Despite my best efforts to slow down time, summer break is quickly drawing to a close. And, while summer break is obviously one of the best things humankind has ever come up with, I am excited to get back in the classroom and try out some new ideas and resources. So, I wanted to start off this semester by covering some of the apps I'm really excited about, particularly those that can be used in a variety of subjects and grade levels. Let's check them out!
EduClipper - Clip Everything, Share Anything
EduClipper, also known as the "pinterest for education," is an absolutely awesome tool for collecting, sharing, and organizing digital information. It's great for students and teachers and it can be used to create a digital bulletin board of useful links, articles, pages, and you can even upload your own documents to share. It's incredibly easy to use and to top it all off, it's free!
[ The Complete Roundup Review of EduClipper ]
[ The Complete Roundup Review of EduClipper ]
Class Dojo - Digital Classroom Management
Class Dojo is a free classroom management app that can be used on the web, iOS, and Android devices. Within the app, you can store all of your student information and with the click of a mouse, you can easily award students negative or positive points for their behavior in class. The app records and tracks all that behavior data so that you can view, graph, and analyze it whenever you want!
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Class Dojo ]
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Class Dojo ]
TouchCast - The Web Inside a Video
TouchCast is an awesome new iPad app that allows you to create videos with interactive web content inside of the video. Within the videos you can integrate maps, images, links, polls, questions, and even live Twitter feeds. Plus, it's free, fun, and incredibly simple to use. If you've got iPads you can use in your classroom, definitely give it a try!
[ The Complete Roundup Review of TouchCast ]
[ The Complete Roundup Review of TouchCast ]
Metta - Flip Web Content Into Video Lessons
Metta (formerly Soo Meta) is a web-based tool for creating flipped video lessons. Teachers can use the tool to take images, audio, and video from their computers (or the web) and easily mix it all into a video lesson that can be sent out to students. You even have the option to create interactive polls and questions that students can answer while they're watching the lesson!
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Metta ]
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Metta ]
Brickflow - Hashtag Based Slideshows
Brickflow is a web-based tool that instantly builds slideshows based on hashtags (#). You can easily integrate content from YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter to create a slideshow in seconds. And if you need to, you can also upload your own content as well, so you don't have to be connected to the social media sites. It's a great, free tool that I think students will enjoy using!
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Brickflow ]
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Brickflow ]
Moby Max - Online Math & Language Curriculum
The only reason Moby Max isn't at the top of this list is because I don't teach English anymore, so I won't be able to use this app this fall. But, for the Language and Math instructors out there, you should absolutely check out the site. Moby Max is a completely free, standards-based, online curriculum that even determines exactly what indicators your students have trouble with. It's awesome.
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Moby Max ]
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Moby Max ]
EduCade - Find, Create, and Share Lesson Plans
Despite being a relatively new resource, EduCade has a ton of free, standards-based, lesson plans to try out. You can easily search by grade-level or subject-area to find any lesson you might need. All the lessons come with the resources you need, a step-by-step lesson plan, and even reviews from other teachers who have tried it out.
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Educade ]
[ The Complete Roundup Review of Educade ]
Answer Pad - The Free Student Response System
And last, but certainly not least, The Answer Pad a free web, iOS and Android app that is perfect for the BYOD environment. Remember "clickers," where a question would appear on the board and then the students would press their answer on a remote? The Answer Pad takes that idea and improves on it a million times over. If you have a BYOD policy at your school, definitely check it out.
[ The Complete Roundup Review of The Answer Pad ]
[ The Complete Roundup Review of The Answer Pad ]
