In our previous entry, we introduced the WS-01 Wireless Station for iPad. It allows your IPEVO doc cam (Ziggi or Point 2 View) to wirelessly stream to iPad. And a key part of that equation is the IPEVO Whiteboard app. You can get it for free from the Apple App Store. In this entry, we’ll share all the exciting possibilities for what this versatile app can do.

Whiteboard displays the high-resolution real-time video from your doc cam. But importantly, it also allows you to annotate that video. What do we mean by annotate? You can add emphasis, highlights, multiple colors, shapes, text boxes, and pointers — you know, all the interactive elements that enhance learning for your students or audience as you go along. And these are all accomplished with a simple touchscreen toolkit.

Let’s run down a list of the specifics:

• Two freehand drawing tools, each with 16 different colors (8 solids, 8 translucents)
• Arrows and straight lines with 8 colors
• Ovals and squares with 8 colors
• Editable text boxes which can become larger and smaller
• An Eraser tool to clear your drawings
• One-touch undo and redo, along with a Clear All function

Whether it’s highlighting a literature passage, stepping your students through a science diagram, or pointing out key points of interest in everything from maps to mathematics to Monet, chances are you’ll find a ton of uses for an easy-to-use interactive whiteboard.

Two more things to mention. Annotation doesn’t stop at just your doc cam image. You can create multiple “boards” and switch between them. These boards can use multiple backgrounds, including an image from your iPad’s Photo Library, the iPad camera feed itself, or simply a blank white canvas. Secondly, Whiteboard features integrated Evernote support. You can send drawn boards directly to your Evernote account to share or refer to later.

All in all, Whiteboard delivers plenty of smart utility for teachers, lecturers and presenters — all at no charge. Check out the Whiteboard page for more information on how to transform your iPad into an interactive whiteboard.

IPEVO document cameras including the Point 2 View and Ziggi have won over teachers and businesspeople around the world. Now we are pleased to present a great new way to use your doc cam: wirelessly with your iPad! With the WS-01 Wireless Station for iPad, you can stream real-time video right to your iPad.

The WS-01 is a compact device that communicates via your existing Wi-Fi network. Plug your IPEVO doc cam into WS-01, and then download the free IPEVO Whiteboard app onto your iPad. (We devote the blog next entry to Whiteboard, so check it out.) Whiteboard will communicate with WS-01, and you’ll stream high-resolution images in real time to your iPad, wirelessly.

WS-01 also works with PC or Mac via a special “Live-view” mode in your internet browser, so no matter which computer you choose, you’ll enjoy wireless streaming convenience. WS-01 can even connect your device to the internet all by itself.

Let’s talk about what’s possible with the iPad + WS-01 + Doc Cam setup. We’ll save the specifics of Whiteboard for our next entry, but basically the app allows you to draw on and add text to your doc cam image. In other words, WS-01 and Whiteboard turn your iPad into a portable interactive whiteboard. From there, you can project video and annotations onto the big screen via a wired VGA connection to your projector. Or, you can use Apple TV to project your video and annotations wirelessly.

For lectures, demonstrations and presentations, this setup is a complete teaching solution for everything from literature to art to science to business. Now your interactive whiteboard can be held in one hand. Pretty cool, huh? We think so! If all that wasn’t enough, here’s one more bonus. The WS-01 can also be used as an SD card reader and USB disk drive. You can save and manage files — wirelessly — with simple browser-based file management.

Check out the WS-01 page for more information on how to unlock the true potential of your doc cam and iPad with the Wireless Station.

Heard of Wishpool? It’s IPEVO’s new way of getting education technology into the hands of more teachers. And we’re extremely pleased to announce a big milestone in this initiative. Even though it’s only been going on for a month or so, we’ve already received 500 wish stories from educators! And each day, we’re trying our best to make as many of those wishes come true as we can.

To date, we have delivered 356 Point 2 View USB Document Cameras and 325 Typi Folio Cases + Wireless Keyboard to 230 schools across 4 countries (Canada, Finland, United Kingdom and United States). And reports have been trickling in about how these handy ed tech accessories have impacted learning and teaching in the classroom. It feels great to know that IPEVO tech is making a difference, and we can’t wait to see what else our enterprising teachers have in store.

We want to keep the momentum going, so if you’re an educator who thinks IPEVO technology could help maximize teaching as well as learning, we’d like to hear from you. Make a wish today for free, and you might join all of the folks who have already had their wish stories come true.

What kind of teachers are becoming Wishpoolers? Check out the Wishpool site and see for yourself, and here’s also a small sample:

Colleen Rose at Nipigon-Red Rock District High School
Red Rock, Ontario, Canada

“Our art program has started to embrace technology! The Point 2 View document camera would help me demonstrate a variety of ways to use media for studio lessons, but it would also allow students to show their methods as well.”

Chelsea Rawhoof at Pecatonica Elementary School
Pecatonica, Illinois

“My kids and I do a lot of writing. I would love to be able to model writing for them using this camera. It would allow me to edit right along with them using the same paper.”

Brian Dunagan at Mooresville Middle School
Mooresville, North Carolina

“If my wish were granted, the Point 2 View would be used mostly for demonstrations. I often use demonstrations so students can experience scientific experimentation when the materials are either too expensive or are dangerous. As the old adage says, ‘Seeing is believing.’”

To all the teachers who have submitted wishes: a sincere THANK YOU. And to all the teachers who haven’t yet, we’re accepting wish stories on an ongoing basis. It won’t take long, it’s completely free, and we just might be able to make your wish come true. Let’s keep it up!

Tricia Fuglestad is a visual art teacher who has done some truly innovative things in her art class with IPEVO’s Point 2 View USB Document Camera. And as it turns out, she had plenty to teach us (and potential Wishpoolers) about what’s possible with our favorite featherlight doc cam. What can you do with IPEVO ed tech in the classroom? Maybe the better question is: what can’t you do!

Working with K-5 students at Dryden Elementary School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, Tricia is the current recipient of the NAEA 2012 Illinois Art Teacher of the Year. Her art blog was an Art Ed finalist for Blog of the Year as well as a finalist in the 2011 Edublog Awards for best new blog. (Translation: it’s really good, check it out!) Tricia originally became interested in the Point 2 View after attending an education tech conference in her area. Many educators were praising the Point 2 View for its high quality and low price, and she decided to try it out.

There’s nothing like digging in and trying things out first-hand, and Tricia did just that with the Point 2 View. She developed 6 ways to use the Point 2 View in art class, and we even have an additional couple of updates to share. We’ll let Tricia tell you more in her own words:

1. Animation: “The Point 2 View was a perfect tool for explaining and demonstrating the stop motion animation process to my students. Just move an object, click the snapshot button to take a still image, and move the object again.”
2. Augmented Reality: “We printed out an Augmented Reality marker in order to view a 3-D model of the Parthenon on the projection screen during our study of Greek art. Students could hold the marker at a comfortable level to view the model from all angles.”
   
3. iPads and iPods: “I connect the Point 2 View to the computer and project these devices for demos. This use is perfect for the Point 2 View.”
   
4. Photo Booth: “Apple’s Photo Booth allows the Point 2 View to record video. I can aim the Point 2 View at my students who are too small to reach the desktop camera or who can’t position themselves because of a disability. We recorded students’ lips for artwork we created.” (Here’s their amazing video presentation of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax using this method.)
   
5. Sharing sketches: “The Point 2 View gives my students a way to share their sketches or writings with the class quickly. It’s perfect for playing guessing games or sharing with the class to see if artwork has communicated ideas clearly.”
6. Fine Art Techniques: “The Point 2 View is great for demonstrating small detailed techniques. Instead of calling all the students out of their seats to stand over me as I demonstrate, I use the camera to make art along with them.” (See picture below for the setup Tricia used to demonstrate in real time how to create the illusion of a curved 3D apple.)
   
7. Update #1 — Collaborative Sculpture: Students made clay mask sculptures. To supplement the activity, the iPad was loaded up with an app called 123D Sculpt. The Point 2 View was set up to capture the iPad for projection as students took turns digitally sculpting the same image. Fun!
   
8. Update #2 — International Exchange: Mrs. Fuglestad’s fourth-grade students had a Skype conference with Professor Juan Carlos Castro’s students (future art educators) studying at Montreal’s Concordia University. The Point 2 View was turned up and used like a web camera to capture students presenting for their audience. As Tricia explains on her blog: “Each student presented one slide and glowed in the polite applause of their audience in Canada (that was so sweet). Then they lined up to answer questions and later ask questions. We all learned so much!”

Tricia sums up the Point 2 View this way: “The Point 2 View has amazing clarity and great weight balance, and I like that it uses USB as opposed to other document cameras that use VGA, which requires more fiddling with the projector. $69 is a very affordable price for a teaching tool that can make a world of difference for students.”

Interested in trying out some of the same techniques or a few of your own? We created Wishpool to help you. Become a Wishpooler, tell us your story, and you just might get a free Point 2 View or other IPEVO ed tech for your school. It’s free and it’s easy. Meanwhile, remember to check out Tricia’s art blog for more great artwork and teaching ideas.

To learn more about Wishpool, please visit http://www.ipevo.com/wishpool.

The education community has given us tremendous support, and we wanted to do something to show our appreciation. That’s why we developed the new IPEVO Wishpool. Teachers, listen up, because we might be able to make your education technology wishes come true — for free!

Wishpool is a unique program that’s all about empowering teachers with free IPEVO ed tech — like the Ziggi and Point 2 View USB Document Cameras which have both been such a hit in the classroom. Wishpool is free to sign up for and it’s very simple. You just need to be a teacher at a registered primary or secondary school (public or private) within the United States, Canada, Japan, or the European Union. Visit the Wishpool website and register with your school email address.

From there, we want to know your story! Tell us about your classroom — what you do, what your students are doing, and how IPEVO technology might help you take your teaching (and their learning) to new heights. A written story is great, and any pictures are a big help as well. We call these “wish stories” — when you think you could do even more in your classroom with an IPEVO product, let us know and we’ll try to make your wish come true.

That’s pretty much it. You’ll receive a confirmation email letting you know your wish story was approved. Your story will appear on the Wishpool website as inspiration and to generate even more ideas for teachers with the same goals. After about a week, we’ll let you know whether we were able to fulfill your wish. If so, you’ll receive one or more of our monthly ed tech giveaways featured on the Wishpool website.

Wishpool is a program for special teachers, and our goal is pretty special, too — a better, technology-rich education for more children, each and every day. And with teachers like you leading the way, we can do it.

Remember, applying for complimentary products through Wishpool is absolutely free and there’s no obligation. So if you’re a teacher with technology needs in the classroom, there’s no reason to delay. Sign up for Wishpool (http://www.ipevo.com/wishpool/), make your wish, and together we can make a difference.

UDL is a term which has enjoyed a renewed focus in educational circles recently, and we wanted to tell you how the IPEVO Document Cameras — Ziggi and the Point 2 View — can help educators achieve this promising approach to learning.

What is UDL? It stands for Universal Design for Learning. It’s a concept that takes up after the universal design movement in architecture. In the same way that buildings can be designed to accommodate the most diverse range of people — like an entrance ramp that could serve bike riders, moms with strollers, and those in wheelchairs — UDL is a framework which encourages curriculum to be designed for the most diverse range of students. UDL acknowledges that no two students learn in quite the same way. As such, “more is more” when it comes to curriculum. By multiplying your methods and your media, you will reach more students and achieve better results overall.

UDL has three major elements:

Representation — Presenting material in many different ways and through multiple media

Expression — Allowing students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways

Engagement — Making sure there are multiple ways to engage learners and instill that very important “love of learning”

And this is where IPEVO ed tech comes in. Ziggi and the Point 2 View give you the ability to present material in new ways. Just check out our Top 50 ways that educators can use document cameras and 50 MORE ways for ideas. That’s a mind-boggling range of ways to both present material and get your students excited about learning. When you multiply the opportunities for students to engage the material, you’re fostering a more universal (and thus more effective) learning environment.

Finding the right mix of teaching methods that “click” with your students is part of the challenge, but it’s also part of the fun. Ziggi and the Point 2 View can help you improve your teaching according to all three UDL elements — Representation, Expression and Engagement. It brings material closer to students than ever before, and it opens up a new level of interactivity that can really make a difference in your class.

Remember: We DO accept school purchase orders, and we DO have volume discount rates on both Ziggi and the Point 2 View. Contact sales-america@ipevo.com for more information. Try one of our affordable document cameras in your class: you won’t be disappointed!

We’re rolling out a brand new software app for all of our USB document cameras, including the Point 2 View and Ziggi. It’s called IPEVO Presenter, and it’s still got everything you need to quickly and easily get amazing image captures in the classroom. But in addition to a more user-friendly interface, Presenter also has a few extra tricks up its sleeve to make your experience even better.

And one of these new features we’re excited to tell you about is integrated Evernote support.

Evernote is a powerful, multimedia notetaking application that has particular value for teaching and learning, not to mention business collaboration and project management. Almost anything you can think of — audio files, pictures, text, entire web pages — can be arranged in an Evernote notebook.

As for IPEVO Presenter, a new Evernote mode allows you to take snapshots with your doc cam and then send those captures directly to the Evernote notebook of your choice. Take high-quality captures of textbook pages, handwritten notes, artwork, math equations, charts and graphs, or anything else, and then round up all those captures and send them to Evernote in just a couple of clicks.

You can probably see the potential for Evernote support, but let’s discuss a couple of the advantages. Evernote is available for Android, iPhones, iPad, PCs, and just about every mobile device out there. That means your doc cam images can now be viewed and managed on whatever device you like. Your captures are instantly more portable and more versatile.

Also consider that you can share notebooks with other Evernote users. Whether you’re a teacher sharing class notes with your students, a businessperson collaborating on a project, or a student organizing a group study session before the big exam, there’s a lot to like about Evernote’s ability to share.

We’ll give you one more reason to use Evernote with your doc cam. Evernote’s search function — set up very similar to the Google search bar in your browser — can not only search typed notes, but also images with text. Capture textbook text or even your handwritten class notes, upload them to Evernote, and now you have a searchable archive so you can find exactly what you’re looking for.

If all of this sounds cool, that’s probably because… it is! And there are even more ways to accelerate teaching and learning when you use Evernote and your IPEVO doc cam. Head on over to the Evernote home page to find out more. The basic Evernote app is downloadable for free, and there’s a premium upgrade with additional benefits.

IPEVO’s Evernote support gives you one more way to take teaching and learning to the next level, so download your free Evernote account and see what inspires you.

If you’re an educator who has used the Point 2 View USB Document Camera, you know about the camera’s crystal-clear images, thanks to a 2-Megapixel CMOS sensor. And you might have taken advantage of the camera’s macro mode for capturing fine details and text from as close as 2 inches (5 cm) away. Now with the Magnifying Lens — P2V’s newest accessory — you can bring your teaching materials even closer to your students.

The Magnifying Lens is designed to fit snugly right over the front of the Point 2 View camera body — no clips or bolts or anything like that — and taking the lens off is just as easy. All you need to do after that is flip a switch to turn on the Lens’ built-in LED light to illuminate your subject. Then, lay the P2V and Magnifying Lens directly onto your subject. The Lens provides 2x magnification to make tiny details large and clear for projection and for sharing with the whole class. If you thought the Point 2 View alone could capture some stunning images, wait until you use the Magnifying Lens.

What type of things can the Magnifying Lens be used for in the classroom? Science stuff like leaves, wood grain, fabric, metals or electronic parts. Math stuff like diagrams and measuring instruments. Fine details from reproduced or original artwork. Money. Maps. A chart or timeline from the history textbook. And that’s just scratching the surface. As with all of our products, I’m sure we’ll get new ideas from customers about other great uses for the Magnifying Lens (send us a message at cs@ipevo.com if you have an idea to share!).

Please visit the Magnifying Lens page if you’d like more information and more pictures. And consider purchasing the Magnifying Lens for your classroom or school. We’re sure it will prove its value by offering new and better perspectives for your students.

Recently we had the pleasure of checking in with Tricia Fuglestad, a K-5 Visual Art Teacher in Arlington Heights, IL. She’s the current recipient of the NAEA 2012 Illinois Art Teacher of the Year. And she had plenty to teach us about using IPEVO’s Point 2 View USB Document Camera in her art class.

Tricia originally became interested in the Point 2 View after attending an education tech conference in her area. Many educators were praising the Point 2 View for its high quality and low price, and she decided to try it out.

Thus far, Tricia has developed 6 ways to use the Point 2 View in art class. We’ll let Tricia tell you more in her own words:

1. Animation: “The Point 2 View was a perfect tool for explaining and demonstrating the stop motion animation process to my students. Just move an object, click the snapshot button to take a still image, and move the object again.”
2. Augmented Reality: “We printed out an Augmented Reality marker in order to view a 3-D model of the Parthenon on the projection screen during our study of Greek art. Students could hold the marker at a comfortable level to view the model from all angles.”
3. iPads and iPods: “I connect the Point 2 View to the computer and project these devices for demos. This use is perfect for the Point 2 View.”
4. Photo Booth: “Apple’s Photo Booth allows the Point 2 View to record video. I can aim the Point 2 View at my students who are too small to reach the desktop camera or who can’t position themselves because of a disability. We recorded students’ lips for artwork we created.” (At the top of the page is their amazing video presentation of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax using this method!)
5. Sharing sketches: “The Point 2 View gives my students a way to share their sketches or writings with the class quickly. It’s perfect for playing guessing games or sharing with the class to see if artwork has communicated ideas clearly.”
6. Fine Art Techniques: “The Point 2 View is great for demonstrating small detailed techniques. Instead of calling all the students out of their seats to stand over me as I demonstrate, I use the camera to make art along with them.” (See picture below for the setup Tricia used to demonstrate in real time how to create the illusion of a curved 3D apple.)

Tricia sums up the Point 2 View this way: “The Point 2 View has amazing clarity and great weight balance, and I like that it uses USB as opposed to other document cameras that use VGA, which requires more fiddling with the projector. $69 is a very affordable price for a teaching tool that can make a world of difference for students.”

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and your images, Tricia, we really appreciate it. Please check out Tricia’s school website for even more great artwork. And for any readers interested in learning more, head on over to our Point 2 View page for more info and ideas.

We won’t bore you with a long introduction. Here are the first fifty ideas for document cameras in the classroom. And here are fifty other ideas to use IPEVO’s Ziggi or Point 2 View USB Document Cameras to add variety, multimedia, utility, or just plain fun to learning.

We’d love to hear what you think. Any other ideas you’d like to share with educators?

51. Brainstorming — Write down ideas, and everyone can see the ideas as you go.
52. Votes and polls — Take a vote and show the results.
53. Digital flash cards — Study time just got more effective.
54. Stop-motion animations — Several customers have reported using our doc cams to perform educational stop-motion projects.
55. Biology — Share small live animals (like worms and insects) with crystal-clear detail.
56. Class pet — Have a class pet, like a gerbil? Create a “Gerbil Cam.”
57. Economics — Display charts, graphs, data and more for an economics, business, or marketing class.
58. Timelines — Help your visual learners with a timeline of historical events or things like the age of the dinosaurs.
59. Puzzles — For early learners, assemble a puzzle and let the class help you.
60. Tell time — Show how to tell time or read a calendar.
61. Sorting and identification — Take small objects and guide the class through sorting and identifying them.
62. Homework — Keep students on track by displaying tomorrow’s homework assignment.
63. Musical instruments — Demonstrate proper fingering on a recorder, for one example.
64. Sports — Introduce the basic rules of games and sports in physical education class.
65. Foreign languages — Share words, grammar rules, and side-by-side translations of foreign languages.
66. Poetry — Help students understand rhyme, meter, style and structure of poems.
67. Game time — Have fun with Boggle, Word Scramble, Hangman, Jeopardy!, or similar games.
68. Literature — Identify and compare literary genres and writing styles.
69. Grammar — Demonstrate and correct common grammar mistakes, like “i before e” or “than versus then.”
70. Round-robin reading — Read a play or book round-robin style so all students can participate and follow along.
71. Show off — When a student does a great job, reward them by showing off their perfect paper, test, or worksheet.
72. Math formulas — Don’t recreate math problems or formulas from the textbook. Save time and just show the textbook.
73. Phonics — Teach phonics, sentence construction, parts of speech, etc.
74. Preserve fragile items — For fragile or expensive items you want to share, show it with the doc cam rather than passing it around.
75. Color wheel — Show the colors in the color wheel, show how colors mix to create other colors, etc.
76. ESL/ESOL — Supply a valuable visual complement to oral teaching for students whose first language is not English.
77. Blow up text — Go big on tiny text, for your benefit or for the benefit of your students.
78. Tech tutorial — Teach how to use a digital camera, for one example. A doc cam is perfect to pick up all the small controls and menus.
79. Time-lapse photography — Take a snapshot of stages in a process, like a seed growing into a plant, for a terrific time-lapse photography project.
80. Environmental print cards — These cards are great for “reading readiness” for early learners. Sort and identify.
81. Fine textures — Our doc cams are ideal for showing details from anything with fine texture, like wood grain or fabric.
82. Round-robin drawing — Draw an object, then have students take turns adding more to the drawing.
83. Art analysis — For a test or in-class exercise, display artwork from a textbook or photo book and have students analyze it.
84. Getting closer to students — As a replacement for a whiteboard or chalkboard, a doc cam allows you to sit down and get closer to your students.
85. Proofreading — Demonstrate how to proofread a paper and how to use proofreader’s marks.
86. Drama — Drama teachers can display scripts or text from plays.
87. Political cartoons — Comic strips and political cartoons can often help spur discussion in a fun way.
88. Software tutorial — Step through a software application on the computer.
89. Make words — Rearrange magnetic letters to form words in preschool or kindergarten.
90. Picture schedule — Younger students can benefit from pictures representing what will happen that day, or things like a picture of a backpack to remind them to stow their backpacks in their cubbyholes at the beginning of the day.
91. Remote learning — Use either Ziggi or Point 2 View as a webcam for remote learning sessions and one-on-one tutoring.
92. Pen pals — Similar to #91, coordinate with a teacher in another country to create a unique pen pal program with real-time video between classrooms.
93. Mock courtroom — Doc cams are being used more and more in real courts of law to show evidence and court documents. Use it the same way for a mock trial.
94. Picture-to-story — Show a picture or pictures with the doc cam, and then have students create a story based upon those pictures.
95. Absentees — Snap pictures of today’s curriculum, homework assignments, math problems, or class notes for absent students.
96. Teleprompter — Use the doc cam and projector like a teleprompter when practicing speeches or staging debates.
97. Bingo — Host a fun game of Math Bingo or other types of Bingo.
98. Fill-in-the-blank — Involve the class in fill-in-the-number math sequences or vocabulary-building fill-in-the-word exercises.
99. Performance backdrop — When having students stage a play for the class, display a suitable picture backdrop for the scene using the doc cam, and then angle your projector at a 45 degree angle downward toward the actors. Instant backdrop!
100. Straight lines — Project a lined sheet of white paper onto the whiteboard. You now have nice straight lines when you or your students write on the board.