Guided Access on iPads

Have you ever used iPads with your students and caught them using a different app than what you asked them to use? Frustrating, right? Wouldn't it be nice if you could keep them in the app you wanted in the first place? Oh wait, you can!

The iPad has all kinds of tricks and hidden gems built in to make life easier for its users. One of them is called Guided Access and what it does, among other things, is lock the iPad into a particular app. It's not exactly straightforward to find and turn on, but with a little digging, it can make classroom management with many iPads much simpler!

Guided Access is hidden in the accessibility settings. To find it, follow these steps:

• Go to the Settings menu.
• From there, click General.
• Click Accessibility (there are actually several features here you might want to check out, but we'll move ahead for now).
• Scroll down to Guided Access (near the bottom).

• Tap the switch to turn on Guided Access.

• Then click Passcode settings. (You will need to create a passcode if you don't already have one. This is what you will need to exit Guided Access when your students are done working. Be sure you keep track of the passcode!)

You're all set! To activate Guided Access, enter the app you'd like students to use and then triple-click the home button. The window will shrink a bit and you will see the Guided Access controls appear on the screen. Click Start at the top right corner and Guided Access will be activated.



Now when your students use the iPads and try to back out of an app, it won't work. They also can't double-click the home button to scroll between open apps. When you're done using that app, triple-click the home button to reveal the Guided Access controls again. From there, you can either end or resume Guided Access. You can also use the Guided Access menu to turn off access to particular parts of the screen. This can be helpful if their are buttons you don't want your students to bump accidentally. Remember, Guided Access has to be turned on each time you enter an app!

Google Drive: Collaborate or Copy?

Most people will admit that the introduction of Google Drive and its collaborative features, has been a game changer in the world of education.  Gone are (or should) be the days of emailing documents back and forth only to be working on outdated copies and trying to sort through multiple versions to find the “right” one.

The ability to share documents and other files with colleagues and students with just a few clicks is amazing.  We can work together on a single document in real time without having to crowd around a computer screen.  Participants can add to a meeting agenda without needing to email the items to the organizer.  Teachers don’t need to photocopy documents or manage hundreds of emails from students (particularly if they use Google Classroom).

Sometimes, however, collaboration on a document can be problematic.  Sometimes we want to share something with a colleague, but we still need to keep our original.  We remind them to make their own copy (which they can do), but they often forget and just start editing away.  This causes some teachers to revert back to old methods of emailing a document so they make sure their work doesn’t disappear.

But there is a little trick!  Did you know that you can force someone to make a copy of your document?  By making a small change to the URL of the document, the recipient will see a screen like this:

Clicking the “make a copy” button will automatically create a copy of the document in THEIR Google Drive.  Your document is intact and you’ve still shared your work with others.

How do you do it?  It’s actually pretty simple.

1. Open a Google Doc (actually any Google file type should work).
2. In the address bar, you should see a URL that begins with https://docs.google.com…
3. Somewhere relatively near the end of the address, you should see the word edit (it may be followed by additional words or characters).
4. Delete the word edit AND everything that follows it.
   
5. At the end of the address, now add the word COPY.
6. Highlight the entire address, and copy/paste it into an email that you send to anyone who needs the link.  When they click it, they will see the screen above.

So now you have the choice: collaborate or copy.  Both serve very useful functions in different situations.  For example, any time a group of teachers will need to have access to the SAME document, they will want to share the document with the group and edit on the same document.  Any time I’m sharing a document outside my organization, such as at conference or with Twitter friends, I tend to force the copy.  There are times, though, that I still use the force copy feature with colleagues within my district.

One example would be when you have created an assignment, assessment or template that you’d like to be able to share with your team.  In this case, if it’s important for every student to do the exact same assignment, you would want to share.  If you want each teacher to get the document but be able to customize it, you might want to choose force copy instead.

Again, both ways are helpful, so choose what works for you in your particular situation!

iPad Full of Photos? Send them to Google Drive!

Photos and videos can be a powerful tool for students and teachers.  But getting photos from place to place can be tricky.  It used to be the only way to move photos from your iPad to your computer was to email them a few at a time.  It took forever!  Not a good use of any teacher's time!

Many teachers find themselves with very full iPads. Often, this is because they and their students are documenting their learning through photos.  Pretty soon, though, the iPad is full but we still want to keep those pictures.

Your iPad has limited storage, but your Google Drive does not.  You can now easily move photos from you iPad device to your Google Drive, where you can store as many photos as you need.  Once the photos are uploaded, you can delete them from your iPad and free up much needed space.

Teachers can opt to do this in one of two main ways: manually or automatically.  Now, you might be asking why I would even mention a manual option when it can be done automatically.  I like teachers to have options that meet the needs of their workflow.  If you have students taking photos, you may want to go through them before they end up in your Drive, so you'd rather upload photos as needed (Manual).  Or maybe you'd prefer an automatic solution and you'd like to go through the photos on your computer instead (Automatic).  No right or wrong answer here because both will accomplish what we need to do.

I have created directions for performing both options (click each option to go to the larger version):

Manual Uploading

Automatic Uploading

You can also view these and other iPad tips at the Tiger Tech Tips page!  Please contact the instructional technology department if you need more support or have questions!