From the website
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. Admittedly, there are good apps that are not customizable and focus on lower order thinking skills. Factor Samurai, for example, is a fantastic game for identifying prime and composite numbers. It would be nice if the app had flexibility to adjust difficultly, but it's still a good app if it is relevant to the learning purpose. ----- Vincent provides his rubric for download and also a significant number of additional resources devoted to app analysis and evaluation from other individuals and organizations. I really appreciate all the work he put into this.
Thanks Jim for curating this! Via Jim Lerman The Big History Project is dedicated to fostering a greater love and capacity for learning among high school students. Started by Bill Gates and David Christian our goal is to get Big History taught to as many students around the world as possible. 
Timeline World War 2 ($8.99 promotional launch price) offers an amazing experience that allows you to explore history along an interactive timeline. For the World History teachers out there, how about checking this one out? Just imagine bringing all of the events, battles, newsreels, maps, and more data alive so it makes sense.
I might purchase just to check it out, but I need more room on my iPad. I keep adding more and more apps and almost ran out of room. :o) This might happen more and more when apps like this that contain amazing visuals take up almost .75 GB. 
A cinemagram is a stunning hybrid between photo and video. (cinemegram perfect innovation! 
If you want to watch videos on your iPad or other tablet from afar, without headphones, its speaker is pretty worthless. This trick can boost the sound significantly with almost no work at all.
Why not have your students set this up for the iPad classroom? Pretty innovative! 
A special education teacher reflects on Book Creator and how it motivates students who are resistant writers. Here is her story:
"As a Special Education teacher of upper elementary grades, I have several students who are resistant writers. This app has amazing potential to motivate them to write more since the finished product is beautiful, accessible, intuitive, and reflective of their efforts.
I have been using this app with one of my students with intellectual disabilities and what an incredible tool! We took pictures of this student making various emotional faces and then helped her draft a repetition book. She loved being able to record herself reading the pages and willingly practiced and practiced her Frye words and her fluency, without even realizing that she was doing it. She is also happily practicing pronunciation and sentence structure, skills that she would sometimes prefer to ignore!"
Why UDL? Multiple Means of Expression
Thank you Melanie for telling your story.
Via Kathleen McClaskey 
2012 Mobile Learning Conference is undergoing in Phoenix, Arizona, Creative educators are always finding ways to leverage current technologies to facilitate authentic learning for students, and for teacher professional ... Via Lucy Gray 
The project has two parts. Part 1 (Games Design) uses the games design process for students to create a game for mobile devices for year 6 students from local primary schools . Part 2 (Gamification in the classroom) of the project implements gaming and gamification in everyday classroom practice to increase student engagement by increasing personalised learning and feedback. Via JackieGerstein Ed.D. 
PhET is an awesome resource from the University of Colorado at Boulder. The site has interactive simulations for physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, and math that teachers and students can use. Via Donna Browne, Ana Rodera 
"iPhoneography is a powerful new artform for digital storytelling and creative expression. Learn how to use it to engage students, build community, and enhance teaching."
Nicole Dalesio and Lisa Highfill have used great creativity in synthesizing a unique approach to digital storytelling through the use of iPhone photography and numerous iPhone apps -- they call it iPhoneography. The site offers a compelling examples of a digital story, links to recommended apps, a handy how-to section, a list of iPhoneographers to follow, a place for social networking (called untitled), a collection of interesting articles and blog posts, and how to get in touch with the principals. I think iPhonegraphy is really going to go places. -JL Via Jim Lerman, Dennis Richards 
"Braille Touch, a free app which simplifies Braille texting for the blind, aims to revamp keyboard possibilities for the mainstream smartphone market.
Georgia Tech's research team, spearheaded by Mario Romero, reports the Braille Touch app slashes costs for visually impaired smartphone users and could transform traditional mobile device typing.
Instead of relying on an expensive, bulky keyboard hook-up, Braille Touch works on a standard smartphone. It features six touchscreen buttons users press in patterns to signal the alphabet's letters, with the app announcing each letter so users immediately hear what they wrote.
It takes years to master reading Braille, but designers created the Braille Touch typing system for simplicity, and users can master the code in a matter of hours."
Via Kathleen McClaskey 
EduPhonics is part of larger project TEAS, developed for K12 to empower teachers and engage students. EduPhonics requires teachers to login to TEAS, select EduPhonics and create a fun engaging activity! |
These interactives provide educators and students with strategies, content, and activities that can enhance and improve students' skills in a variety of curricular areas. 
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) videos are designed to support states, schools, and teachers in the implementation of the CCSS. The videos were created in collaboration with the states in the Southeast Comprehensive Center region based on their needs for professional development support for the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Each video is an audiovisual resource that focuses on one or more specific standards and usually includes examples/illustrations geared to enhancing understanding. The intent of each content-focused video is to clarify the meaning of the individual standard rather than to be a guide on how to teach each standard although the examples can be adapted for instructional use.
The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC), funded by the U.S. Department of Education, provides high-quality technical assistance in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina. 
Now that Google Sketchup was sold, there is a 3D/CAD program that schools might want to check out.
Tinkercad is a powerful 3D modeling tool that is easy to use and work with 3D printers like 3DTin. Thank you Kevin Jarrett for sharing this! 
Graffiti on your building? A broken traffic light? Wind-blown street lamp? Reach your government via smartphone with SeeClickFix to keep your city beautiful and safe.
This is a cool app that could be taken a step further. What if you had a SeeClickFix to fix your school, the curriculum, a lesson, your own learning?
Just think about it!! 
Tech allows students to learn in new and engaging ways, but many educators are struggling to incorporate digital into traditional classrooms.
The iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch can augment or replace many classroom tools, and accomplish the following. > Lead classes on a shared digital whiteboard with Penultimate, Splashtop Whiteboard or Doceri Remote.
Article even provides some free tools to liven up the classroom and shares how to do an iPad Pilot. 
You could lose track of time viewing the wonderful works of art at http://t.co/BvrmQJ1i I guess they have the resources to curate all these.
Beautiful site that is a wealth of art resources. 
April is National Poetry Month, so use these mobile apps to discover and create some poetry of your own.
Three of the apps you might want to add:
Need help finding the right words to express yourself? Check out Instant Poetry which generates random words that you can rearrange into a masterpiece. You can even create a photo-text using one of your own images.
Poetry from the Poetry Foundation can carry classic and contemporary poets with you on the go, and easily find poems that fit your mood with a swipe of your finger.
Poet's Pad includes idea generation tools as well as a dictionary and a thesaurus.
Speaking of useful apps, this one's a genuine life-changer. John, a seven year old who has autism, uses the Proloquo2go app, which turns pictures into sentences then voices them out loud so they can be repeated.
April 2nd marks World Autism Awareness Day, as research suggests one in 100 children are now diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.
Kentucky Virtual Library has creared a visual tool to help students do research. This is an excellent model of how to present a step by step approach in a visual way that includes a set of tasks that students can follow in conducting research. The basic steps are:
1. Plan 2. Search for Information 3. Take notes 4. Use the Information 5. Report 6. Evaluate
Why UDL? Multiple Means of Representation and Engagement
Very interesting! Thanks Kathleen! Via Kathleen McClaskey, Dennis Richards 
Khan Academy is slated to launch its iPad app any minute now in Apple's store. The enhanced version of Khan Academy will include time-syncing between devices--no Internet connection required--an interactive transcript of the lectures for easy searching, and a handy scrubber for moving between parts of the lectures.
The iPad frees Khan Academy from the constraints of a laptop and Internet connection. 
Education Nation is a nationally broadcast, in-depth conversation about improving education in America. Via JackieGerstein Ed.D. |
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