background preloader

15 Great Free iPad Apps for Professional Development

With the advance of mobile technology into our life, the notion of professional development has been radically reshaped.To grow professionally is no longer limited to a certain geographic setting with a predefined set of resources, we can now learn wherever we are and on the go. No more boundaries and this is certainly one of the biggest advantages in embracing this kind of technology. To expand this professional development notion to your iPad , I have compiled a list of some of the best free apps that you as a teacher and educator, can install on your iOS device. The list is not exhaustive and there might be other important apps not mentioned here but the ones below are a great stepping stone into the world of self learning. Check them out. 1- Twitter This is Twitter official app that lets you follow your interests, instant updates from your friends, and many more. 2- Skype 3- Google Voice 4- Hey Tell This is an awesome iOS app that lets users instantly talk with friends and family. 6- Zite

50 Excellent Online Professional Development Resources for Teachers Professional Development for educators is something that I believe still needs to be improved. Many educators have turned online for some of their professional development. Social media provides a great resource for educators, especially Twitter, to connect, share and learn with other educators. There are new forms of in-person professional development, like Edcamps, that are also a great way for educators to learn new things. Check out some more great information and resources on educator professional development. Professional Development for Educators needs to change 11 steps to planning quality Professional Development

Top 100 FREE Apps for Kids! Our Top 100 Free Apps for Preschoolers could be more aptly titled "Every Free iPad/iPhone Preschooler App You Need To Know About." Since we started organizing the apps into specific developers, such as Disney or LEGO, the list has grown to 503 free apps. That is, as far as I know (and I would know), the most complete and exhaustive list of free apps anywhere. Everything is ranked by reader interest. Some of these apps include in-app purchases but they are noted, and for an app to make this list, it has to have enough free content to be worth downloading. This time we've also added little notations next to some of the apps to designate which of them are our staff favorites. Thanks again for visiting this page so much and if you have any notes to pass on about any of the apps, or ones we might be missing, please leave a comment. - Ron * Prices were all verified at the time of this posting, but only the app's developer can ultimately control the price. 1) ** Disney (79 apps!) 18) TVOKids (20)

5 iPad Apps Every Teacher Should Have Just to wrap up our week of apps for teachers here are some favourites that will make your iPad a little more productive in the classroom. Enjoy iWork Until Microsoft release office for the iPad iWork offers the MS Works equivalent of a productivity suite for the iPad. Pages, Numbers and Keynote make for a fairly impressive productivity suite for $30, or $10 each. Teaching & Classroom Resources @ www.theteachinglab.com The Elements: A Visual Exploration: Sounds a bit pricey for a periodic table, but the vividly animated illustrations of every substance our world is made of more than make up for it. $14 Bento: Organize your Life Mobile Air Mouse: Do you use an Interactive whiteboard and have wireless keyboards and mice floating around the place that either don’t work or you have to actually sit in front of a computer to type something on your IWB. DropBox: I own a laptop, 2 desktop PC’s at home, have files on the network at school and now have some stuff on my iPhone and an iPad.

Here Are Ten Rules to Create Engaging Elearning At the recent ASTD conference, I was asked how to create engaging elearning. If you’ve been reading the Rapid E-Learning Blog for a while, then you know I’ve tackled this subject before. I decided to pull ten ideas that are fundamental to building good elearning courses. Rule 1: Don’t Create the Course This is probably not the advice your client wants to hear. Besides, many of the courses we create are just sharing information that’s already available in other places like the organization’s intranet or via job aids. Rule 2: The Course Needs to be Relevant to the Learner Most boring courses are the result of the content not being relevant to the learner. Also, consider that not all learners are created equal. The key to interactive courses is not multimedia, rollovers, or drag-and-drop interactions. Rule 3: Understand Your Objectives If all you’re trying to do is share information and track completion before December 31, then build a course that’s appropriate for those objectives. Tidbits:

5 Great Free iPad Translation apps Using iPad for reading is something we all enjoy doing; but what about when reading articles in a foreign language ? It is highly probably that you will come across vocabulary you don't know. Of course you might guess the meaning of words from the context in which they are used but this can never replace a clear and definite explanation of a dictionary.To help you find translations of the new words you come across, I compiled a list of some of the best free iPad translator apps. Check them out : 1- Free Translator This is a great iOS app that allows users to translate any text into 37 different languages. 2- SpeakText Free Speak and translate text document and web pages, copy and paste, key in, this awesome app will amaze you. 3- iTranslate Whether you are learning a new language , traveling through other countries or just need to translate an enail, with iTranslate you are never again lost in translation. 4- Google Translate 5- Interpret 6- Word Lens 7- Free Translator for iPad

Nutrition Education, Free - Fun Healthy Kids' Games, Healthy Family Living Website, Food Pyramid Education, Healthy Eating Wellness Tools, Children's Nutrition Information, Free Kids' Games The 20 Best Pinterest Boards About Education Technology Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the biggest sources inspiration and innovation when it comes to cooking, design, and education. That’s right, education is a prominent fixture on Pinterest now and that, of course, means that education technology plays a starring role. In an effort to help curate the massive amount of Pinterest boards about education technology, you can use the following list as a jumping off point to start your Pinterest journey. The following boards are curated by teachers, admins, and other education enthusiasts. You’ll likely find some new blogs, tools, and ideas among them. After all, that’s what Pinterest is all about! Don’t forget to check out the Edudemic Pinterest board where you can keep track of all the stuff we’re up to. Patricia Brown : Patricia showcases a myriad of videos, articles, tutorials, and lots of other resources all about education technology. We want to see what YOU are pinning!

10 Free iPad Creativity Apps for Young Learners Teaching our kids to be creative is just as important as teaching them critical thinking skills.Creativity open up students mind to new learning horizons and makes them capable of tackling new and novel situations way better than any explicit instruction would do. We, in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning , strongly believe in the importance of creativity in education and we have dedicated a whole section in this blog to articles covering this topic. We have also reviewed some web tools that teachers can use to integrate creativity in their instruction and today we are going to introduce you to an awesome set of iPad apps that can do the same job but this time for young learners in primary schools. 1- Draw Free for iPad This is a great free iPad app that lets users create beautiful drawings. 2- Pic Collage This is an app that allows you to create awesome collages of your friends and favourite stars using stickers, text, web images and many more. 3- Our Story 4- Scribble Press 7- j2e

NDL/FNIC Food Composition Database Home Page Background Information for Your Next E-Learning Course During the year I conduct dozens of elearning workshops. I dedicate a large part of the workshop to graphic design because based on what I see, it’s an area that challenges many elearning developers. Most of the people I meet have a training background. They may have some graphic design skills, but they usually find their roots in training. Elearning courses are mostly a visual medium which means that graphic design is a key part of building effective elearning courses. What will the course look like? Regardless of how you approach your course design, the course has to look like something. In today’s post I want to offer a simple trick to help you get past the standard PowerPoint design or that template-screen look. Change Your Background Image It’s amazing what a nice background can do for the look of your screen. Many rapid elearning developers will use the application’s default background or a pre-built template. Find the Right Background Below is another example. Tidbits

8 Free iPad Reading Apps for Young Learners Again the iPad. You might have noticed a surge in posts about iPad apps here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. This is not because I favour iPad over other tablets but because of the huge number of emails I got from readers asking for apps that work on the iPad. I personally love both iOS and Android systems and am familiar with both of them. Anyway if you are reading this and still did not make up your mind about which tablet can work for you then let me help you make your decision and check out this list of The Top 10 Tablets for Educators. Back to our sheep. 1- iPlay & Sing This is an app designed for pre-school, under-5, and non-readers. This is a learning-to-read platform for young kids. 3- ABC Alphabet Phonics This is an awesome educational game that helps kids rapidly learn the ABC by sight, sound, and touch. 4- Find The Words 5- Aesop Quest This is another cool learning game where the player must remember elements of a story to complete a level. 6- Read Me Stories

Rest and Recovery - Why Athletes Need Rest and Recovery After Exrecise Most athletes know that getting enough rest after exercise is essential to high-level performance, but many still over train and feel guilty when they take a day off. The body repairs and strengthens itself in the time between workouts, and continuous training can actually weaken the strongest athletes. Rest days are critical to sports performance for a variety of reasons. In the worst-case scenario, too few rest and recovery days can lead to overtraining syndrome - a difficult condition to recover from. What Happens During Recovery? Building recovery time into any training program is important because this is the time that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and the real training effect takes place. Recovery time allows these stores to be replenished and allows tissue repair to occur. Short and Long-Term Recovery Keep in mind that there are two categories of recovery. Short-term recovery, sometimes called active recovery occurs in the hours immediately after intense exercise.

Ten Online Training Do's and Dont's There are many things to think about when creating an eLearning team and creating online training. This posts list 10 DOs and DON’Ts to consider when building your next team and course. It isn’t a complete list but it does cover the main bases. You can also checkout the animated presentation. Feel free to leave comments on sections that we should add. 1. Now-a-days, almost every training course has a PowerPoint (PPT). 2. Just because someone is an expert at selling the product doesn’t mean that they can design training. Instructional Designer (ID) The ID is in charge of getting all of the information out of the SMEs head. Designer The designer must take the paper concept of the course and make it come to life. 3. We’ve all gone to a website or opened a document and been in utter shock at how much text and information suddenly appeared. Use bullet points. 4. When a learner launches your online course they should know that it belongs to your company. 5. Learners can have three options: 6.

The Top 17 Free Digital Stotytelling Apps for The iPad 1-StoryKit This is an awesome iOS app that allows users to easily create an electronic storybook via illustrations by drawing on the screen, using pictures and text, and recording audio to attach to stories. 2- Talking Tom & Ben News This is fun app to use. Kids can talk to them and they will repeat what you say in turs. 3- I Tell a Story This is a free app that allows users to narrate and record their stories with their own voice and language. 4- Scholastic Storia This is an app that is designed to help kids learn and love to read in a fun and interactive way. 5- Talking Tom Cat This is a cool app that lets you interact with Tom, your pet. 6- Toontastic This app allows kids to draw, animate and share their own cartoons through imaginative play. 7- Our Story This app lets young learners take part in fun games that can help them develop their reading skills. 8- Bunsella Bedtimes Story 9- Idea Sketch Idea Sketch lets users easily draw a diagram and convert it to a text outline, and vice versa.

Related: