Four Good Alternatives to Clicker Systems One of the benefits of allowing students to bring their cell phones into your classroom is that they can use them to give you anonymous feedback on sensitive questions and questions for which a name isn't necessary. For example, you might just want to take a survey of the average length of time your students spent studying for a quiz or how long it took them to complete an assignment. Here are four alternatives to purchasing clicker systems for your school while still gathering anonymous feedback from students. Socrative is my favorite tool for collecting anonymous feedback from students. Socrative introduction video (new) from Socrative Inc. on Vimeo. Poll Everywhere is a service that allows you to collect responses from an audience via text messaging. Mobile Presenter Tools from Poll Everywhere on Vimeo. Mentimeter allows you to pose a question to your audience and get instant feedback on that question through cell phones, tablets, and any other Internet-connected device.
iPad Apps for School | The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers 8 Things to Look for in An Educational App Picking up the right educational apps to recommend to your students and kids is not an easy task.There are several criterion you need to consider before you can comfortably claim that an app is educational or not. Of course there are no hard and fast rules to follow to be a good app reviewer and app reviewing is not an established science with clear boundaries but what we talk about here are simple conventions. These conventions are developed by experienced educators who , out of their long experience with app reviewing , have developed a sense of what works and what does not for educational settings. Experience here is very important because sometimes people learn more through experience than through formal instruction. That being said, I want to share with you some of the tips that educational app reviewers use to select apps for teachers and students.
RabbleBrowser - An App Review - Float Mobile Learning sent me a copy of RabbleBrowser to see all of the cool things it can do and I can say that I'm very impressed with what it does. Here is what Float Mobile says about their app on iTunes, Using RabbleBrowser, one person can lead or facilitate a shared browsing experience with an unlimited number of locally connected peers. As the leader browses the web, the others in the session with them will see the path they are taking. Integrated group chat, private chat and bookmark sharing keeps the collaboration levels high. Using the easy integrated social tools, anyone in the session can share URLs to the web via email, Twitter and Facebook. As a teacher that is working on creating a more collaborative environment, this seems to be the perfect app to do just that. I also love the fact that students can bookmark and share them easily through email, Twitter (If it were not blocked) and Facebook (Again, if it were not blocked). - @TheNerdyTeacher
SMARTBoard Simulator for the iPad Educreations is a fantastic iPad app that simulates the SMARTBoard touch screen experience. You will use a regular projector and projector screen – I’m often projecting onto my SMARTBoard even though my iPad isn’t connected to it. This app allows you to use your iPad screen as a blank canvas to write on while recording your entire session. After adding a picture from your camera roll (here is a screen shot off of the Scholastic News website) you can write all over the text in a variety of colors. It’s easy to save and play back any lessons that you’ve recorded. Educreations also allows you to take pictures while using the app and then write all over it – eliminating extra steps. Although I’ve gotten pretty good at writing with my finger on the screen a stylus (Amazon has them for around $10) definitely comes in handy for using this app. Check out my guide -> Screencasting Teacher Tools: Tasks, Procedures, Checklists and Rubric Links to your lessons can be emailed for view on other devices.
46 Education App Review Sites For Teachers And Students We try our best to keep our thumb on the pulse of the best education apps and web tools. In fact, we have probably spent way too much time attempting to offer up as many useful product reviews and helpful lists over the past several years. But we’re just two people. Whether you’re looking to find the best interactive whiteboard app, a new way to deliver exit slips, or simply a fun educational game that can be used in your classroom tomorrow, these app review sites are definitely your go-to source.
How To Start Using iTunes U In The Classroom Previously I wrote an article about the incredible potential of iTunes U for both student and staff learning. I posed the question: Why Aren’t We Talking More About iTunes U ? I was blown away by the many positive remarks in response to this article from others that have also experienced the benefits of iTunes U. I was recently asked if I would write a follow up to that post. iBooks Author As an example, I wouldn’t use the terms straightforward and easy when describing iBooks Author. See another Edudemic article by Fred: ‘ The Early Results Of An iPad Classroom Are In In fact, it’s so easy that even this administrator is in the midst of creating his own course. This would be a good option for a teacher that wants to see what iTunes U is all about and how it might work in their classroom. Public Site Manager You should also know that this will be verified through the supervisor’s contact information that is provided during the application process. Collaborate! Course Manager
Ways to Evaluate Educational Apps I am conducting a series of workshops in Florida and was asked to share a rubric to help teachers evaluate educational apps as part of the workshop. In 2010 Harry Walker developed a rubric, and I used his rubric (with some modifications by Kathy Schrock) as the basis for mine. (Read Harry Walker's paper Evaluating the Effectiveness of Apps for Mobile Devices.) I kept in mind that some apps are used to practice a discrete skill or present information just one time. Others are creative apps that a learner may use again and again, so it's a challenge to craft a rubric that can be used for a wide span of purposes. I tried to make my rubric work for the broadest range of apps, from drill and practice to creative endeavors, while stressing the purpose for using the app. My rubric also emphasizes the ability to customize content or settings and how the app encourages the use of higher order thinking skills. Here's what I chose to spotlight in my rubric: Relevance Customization Feedback Engagement
The 55 Best Free Education Apps For iPad Finding apps isn’t difficult. Finding education apps is only a bit more challenging. Finding free education apps is also possible. Finding free education apps worth downloading is a different story entirely. The following is our list for the 55 best apps for learning we can find. Some are formal learning–math drilling and phonics, for example–while others are RSS readers, social media platforms, and the like. A few notes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The 55 Best Free Education Apps For iPad 1. Developer Description: View 360-degree panoramas of places around the globe with Street View; View high resolution satellite imagery of locations around the world. 2. Developer Description: “…explore more than 750 Science, Math, Social Studies, English, Engineering & Tech, Arts & Music, and Health subjects right on their mobile devices. 3. Developer Description: “This app is a fun way for parents, teachers, librarians, and readers to get more information about top rated books at the fifth and sixth grade level.
The Big List Of 100 Tools, Tips And Tricks To Work More Efficiently Online By Alyssa Aldersley , visit Buffer . What does it take to be productive? It’s a question I often ask myself and to be honest I don’t have a great answer for it yet. That’s why I’m working on a solid running routine and on a set wake-up time and sleep time. One other realization I had is that, as I now spend so much of my day working online, there are a heap of new apps being created all the time to help us all become more productive. That’s why I thought of compiling a full list of 100 tools, tips and tricks for you to reflect a bit on your own productivity. Of course, a sure fire way to fail might be to try and use all 100, which Joel pointed out to me when we discussed this post! 10 awesome music sites to get into your zone When Leo recently wrote about Multitasking , one of the most interesting aspects was that music doesn’t actually contribute to us being distracted when we work. “In the case of music, it’s a little different. 1. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 10. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 1.
15 Great Mindmapping Tools and Apps Mindmapping is the process of drawing up diagrams that show relations between various ideas, tasks or information. For many of us this shows to actually be a way of taking notes that can be more useful than just writing down keywords or sentences like we do on a to-do list. By drawing mind maps you actually visualize your tasks and how each task can influence each other in a better way, making your brain remember more easily and/or come up with new ideas. The Tools There are various tools for mindmapping out there, both free and paid versions. The ones that require any installation, can be run on all platforms that support Java unless something else is specified. Freemind ↓ I found the application quick to install and very easy to understand, – which is probably why it is one of the more popular. You can download Freemind here. Xmind ↓ Xmind has a more professional business-like look compared to FreeMind. You can download Xmind here. Bubbl.US ↓ Web application. MindMeister ↓ Freeplane ↓ Bookvar ↓
2012 iMore editors choice awards iMore honors the very best iOS devices and features, news and events, apps and accessories of 2012 They're what change the way you have fun and get things done. What make you replace what's in your pocket, in your lap, on your Home screen, in your workflow, and on your mind. Device of the year: iPhone 5 The iPhone 5 was rebuilt from casing to processor. iPhone 5 review Story of the year: Tim Cook's Apple Some years it's one single event, one person, one thing, that stands out from all the rest. Failure of the year: Apple online services It would be easy to point the finger at iOS 6 Maps as being the single biggest point of failure for Apple this year. iPhone social app of the year: Twitterrific 5 Twitterrific predates the App Store, and has gone through several major revisions over the years, re-inventing itself several times. iPad social app of the year: Tweetglass Tweetglass, née Quip, is a decidedly conversational twist on on the Twitter timeline. iPad utility of the year: 1Password 4