Our district just purchased iPads for selected administrators to use and I am one of the fortunate ones.  I'm wondering if anyone has used the devices in teacher observations, particularly in the state of North Carolina.  We have a new evaluation tool and the rubric is contained in a PDF file.  I'm wondering if anyone has either figured out a way to edit the PDF form so the check boxes can be filled in during an observation, or if anyone has the NC observation and evaluation forms in a format other than PDF that would allow for editing on the iPad.

Thanks!
Tom

Tags: Administrator, Observation, Principal, Teacher, iPad

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Tom,

Great idea for the new teacher evaluation instrument. I haven't heard anyone in my district purchase Ipads for this yet. You can convert a PDF to a Word file using conversion software; then open Word, use the Forms toolbar to insert checkboxes. I tried Nitro, a free converter. There was some clean-up; don't know if paid version is better.

Pam
I will be able to use the ipad to do my classroom walkthroughs, and that information will be submitted to an online database and used to look at specific data. Since it's not a true tablet computer but running of a a mobile OS the programs you mention won't work.... Perhaps if I converted the PDF to word and then opened it with Pages, which is the native word processor for the iPad, I could then use...
How will you upload the data to the online database for submission? Is there an interface or do you upload the whole word file.
For the Classroom Walkthroughs our district uses the Teachscape program, so it's all done through them. The interface for the iPhone (which is what is available for the iPad, until they release an iPad-specific version in two months) actually runs online via either wi-fi or 3G access, so the data is collected while the device is live on the internet; we then can go online from our desktops to run reports that will pull everything together and separate it out as we indicate in the specific reports we run.

It's important to mention, though, that this is not the tool we use for the formal observations but for just the walkthroughs.
Some of our principals are using Google Apps (free). Can make form (survey) that includes just the content you are looking for...choose the teacher name from a list, radio buttons for certain things, etc.

Students with iPods (in our EUSD iRead program) are using the Google Forms for Reading Comprehension surveys. The form collects all into a spreadsheet.
I agree. This is especially true in elementary schools. We hand write and key in data in several applications. It is tedious. A relational database, with a report menu to run various reports would offer a better solution. Our state has been working on a centralized student information system, a few years now, but it's mostly for county and state reports. There's no user interface for a classroom grading system.
Are you familiar with using forms with
Google Docs?  It might be possible to input the evaluation tool you are using into a Google Form.  The Form could then be accessed on the iPad and information would be pushed to a spreadsheet and data could exported or manipulated from there.  I made a VERY basic example and was able to input information with my iPod Touch.  Please contact me if you have further questions.

Sample form:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDg0VUttdHRnS19QVlp...
Ideas for observation
1. Buy eCove app at http://www.ecove.net/home/cov/page_499_132/iphone_version_editions....
2. Convert pdf to Word using http://www.pdftoword.com/
3. Use pdf-notes free app which allows you to annotate over any pdf.
I have also used Google Docs forms for walk thru's. I've created a form where I can comment, check boxes. I take a screenshot of the live form and email to the teacher, then submit. It then saves the information on the spreadsheet, which is a great way for me to keep track of observation data. So far, it has worked great!
Beth and Brian -

Would you be willing to share your google doc spreadsheet with me?

I am interested in the document Beth & Brian have also. Just got the iPad2, primarily for observations. I have my own form I'd like to put on it but am having difficulty transferring my Word doc to iPad. During transfer, the checkboxes get lost. Maybe another program would help but it has to be free! Thanks for whatever samples you can send me.
Mary

mwolf@clasd.net

I would like to have a copy of the GOOGLE DOCS form. Could you send it to me...
Thanks.

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