sketch using the ultra-smooth ink of our proprietary Inkflow Engine,
- Resize and move anything around the page,
- Zoom in to focus on key points,
- Visually navigate through even complex topics.
Inkflow works like a Word Processor for Visual Thinking. Capture your ideas as easily as with pen and paper, then arrange and reorganize them with your fingers! inkflow is perfect for: brainstorming, planning and scheduling, graphic design and layout, sketching and doodling, notes, sketch notes, and mindmaping.