TeamViewer - iPad
Cost: Free
No smartboard? No problem! Teamviewer lets you connect your iPad to your computer screen and use it as a mouse touch pad from anywhere in the room! All you need is wifi for your iPad, and a computer hooked up to the internet and a projector. What I really enjoy about this app is that it is designed to work on different networks over the internet (most other apps like this that I have seen work through an internal network instead of over the internet.)
Why I bought it: I was looking for a way to make use of the Smartboard utility functions on our school computers without having to have a Smartboard.
Why I kept it: You can also use it to help your students with their homework probelms from anywhere! My husband also uses it to do tech support with his father who lives in The Pas.
Who I would recommend it to: No one specific. This is a good app if you can remember that it is the same as a laptop touch pad - NOT an iPad screen. You have to move the mouse, and the mouse pointer won't jump to wherever you touch the screen. This is not an app for people who get frustrated easily, especially those who are easily frustrated with technology.
AirSketch - iPad
Cost: $9.99 (>_<)
Would you rather project your iPad while not being tethered to a corded projector? AirSketch might be the app for you! While you can't project any program you like, AirSketch allows you to draw and present photos on your iPad, and displays it on a website. It is limited to devices that are on the same network.
Why I bought it: To be able to use my iPad anywere in the class and have it projected for the whole class, so if I'm at the back helping a student with a problem, others can look at the projection and benefit as well.
Why I kept it: Honestly, I don't have a lot of use for this app at this time. (Well, at school. I use it at home to turn my TV into an iPad screen.) My school doesn't have wifi, so the computers and my iPad (connected to my phone's hotspot) aren't on the same network. However, my school is planning toget wifi that teachers can connect to, so I'm keeping this app in hopes of that coming to fruition.
Who I would recommend it to: Assuming my school's wifi issue gets sorted out, Diane. She likes technology and is always willing to learn, but really needs things to be simple. This app is very simple and intuitive, and would allow her to move about the room, which she enjoys.
Edmodo - iDevices/Android
Cost: Free
Edmodo is a website that combines the social networking aspects of Facebook with the classroom. Teachers set up groups for their students, and the students can post to the groups, post back and forth with each other in the classroom groups, and send private messages to their teacher, while the teacher can send messages to the students, moderate the chats, and post homework assignments to groups or to individuals. Students can submit their homework assignments on line, where the teacher can view them, leave comments, annotate the work, and mark the assignments, all without printing a thing! The power of the apps lies in helping everyone in the class stay focused and organised. Users receive notifications whenever they are sent a message, and all it takes to see assignments that are due (or overdue!) is a couple taps of the screen. Anything that can be done on the website except for annotations can be done on the apps.
Why I bought it: I was intrigued by the concept of Facebook-for-school, and wanted to be sure I could make it as much a part of my social life as Facebook is for some people.
Why I kept it: The ability to help my students with their homework problems as soon as they have them has been fantastic, and has helped me develop a stronger sense of discipline in the class - if they know they can get in touch with me whenever and wherever I am, they have no excuse for not having their work ready on time.
Who I would recommend it to: Alyssa. She has a strong sense of community in her classroom and her students would benefit from being able to extend that community through the online posts and messaging back and forth. I know she would love to be a part of that conversation.
Educreations - iPad
Cost: Free
Ever wanted to recording your voice and your whiteboard at the same time? Crazy, right? Not if you have Educreations! This app will record your voice and your typing, drawing, and photo presentations. It can be paused at any point and pauses automatically when typing or inserting photos. I have used it to create videos with whiteboard-like drawings for the class to reference later and for students who are absent during key lessons. It is extremely useful for math, as I really like to focus on the visual aspects of math, and the kinaesthetic as well. Although I haven't had the opportunity to do this yet, it would also be very useful for students who are away from the classroom for extended periods of time, such as a trip to the Phillipines or India (which is a very common occurance in my school.)
Why I bought it: I was interested in the idea of the flipped classroom, and this looked like a great way to make those videos for classroom flipping, since it combines illustrations like a whiteboard and speech.
Why I kept it: It is so much fun! I want to use it with my students as a new story-telling medium.
Who I would recommend it to: Bryant. He does a lot of work with his students in claymation, and this app gives us a new way to experience stop-motion animation by combining drawings and audio.
Google Sky Map - Android
Cost: Free
This app is just about my most favourite thing ever. It shows you the starts in the sky in real time, even if it is daytime. You can see where all the constellations, stars, planets, galaxies, and other celestial bodies are at that exact moment in time. Want to know what that bright star in the sky is called? Want to know why it's orange? Surprise, it's Mars! The app will also point you towards a specific object with its search function, and you can time travel to see what the sky was like on any given date in the past or future.
Why I bought it: Space is my thing! My mom and I have this in common - we love astronomy and astrophysics. She had me identifying the Casseopeia constellation before I was three.
Why I kept it: Being able to travel through time and see what the sky looked like on my birthday, or the day of the moon landing, or at any time at all is so fun!
Who I would recommend it to: Kerri and I are avid space nerds, and work together on the Marsville program. She would LOVE being able to look up a star's name in real time and to find where all the planets are in our sky.
Eng <-> Fre - iDevices
Cost: Free/$1.99 (one language add-on)/$2.99 (both language add-ons)
This is an English-French dictionary that downloads directly onto your iDevice. It is a GREAT dictionary which is easily searchable, has add-ons to hear the words spoken out loud on English or French, and searches and translates expressions as well as words. It is by far the best free English-French dictionary I have seen, and is much quicker and more convenient than any paper dictionary.
Why I bought it: I needed an English-French dictionary. This is one of many I purchased when I first got my iPod touch.
Why I kept it: Having a truly pocket dictionary has been extremly valuable for me as a French Immersion teacher who learned French through the immersion program. My biggest struggle in teaching is my vocabulary, but being able to model my strategies has been very beneficial for me and for my students.
Who I would recommend it to: Absolutely any and all of my students! We all have the same struggles, and this is a really great solution.
Booksource Classroom Organizer - iDevices and Android
Cost: Free and a lie
This app acts as a library database. by scanning book UPC codes, it will keep track of which books you have in your library, and you can sign them out to students using the device's camera. The lie part of the cost is that it is only available in the US, but if you lie when you register and claim to be in the US, it will work.
Why I bought it: Last year, a lot of my classroom books went missing. the sign-out system I had was rarely used (writing their name and book title on a whiteboard by the books) and students would take books home that would never appear again.
Why I kept it: Being able to use my cell phone to sign books out to students also gives me a chance to talk to each one breifly about the book they have chosen and find out why they chose it, or talk about how much we like it.
Who I would recommend it to: Darren, whose classroom library is the biggest I've seen!
TimeToast - Web app
Cost: Free
Making timelines is not a difficult task, but Ialways have one or two students that have difficulty with spacing out their timeline or placing the evens so they don't overlap. This frustration always comes at the end of the project and leaves the student with the choice to start over or have a messy timeline. With this web app, students can place as many timeline points as they need and in whatever order they choose, giving them the chance to see how it needs to be spaced out while still being their own creation. Students who really want to make their own timeline can use this app as a rough draft to help them with the planning, then build their own after. The only thing I would wish is that timelines could be edited by other users, so we could collaborate on class projects.
Why I bought it: I wanted to give my students the option to do timelines for their biography project.
Why I kept it: It was so simple and clear that I have since used it to make a number of timelines to chronicle the events of the past. We have gotten over the no-collaboration aspect by having a class account with a shared password, and students just have to sign their events when they add them.
Who I would recommend it to: Miles, who is always recommending new technology applications. I think he would really enjoy using this as a collaborative tool!
sling Note - iPad
Cost: 2.99
With this app, the screen is divided in two halves: One is an internet browser, and the other is a note pad. What is super cool about this app is that you can copy sections of the website as an image and sling it on over to the notepad side. So instead of doing copy and paste between programs, they are right beside each other. You can copy exactly what the page looks like and not have to worry about formatting issues. You can also add text, drawings and highlighting, and you can adjust the images layers on the fly. This is an excellent app for house-hunting!
Why I bought it: This was an impulse buy. I don't remember who recommended it to me, but if they are reading this blog, thanks! You rock! I bought it because I really do hate switching between apps. I love having everything I need on the screen in front of me at the same time. (Or on another screen beside me, but that's not the point.)
Why I kept it: House hunting. I can select a picture of the house, copy and paste all the pertinent info beside it, switch to the next house, copy and paste that stuff, until I have all the houses I want, right in front of me! And I'm sure it will be great for researching teacher stuff too. (Sorry, it's a new app, and I haven't used it for classroom stuff yet.)
Who I would recommend it to: My sister Carla. She is a writer and frequently has to research different areas of her story background to make sure she has the right historical details. I think she would really enjoy having one go-to place for all her research, and being able to copy over chunks of the webpage in either picture or written form would be useful to her!
ClassDojo - iDevices
Cost: Free
The ClassDojo website is a free site that lets you set up a class and award positive points to students for good behaviours and negative points for bad behaviours. I looked into this last year when I was setting up gamification in my classroom, looking for a way to keep track of points. It didn't work for me at the time, since I wanted different things to be worth different amounts of points, but now I use it as a way to keep track of the smaller, more every day things that crop up. I give positive points for participation, being on task, working well in a group, listening to others, being prepared, and getting homework in on time, and helping others. This last one is very important as it means that no student trails behind in the points unless they don't care about the points in the first place. It means that even if a student isn't handing in homework, working especially well with others, or any of the other point-gaining behavious, they can still gain points for holding the door open for people (which is the most common point-gainer), helping them pick up dropped items, helping them carry things, or any number of small random acts of kindness. Although I originally set up ClassDojo in a way that allows me to award negative points for students who aren't handing in homework, speaking out of turn, or other disruptive behaviours, I have never felt comfortable using that aspect of the app - I don't believe in shaming students into good behaviour.
Why I bought it: It is much more convenient to pull out my iPad to award points than to run to the computer at the back of the room, especially if I haven't signed in to ClassDojo on the computer yet. If I can't award points easily, I won't award them, and my students get very upset with me!
Why I kept it: Wow, did my students ever respond to these little points! They are external motivators, sure, but there is a time and a place for those too.
Who I would recommend it to: Is it OK if I say Diane again? Well, it's my blog and I say it's OK. Diane would love the simplicity of this (once again) and she and her class really enjoy competition. This gives them a way to compete in a positive sense.
Camera - iDevices/Android/Blackberry/Dumb Phones/(3)DS(i)/Cameras/etc
Cost: Free
I'm going to include this one as a bonus, because I think it hovers in a grey area - not everyone will agree that it counts for this list. The camera is a great tool for students and teachers alike. Taking photos of notes on the board help students remember their work and have their notes easily accessible. Students can also take photos of teacher examples and other students' work as examples.
Why I bought it: Well, it pretty much comes with the device.
Why I
Who I would recommend it to: My mom. She already comments to me about how her students don't take notes anymore. I think she should just take photos of all her old notes and put it up for the kids to take pictures of (Twitter, Facebook, or other posting methods are a bit beyond her) and spend more time talking to them instead of writing everything out while they just snap pictures. Now if only she could remember how to access her photo gallery...
No comments:
Post a Comment