A LONG 3 Days!

iLearn Technology has been down for 3 LONG days.  I was so happy to see the problem resolved this morning, I have a lot of new sites to share!  The big news over the weekend was that my iPhone app was approved by Apple.  It is called Pickn’ Stix here is a review by TUAW:

Fun for kids and adults: Pickin’ Stix

Pickin’ Stix (click opens iTunes) took me back to my childhood in the early sixties, when I had a little cylinder filled with colorful plastic “Pickup Sticks”. You’d toss ’em in a pile, and then try to pick them up without disturbing the other sticks. Not only was it a great way to stay engrossed for a while, but it was also teaching me and my friends manual dexterity, as well as how to use our depth and relational perception to figure out how to move a stick without moving any others.Now Jonathan Tenkely has come out with his iPhone version, just the thing to pass to the kids when they’re bored and you want to keep them out of trouble. Jonathan’s wife Kelly is an educator who runs the great iLearn Technology blog, so it’s not surprising that his first iPhone app is a combination of fun and learning.With the US$0.99 Pickin’ Stix, you shake the iPhone to “toss” the sticks, then use a finger to “pick them up”. The better you do at tapping on the top sticks, the faster you’ll get done. You lose points for tapping on sticks that are partially under other sticks.The only complaint I have is that Pickin’ Stix, currently in a 1.0 release, has no way to keep your best time or score, or to compare your time to others. I’d also like to see an advanced mode with more sticks to pick up for an additional challenge, and a way to pause a game. And if Tenkely can figure out a way to get a kid to give the iPhone back to you after you’ve let ’em play for a while, he’ll have it made!What other childhood favorites would you like to see on the iPhone and iPod touch? Let us know in the comments.So that is exciting!  If you do download Pickn’ Stix, please be sure to leave a review in iTunes.

App Shopper

 

What it is:  The iPod Touch has opened up a whole world of portable education to schools.  Several of the Applications in the iTunes Application store are free!  App Shopper is a website that makes it simple to find free education applications for the iPod Touch (or iPhone).  Select your category, free, and enjoy browsing through great, free applications for your students!  

 

How to integrate App Shopper into the classroom:  Use App shopper to easily find free applications for your classroom iPod Touch(es).  I like the way that App Shopper shows an icon of the program and gives a description of the application.  Applications can be downloaded right from App Shopper or from iTunes…these are free to use, who doesn’t appreciate free classroom tools?!

 

Tips:  The second edition of the iLearn Ezine is coming soon with a great section on iPods in education and a review of the best free education apps.

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using App Shopper in your classroom.