I've decided to bypass the student use of technology in favor of using technology to help set up the story. My goal is to get students to begin asking questions of a situation. Does he make it? Can you describe the path of the ball using math? What's the height of his release point?
I took the above video using Vernier Video Physics app ($2). The application has an intuitive layout which allowed me to set known distances and trace the path of the ball through stepping the video. I was then able to import the data into Vernier Graphical Analysis app ($5). It has all sorts of abilities but the only reason I spent my $5 was to get the actual data from the Video app. I want students to look at the actual data points and practice fitting models to the data. After importing the information, I was able to view it in table form and even export it as a CSV file which Excel can read. Not bad for a total of $7. I think I'll be able to get the time down to under 15 minutes to set up a situation.