1 to 1 laptop program
St. Joseph's offers 1-to-1 laptop computing for all Year 5 and 6 students and has been running this program for eight years. This program sees the students provided with 'their own' MacBook computer for the year, which travels between home and school everyday. Laptops are provided as an additional tool for learning and not as a replacement for the traditional interactions of the classroom.
The iLife Suite
In addition to the above activities, the children would also be heavily involved in the use of the Mac iLife suite. Below is an overview of this package and the activities in which the students would be involved.
iWeb
- iWeb is a program that allows a user to create a professional website as simple as possible. iWeb is a “Box” software when it comes to programming a website. This means that there is no need to learn computer language codes in HTML or CSS to worry about when creating a website. There are positives and negatives when it comes to a web designer program like iWeb. iWeb is not fully coded so when trying to create a website without complex algorithms and codes some features could not be a perfectly designed as you imagine. iWeb’s box like system allows for the utmost ease when creating a professional website. It is designed to pick a design that you think looks appeasing and a user can simply drag and drop pictures, movies, audio, widgets, and simple codes right onto the page. iWeb also allows the user to directly type on the page. The iWeb compiler allows the user to physically see how their website is developing right in the palm of their hands, and upload and update it to the internet instantaneously.
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iDVD
- iDVD makes creating a DVD in minutes possible. iDVD has more than 150 Apple designed themes to help the movie making process. With these themes iDVD has customized screens like main menus, chapter menus, and extras menus to add to any user's film without a hassle. iDVD also has a "OneStep" feature where someone can simply plug in their camcorder and click one button and iDVD will burn them a DVD. Once their DVD is finished it can be burned in many different media formats in standard TV, widescreen TV, Mac, and PC definitions.
iPhoto
- iPhoto 11 is a program that aids the organization of photos then gives the ability to simply make slideshows, or publish photos online. iPhoto allows a user to email photos, and share them without even leaving the iPhoto program. iPhoto allows someone to view the comments on their photos without leaving and see a large photo gallery in full screen to browse and edit photos. iPhoto can create slideshows, photo books, and Letterpress Cards with a simple click of a button.
iMovie
- iMovie 11 is a program that serves as the home of videos with the ability to edit an refine them to perfection and sync them to all of the various Apple products. iMovie 11 is also offers sound effects, voiceovers, and music insertion. iMovie also has smooth "One-Step Effects" that can be added to any movie with just a click to make them more entertaining and polished. Another feature added is People Finder which analyzes video and finds people by their faces which allows the finding of the right angle and informs you about the amount of people in a scene. iMovie has a wide array of graphics and effects to make a user's videos just like TV. Finally after a user has perfected their video to their satisfaction they can publish their iMovie instantly on YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and any apple product like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod.
Garage Band
- GarageBand is a program that allows a user to record music by plugging in a guitar or keyboard. Then is allows them to share it instantly. GarageBand also allows a user to even take lessons and learn how to play better or even pick up an instrument for the first time. GarageBand can also flex timing in your song to keep in it rhythm and match a whole band together into a single track. GarageBand also has a new feature "How Did I Play". This tells the user during a lesson the percentage or notes hit correctly and how well they were in rhythm. Garage Band is also excellent for podcasting, and allows the users to insert and adjust many individuals tracks that can be used for voice, effects, audio and the like.