Essential Skill for SLPs: Saving Images from the Web on iPad (UPDATE)

I have previously emphasized here that being able to save images from the web is an incredibly useful skill.  Besides providing visual cues for our students, images serve as material to make all kinds of great projects using various webtools and apps.  It used to be that this looked a certain way on iPad, but then Google has been changing a lot of their apps' "look and feel," including installing a sort of "cover flow" interface with Google Images.  So it came to pass that I was recently in front of a whole crowd of people demonstrating how to save an image on iPad, and it all of a sudden didn't work at all like I thought it would! This is more than OK. It is great to model technology (and other) failures in front of other people (thanks Meg Wilson for that way of thinking).  It puts them at ease, lets them laugh at you a bit, and shows that tech problems can usually be solved with some deep breathing, tinkering, or a quick search.

[EDIT] In a way, this is a double-failure, because I thought the process of saving images worked in a whole new way post-"Cover Flow," but in reality it's pretty much the same and I just wasn't tapping-and-holding correctly, in front of an audience OR when I was writing this post.  I guess I am less a fan of double-failures, it seems a little too much, no?  I apologize to anyone who saw an earlier version of this post, was confused by my error, and wasted time as a result! Here are the steps- btw I made these in a jiffy using the great iPad app Skitch from Evernote.  I'll have to write about that later!

Note that this is the way to save images in Safari. I heard from reader Jeanne T, an AT Consultant and SLP, and also the very helpful reader who pointed out my earlier error, that this process does not work when using the Google Search app, and I just confirmed that. So when you need images, use Safari.  Thanks Jeanne!!

On this screen you can also sweep right or left to move to other images, as in "Cover Flow"

Announcing the Essential Tech For SLPs Website!

Today we are launching a new website: Essential Tech for SLPs! This site was conceived and created by my colleagues Laura Goehner, Amy O'Neill and me as a way to fill in some self-reported gaps in techKnowledgey by SLPs who would like to become more savvy.

The content of the site (which is a static but updatable resource, not a blog- therefore don't try to subscribe) is our best effort to identify some skills that will lead to other skills, and provide written steps or video tutorials to support clinician's understanding and confidence in technology use.  We are presenting the site and content from it at our seminar TODAY at ASHA Convention in San Diego, so we hope it will serve as a resource for further learning not only for attendees but for anyone else who would like some instruction in technology that is geared toward SLPs.  The site is broken into 7 sections:

1. The Internet- managing/updating browsers and curating the content you find through bookmarking.
2. Professional Development through Technology- Accessing PD opportunities online and developing a Personal Learning/Sharing Network (PLN).
3. Picture This: Accessing, Downloading and Using Images- Using the key skill of finding and saving images from the internet on your computer or iDevice.
4. Create Your Own Materials: Repurposing programs you have on your computer to create customized worksheets and visuals.
5. Administrative Fun: Calendar and scheduling tools, and Google Docs for Productivity.
6. Got Interactive Whiteboards: Resources to get you started in using interactive whiteboards in your pull-out groups or within the classroom setting.
7. Managing your iDevice: a TON of tips to help you understand your iDevice better.

This site will be updated periodically and will "live" in the right sidebar here at SpeechTechie for your further reference.  We hope it is helpful!

Essential Skill for SLPs: Saving Images from the Web, Part 2 (iOS Edition)!

Cross-posted on Therapy App 411

In a related post, I described the important skill of saving images from the Web on standard laptop and desktop operating systems (i.e. Mac OS X and Windows whatever), which SLPs would need to do in order to create visuals using web images and utilize the features of inserting images in many web tools (e.g. Glogster, Voicethread, and countless others).  I thought it also would be helpful to cover the much simpler steps of saving images using iOS devices: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch.  This is a necessary sequence of steps if one wanted to use images saved from the Web in creation apps such as Comic Life or LifeCards (two apps I will describe in greater detail at a later time).

1. Open the Safari app and navigate to Google (or use the Google search field in the upper right corner).  Write the topic for the image you want and tap Images in the left sidebar.

2. Tap the image you would like to use and then tap Full Size Image.  In some cases, Google redirects to the page that the image is on, and you don't need to tap Full Size Image.

3. To save the image (to the Camera Roll, accessed in the Photos app on every device), tap and hold the image.  You will see a drop-down menu appear, choose Save Image.

4. While on this page, you should copy the URL of the image in order to cite it, according to guidelines for Fair Use of copyrighted materials in education. To do so, tap and hold the URL, tap Select All, then Copy.

5.  If the app you are using allows you to insert an image, this function is usually prompted through the icon that looks like mountains with a sun in the background (who knows why, perhaps because Cupertino is in the California mountains??), like so:

Using Comic Life here...

Tapping this icon allows you to access your Camera Roll (where you have just saved the photos, aka Photos app) and insert the image.

In some cases, you may wish to take a screenshot of what is on your screen and use THIS as an image.  This is done by pushing the Home (right below the screen) and Lock (at the top of the device) buttons simultaneously.  Your screen will flash and you will hear a "camera" sound.  This saves your screenshot to the Camera Roll and it can be accessed in the same way as described above.  

If you are more of a video learner, I demonstrated these steps in my review of the Popplet app.

Hope this is helpful!

Essential Skill for SLPs: Saving Images from the Web

This past Thursday, I had the privilege of doing a fly-by at Mindwing Concepts day-long workshop, Narrative and Expository Writing with the Story Grammar Marker® in order to cover a few tech complements to their great tools, including the Mindwing Blog that I help to write. During my presentation I talked about Popplet, which is a terrific tool for concept mapping and breaking down expository text. In the course of that demo, I showed how to add an image to a Popplet, and I promised the audience that I would re-post those steps here today. Saving and using an image from the Web is a multistep process that can be confusing to people, but it is an EXTREMELY useful one to become proficient in, coming into play anytime an SLP would like to create a PowerPoint or other presentation, make articulation cards, or construct visuals using engaging and relevant images. Here is how you do it, for Mac and PC:

1. Look up an image you would like to save (and use in a web app such as Popplet) using Google.
2. Click on Images in the left sidebar.

3. Click on the image you would like to save.  This brings you to a preview page where you see the image in large format superimposed over the page where it actually "lives" on the Web.  Click on "Full Size Image" on the right sidebar.

How stereotypically Irish of me to have chosen this topic.

4. This shows the image "by itself" on the page.  This is a useful page to have navigated to, because it is the easiest way to save it as a full-size, high quality image.  Also, it shows you the actual URL (web address) of the image.  This is helpful because some web tools (not Popplet, but Glogster and Google Docs) let you insert an image via the URL.  While on this page you should:

a. copy the URL (tell ya why in a second)

b. Control-click on the image (Right-click on a PC).  This brings up a drop-down menu, with one of the choices being Save Image As...*  Choose that, and pay attention to where you save it (I often save to the desktop and trash it when I am done)

5. Now you have a saved image.  You can insert this into a document on your computer, or upload it to your web creation (e.g. Popplet). You should site the image, according to guidelines for Fair Use and copyright in Education, by pasting the URL somewhere in your creation.

*There was a good question from the audience: Can't we just select Copy Image from that drop down?  The answer is yes IF you are using a program that is "local" to your computer (e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Pages, Keynote, etc), and then you can Paste it.  The answer is NO if you are using a web app such as Popplet or Glogster, which makes sense when you think about it. We can't click-drag or copy-paste a file onto a web page except with certain tools that allow you to do that (e.g. Google Docs).  Instead, we need to upload the file.

I hope this was helpful! This skill is going to be one that I cover, along with my compadres Amy O'Neill and Laura Goehner (both CCC-SLP) as we present this session at ASHA in San Diego in November:

Title: Technology 101: Basic Tech Skills to Enhance Your Speech-Language Practice
Session Number: 1104
Session Format: Seminar - 1 Hour
Day/Time: Friday, November 18, 2011 -- 04:00 PM-05:00 PM

Hope to see many of you then!

What use have you found for saving images?  Let us all know in the comments!!

Note: author is a paid contractor for Mindwing Concepts.