Bloom’s Taxonomy of Apps

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Tips2012:iPad App Guide #35: Educreations

Educreations is an incredible FREE interactive whiteboard tool available as an iPad app and online web tool. Once you create a (free) account, it is easy to add images, draw pictures, and write on the whiteboard slides as you explain your ideas.

When you’re happy with your video, you can watch it on the iPad, or upload to the Educreations website. You can share your videos publicly or privately, via email, Facebook, Twitter, or the Educreations Tutorial Gallery (under development). Public screencasts can be embedded into blogs, websites, etc.

Educreations is a more advanced app than ShowMe, and it was specifically designed with educators in mind (see the video tutorial below). Like ShowMe, teachers recommend the use of  teacher / class accounts to save and share student videos (tip via blog post by @nate_kremer)

For: Teachers, Students (Primary to Secondary)

Cost: Free! (Download Link)

Requires WiFi: Yes, to upload completed work

Educational Applications

  • Create a repository of video tutorials for your class / school wiki / website
  • Explain mathematical thinking, written work
  • Present an argument, or explanation of a topic (literacy)
  • Enable students to demonstrate their learning, comprehension skills, and understanding of topics across a wide range of learning areas.

Recommended Reading

Please contribute to our iPad research by completing a short survey, and entering our draw to win an ITunes voucher!

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Tips2012:iPad App Guide #34: Doodlecast for Kids

DoodleCast for Kids is an iPhone/iPad drawing app specifically designed for preschool children aged 3-6. The app provides visual (pictures and word bubbles), and audio prompts to support their drawings, and also allows them to create drawings from scratch.

Children can use the different coloured markers to draw, and their voice is automatically recorded once they touch the screen. Their narrated drawings are recorded as videos (up to 3 minutes long) within the app, and these can be easily exported to the iPad camera roll by tapping “Save”.

For: Preschool, and Early Childhood

Cost: $1.99 AUD (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: No.

Educational Applications

  • Drawing / art
  • Storytelling
  • Encourage imagination and creativity

 Further Reading

Please contribute to our iPad research by completing a short survey, and entering our draw to win an ITunes voucher!

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Tips2012:iPad App Guide #33: ShowMe


Screen-casting is capturing what is on the screen of your iPad and adding a narration or music sound track. You can capture a drawing showing how the picture develops. This works well in teaching mathematics where the teacher can demonstrate the calculation as if they are working on an interactive whiteboard. The whole process gets recorded and can then be shared and replayed.

Show Me is a simple screen-casting app suitable for early childhood through to early secondary students. It provides a whiteboard, pens, eraser, and support for importing images.This app is extremely user-friendly; simply “Tap to record, and start talking”.

Completed screencasts are uploaded to the ShowMe website, where they can be shared (for free) with a unique weblink, and embedded into class blogs or webpages. The ShowMe website features a community collection of screencasts for all learning areas, which teachers can use in their classes for free.

More advanced screen-casting apps include Educreations, Screen Chomp, and Explain Everything.

For: Students (Early Childhood, Primary, Secondary)

Cost: Free (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: Yes, to upload finished products. It is not possible to save completed work to the iPad.

Management Tip

To use this app in class, teachers recommend creating a shared class / teacher ShowMe account, and establishing a standard naming convention (using students’ names) to identify student work. (Tip via EdTechTeacher Tip & @nate_kremer)

Educational Applications

  • Create a repository of video lessons for your class / school wiki / website
  • Explain mathematical thinking, written work
  • Present an argument, or explanation of a topic (literacy)
  • Enable students to demonstrate their learning, comprehension skills, and understanding of topics across a wide range of learning areas.
  • Click here for more ideas

Further Reading

Have you taken part in our survey? Click here and enter the draw to win a $ 50 iTunes voucher!

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide: Aurasma – Augmented Reality App

AurasmaMake the pages come alive by using augmented reality.
Augmented reality combines computer graphics and  images of natural objects to make a 3D image or simulation. This is used in advertisements and texts indicated by a large A icon.

To use this app in class, the students can create their own video footage to link to an icon. This is good for learning journeys to showcase project work.

It can also be used outside in treasure hunts and discovery trails, where icons are posted around the school. When students scan the icons using the Aurasma App or the iPad the Auras they have created will spring into life giving the audio and video commentary.

For: Students (Secondary) & Teachers

Cost: Free for lite version (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: Yes

Educational Applications

  • Create augmented reality learning objects for lessons for your class / school wiki / website
  • Students create auras to demonstrate three dimensional properties of objects
  • Present videos, images and sounds in response to visual cues
  • Enable students to demonstrate their learning,skills, and understanding of topics across a wide range of learning areas.
Please post how you use this app in your classroom
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Your Tips: What is your best maths app?

Your views are important to this research. Help us in the Tips research project to support teachers as they use iPads in education.

This week, our focus is on maths.

How do you use iPads to support teaching and learning in maths classes? Please leave us a comment sharing details of the maths apps you use, and a short descriptor of how you use them in your classroom.

Give us some guidelines about which grade levels will find the app or activity most useful.

Thanks,
Jenny
Dr. Jenny Lane

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Tips2012:Embedplus manage video clips

This post is an answer to Jamie’s question today about working with video footage. This is not an app but I hope this does what you need Jamie. You may have to do this on a computer and then upload to the iPad. I am still searching for an app to do this.
Embed plus lets you crop, loop, annotate and embed video footage. Let us know how you use it in your class.

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Tips2012:iPads for video creation and editing

In one of the classrooms in the Tips2012 Project, the students will be creating videos. We wanted ways for them to annotate and customize the video.

I tweeted for help, and Jamie Forshey, an Instructional Technology Coach and the writer at EduTech for Teachers blog sent us this response:”I have my students using Vlix. They have made some pretty neat videos on this one.”

Vlix is a free app that allows you to personalize video. You can add text and music and a wide range of special effects. Vlix allows the easy sharing of video via email, Facebook, twitter and YouTube. You can add the video to an online community site www.vlixvideo.com

Thanks Jamie, I think we will have fun with this one.

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #32: Skitch

Skitch makes it easy to draw, capture and annotate screenshots on the iPad – taken from your iPad camera, web pages, photo roll, or Google Map. Skitch makes it easy to explain something, give instructions, or communicate ideas using images. (See Skitch for iPad)

Skitch is integrated with Evernote, and saved images can also be shared via AirPlay, email, twitter, or saved directly to the iPad photo roll. There is a Mac desktop apllication too.

For: Teachers, Students (Middle Primary – Secondary)

Cost: Free (Download Link)

Requires WiFi: No.

Educational Applications

  • Annotate instructions, maps, screenshots for blog posts, classroom displays
  • Document and explain learning experiences e.g. Science experiments.

Further Reading

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #31: Wikipanion

Wikipanion is a simple, easy to use app for navigating Wikipedia on the iPad (without the need to launch Safari). It provides easy search and bookmarking functions, and offers the option to save images directly to the iPad. It comes with the built-in WikiDictionary for easy reference.

For: Teachers, Students, Administrators

Cost: Free (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: Yes

Educational Applications

  • Support general research / Inquiry

 

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Tips2012:iPad App Guide #30: Instapaper

Instapaper is a must-have iPad app which enables users to bookmark and save web articles, blog posts, tweets, other app content, news, etc for offline viewing later; in class, on the train, … literally anywhere.

Installed as a Safari bookmarklet, Instapaper is simple to use, and allows users to easily sync articles across their mobile devices and web browsers (on their home computers) via their Instapaper account (requires an email address). You can also share articles to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Evernote.

For: Teachers, Students (Primary, Secondary), Administrators

Cost: $5.49 (Download Link)

Requires WiFi: No for reading , yes for bookmarking and syncing

Educational Applications

  • Professional reading
  • Store research articles for easy access
  • Present web articles in a clean, easy-to-read format for focused reading.

 
Feeling lucky, click on this link and help in this research by completing a short survey you could be the winner of an I- tunes voucher.

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Tips2012:iPad App Guide #29: Dictionary.com HD

The Dictionary.com HD app brings a trusted (ad-free) dictionary and thesaurus, containing nearly 2 million words, definitions, synonyms, and antonymns, to the iPad. This invaluable reference resource is available offline, with some additional features, such as voice-to-text search and audio pronunciation, available with a Wi-Fi connection.

This paid version of the app is ad-free, and is highly recommended for educational use. There are separate versions for iTouch and iPhone.

For: Administrators. Teachers, Students, Students with Special Needs

Cost: $4.99 (Download Link).

Requires WiFi: Only for additional features.

  • Support students in literacy activities, particularly for finding the spelling and meaning of words
  • Learn the pronunciation of words – valuable for special needs students
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Tips2012:iPad App Guide #28 – History: Maps of the World

History: Maps of the World is a free iPod & iPad app for Social Studies, History, and Geography teachers, compiling maps from different eras throughout history. Viewers can explore maps by theme, historical events, and geography.

The digitized maps are easy to navigate using touch gestures, and can be zoomed in to show fine detail. While the app is a large download, the maps are available for offline viewing.

For: Teachers, Upper Primary and Secondary Students

Cost: Free (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: No

Further Reading

 

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Tips2012:iPad App Guide #27: Tools 4 Students

Tools 4 Students is an incredibly useful iPod Touch / iPad app, providing teachers and students with 25 editable graphic organisers to organise their thinking and comprehend new information.

Students can save their work on their iPad, export to Dropbox, or email completed organisers to their teacher, who can share them via Google Docs or print them off. The app can also be projected onto an whiteboard for whole-class demonstrations and activities.

For: Teachers, Students

Cost: $0.99 – Worth every cent! (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: No.

Screenshots

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Tips2012:iPad App Guide #26: Science 360

The Science 360 app brings a world of science news, information, images, and videos to the iPad. Featuring a unique 360 degree view, users can find content through touch gestures, or via keyword search using the keyboard.

The app makes it easy to save and share favourite images and videos, and offers an option to download full-resolution images for offline use. It is recommended for casual browsing, rather than for specific research.

This app is very data intensive, and requires a strong WiFi internet connection to be useful.

For: Teachers, Students

Cost: Free (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: Yes (see above)

 

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Tips2012 iPad App Guide #25: Strip Designer

Strip Designer is a comic-strip creation app for the iPad which transforms your own photos (or Creative Commons Internet images) into comic-book style images through the use of strip styles, speech bubbles, stickers, and frames. Finished products can be saved to the iPad photo library, emailed, or shared on Flickr and other social networks.

For: Teachers, Students (Grades 6-12)

Cost: $2.99 (Download Link)

Requires WiFi?: No

Digital Storytelling with Strip Design for iPad/iPod

Educational Applications

  • Create time-lines for historical events
  • Multimedia storytelling, novel study
  • Present research findings, or ideas  in comic-strip format
  • Showcase student photography
  • For more ideas and resources, please see the links at the end of our Comic Life post.

Further Reading