And so the journey begins....
When I received the iPad mini's, I was very excited about the possibilities. However, their were many things that I didn't anticipate when I agreed to take part in this unfunded, no professional development, no time for collaboration integration. The first thing I had to figure out was how to store them so they would be easily accessible for students, and easy to roll into a locking room.
Finding a "cart"
I went to Michaels and found a craft storage unit. It just so happened to have enough slots to hold all my iPad minis and iTouches in nice, clearly labels sections. You can find something similar here. In the pictures below, you can see that I changed the way that the slots look on the top so that it can accommodate the iTouches and iPads. Because this cart didn't come with any plugs in's or a charging station, I had to use industrial velcro to adhere a charging strip to the bottom. This charging strip allowed me to plug in up to 6 iPads and the plug for the syncing station for the iTouches.
In the picture, you can see that I changed the way that the slots look on the top so that it can accommodate the iTouches and iPads. You can see the wires from the chargers in the back can reach all the way to even the iPad in the front of the cart. When not in use, they can hand on the bar on the side. In the drawers, I have put headphones for all the devices. I had to purchase special headphones since all the other headphones I had required a USB connection. The bottom drawer houses the label maker and all the other misc. plugs and accessories.
Because this cart didn't come with any plugs in's or a charging station, I had to use industrial velcro to adhere a charging strip to the bottom. This charging strip allowed me to plug in up to 6 iPads and the plug for the syncing station for the iTouches. I decided to keep all the plugs bundled up with those fancy colorful velcro tabs. I put the industrial velrco on the cart to keep the cords from moving around. I haven't found an inexpensive syncing hub for the iPad minis yet, I have just decided that I will having to sync them with my computer away from the cart.
We have come across a problem with the new iPad minis. The are equipped with the new Lightening cords, and will not work on other syncing hubs. These hubs can be found on Apple's site, but can't accommodate any more than 3.
We have come across a problem with the new iPad minis. The are equipped with the new Lightening cords, and will not work on other syncing hubs. These hubs can be found on Apple's site, but can't accommodate any more than 3.