What it is: Have you ever attempted an app search? It is a miserable experience, unless you already know what you are looking for, you are out of luck! Quixey changes all of that by powering app searches across multiple platforms (Android, Bada, BlackBerry, Chrome extensions, Chrome web apps, Facebook, Firefox add-ons, IE add-ons, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Symbian, Web, WebOS, Windows, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone). Quixey works with manufacturers, carriers, search engines and platforms to create a custom app search solution. Quixey uses what they call “functional search” just for apps. When you use Quixey, you don’t have to know the app’s exact name or “official” description to find the app. Quixey scans blogs, review sites, forums and social media to learn what each app can do and how people are using it. The Functional app search isn’t dependent on keywords. When you search an app, you can type in the kind of app you are looking for. Easily narrow your search by device. Next to the device, you can see how many apps are related to your search making it simple to see how much digging you will need to do. Next to each app that comes up in your search, there are snippets: short pieces of information that help you decide if the app will do what you need it to. Need to narrow it down even more? No problem, Quixey let’s you organize by paid or free apps, or filter by a custom advanced view. Very handy!
How to integrate Quixey into the classroom: If you or your students use ANY of the above platforms, Quixey is a must! Hunt down the exact app you need quickly and easily. Have a mixed platform classroom? Quixey makes it simple to see where app crossover is possible for the classroom. This is one handy search engine!
Be sure to bookmark Quixey on classroom computers for easy access to an anytime search. When you find an app you are interested in, click for more information, screen shots of the app and a link to the app store. You can even tweet the app out or share it on Facebook!
Tips: When you click on an app, Quixey will even redirect you to the appropriate app store for download!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Quixey in your classroom!
What it is: Moglue is an interactive ebook builder that helps students create and share their stories on mobile devices as an app. This download desktop platform makes it a snap for students to create interactive ebooks and release them as apps for iOS devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), Android tablets and Android phones. Students only need to build the content once and Moglue makes it compatible with each user interface seamlessly. No programming is required, this is a great creation platform for all classrooms! Using a simple drag and drop interface, students can make their stories come to life. Every child is enabled to be an artist now.
How to integrate Moglue into the classroom: I think tools that make content creation simple are absolute genius. As much as I would love for every student (and myself) to know how to program, it takes quite a bit of know-how before students can make their stories and ideas come to life. The intuitive interface of tools like Moglue let students focus on breathing life into their creations and not on the technology tools used to build them. Tools like Moglue are wonderful for the classroom where students are often short on time and resources (someone to teach them programming). Because the interface is so easy to use, students can focus on telling a story, releasing their inner artist, and letting their creativity shine.
What it is: Draw a Stickman is a delightful site that I learned about from @amandacdykes on her blog Upside Down Education. On Draw a Stickman, students are prompted to draw a stick figure, the figure they draw springs to life and is faced with several challenges, students must follow directions and draw several props for their stick figure to interact with. This is a mini interactive story that has students reading and following directions, solving mysteries, thinking creatively and solving problems. Students will love the hero of the story (the character they created) and the villain (a dragon).
How to integrate the Draw a Stickman site into the classroom:Draw a Stickman is a fun interactive site that uses student creations to tell a story. Students can complete the interactive on individual computers, iDevices (the site works great!), interactive whiteboards, or classroom computers.
Aside from just fun practice at following instructions, Draw a Stickman would be a great fictional story prompt. Students have the bones of a story and can fill in details, vivid verbs, adjectives, etc. to tell the story. Students can focus on fleshing out their hero, the plot of the story, the details, the setting, etc. Students can come up with a moral of a story that they add in the customized ending. This link can be sent as a tweet, facebook link, or in an email to accompany the story they have created. These stories would be fun to share as a class…how many different stories did students come up with using the same base?
On an interactive whiteboard, students can go through the story together, labeling the different parts of the story (beginning, problem, climax, resolution, ending). This interactive can help students identify parts in a story including setting, characters and plot.
Tips: After you have gone through Draw a Stickman, you can personalize the message at the end and share. Add any two lines of text that you wish. This could be a fun way to reveal messages to your students!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Draw a Stickman in your classroom!
What it is: Google rocks my socks. The good people at Google that are dreaming up ways to change the world never cease to amaze me. Today, new to Google Labs is a little tool called Swiffy. Swiffy let’s you upload a SWF file (otherwise known as Flash) and convert it to HTML5. Sweet. This means that you can use flash content on devices without a Flash player (i.e. iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch). You know what that means? The iDevices are officially the PERFECT device thanks to Google. (No need for the list of reasons you don’t like iDevices, I’m a hardcore fan and you are not likely to change my mind with a rant. Deal? Deal.) Swiffy works directly from your web browser, I have tried it out in Firefox, Safari and Chrome. It worked in all three well! It will also work from Mobile Safari which means it will work from your iDevice. Very handy. Using Swiffy is as easy as uploading a file and clicking “upload and convert”. It couldn’t be easier.
How to integrate Swiffy into the classroom: When I was in college I had a professor that often said “The wheels of academia are SLOW to turn.” She couldn’t have been more correct. I have seen this in nearly every arena of education. Technology is no exception. Many wonderful resources are available as flash files. The problem? iDevices (the iPad, iPod Touch) are becoming more frequently used in the classroom and they are not flash friendly. Google labs comes to the rescue with Swiffy. Simply upload the flash file and convert it to HTML 5 using Swiffy. The new HTML5 files can be distributed to student devices so that learning can continue uninterrupted by something silly like file type. Very cool.
Tips: SWF 5 currently gives the best results. If possible save the SWF file this way!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Swiffy in your classroom!
I’m sure you all have figured out by now that I am a fan of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Big. Fan. How could an organization freak like me not be impressed with a way of categorizing how we learn and produce? Recently I came across not one but two Bloom’s taxonomy resources for apps. Organizational heaven I tell ya. I thought I would share all of this appy, bloomy goodness with you!
Oh yeah, in case you forgot, I organize ALL of my posts by Bloom’s Taxonomy level both here on iLearn Technology and on my app sharing blog iPad Curriculum. Just choose the level of Blooms in the category search in the sidebar and away you go. Happy bloomin’ friends!
You can purchase my Bloom’s posters in PDF 8.5″x11″ format from my store (only $0.99 for all 4, a steal!) Sales help fund Donor’s Choose projects like this one that funded a class set of Leap Frog systems:
What it is: Do you ever find yourself wanting to share a file quickly and easily without relying on email to deliver it? You do? I thought so. Min.us is a great way to share files quickly and easily, it even provides file sharing options between devices! Students and teachers of all ages can use Min.us to share files. Just drag the file onto the screen and click “Start Sharing”. It could not be easier. Choose to share publicly or privately. Share using the unique URL that is generated. Easy peasy. No need for students to sign in. A built-in timeline shows all of the files that have been shared. Min.us has a desktop application that can be downloaded and placed in the task bar for sharing without opening a browser. Min.us has apps for sharing on mobile devices including the iPhone, Android, and Windows 7 with more mobile options coming.
How to integrate Min.us into the classroom:Min.us is an easy way to share documents with your students, colleagues and parents of children in your classroom. Drag and drop a document and share the link for fast, easy sharing. Include permission slips, class documents and make-up work as Min.us links in a weekly newsletter for easy access to EXACTLY the document that each family needs. No more sending emails full of attachments that get filtered or bounced back! Quickly share documents between teacher and student computers. Students can use Min.us to turn in work, teachers can use it to share documents quickly with classroom computers or share documents immediately with a computer lab full of computers.
Tips: Login to follow your documents (how many downloads, a feed of documents you have subscribed to and a full history of all of your documents).
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Min.us in your classroom!
What it is:Zoodles makes it possible to have a “kid safe” mode on every device: Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android. Zoodles includes wonderful features for technology use in the classroom and at home. With Zoodles every child has their own “playground” space (login) that they access by clicking on their picture. A parent dashboard lets teachers (or parents) customize Zoodles to meet the needs of students. Parents and teachers can clearly see where a student spends their time, what their interests are, and what subjects they have been practicing. Every game in Zoodles has been previewed by experts and is rated based on it’s educational merit. Parent play-along mode makes it possible for parents or teachers to guide the learning experience. The interface is focused on kids and is extremely intuitive. There are no distracting “extras” in the navigation or URLs where students can get sidetracked or lost. The content in Zoodles adapts to each child’s age and ability level so they are constantly being challenged and engaged. There are thousands of educational games built into Zoodles…students always have something new and challenging to interact with. Zoodles also gives students access to fun educational videos. Zoodles is geared for toddler to third grade (8 year old) students. You can peruse the games included in Zoodles by clicking on the “Games” tab on the site. There are games for: cognitive development, creative development, life skills, math, reading, science, and social studies. The games and videos in Zoodles are pulled from several places on the Internet. What makes Zoodles a great tool is the ability to guide students in their learning, easily find quality educational content, scale as a student is ready, and keep ads blocked and hidden.
How to integrate Zoodles into the classroom: Zoodles is great for classroom computers and devices in the primary classroom. It provides students with access to quality learning games and content from the Internet without having to sort through the Internet to get to it. Zoodles is perfect for classroom computers that are used as learning centers. For the classroom, create 3-5 different accounts. Instead of basing the accounts on individual students, the accounts can be based on a learning level. Through the dashboard, teachers can guide the learning that happens in each account. This keeps your students on task, learning at their level, and engaged in meaningful activities. Even if you don’t use the Zoodles interface on your computers for students, it is definitely worth a download as a teacher. The games and videos are broken up into subject areas and age groups. This makes it easy to find an activity for any learning that you are doing in the classroom. Use Zoodles as your guide to find great activities and learning games on the web.
Tips: I found Zoodles when searching for a solution for one of the families I teach. They were looking for a way that all of their kids (2 years old to 8 years old) could use the family computer for fun, safe learning experiences. This is a great app to recommend to parents who don’t know what they don’t know, but want to provide their kids with virtual learning experiences. Be sure to recommend it to your students families! There are premium features that families will LOVE!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Zoodles!
What it is: Study Blue is a very handy study tool for high-school and college students that works the way they do. Students can use it to store notes and create flashcards. Study materials are then accessible anywhere that students have an internet connection and even from their phone. Best of all, it is free to sign up and get started! Study Blue helps students study more efficiently by keeping track of what students have already mastered, and what they still need work on. This makes studying focused and productive. Students can easily create flashcards based on their notes and use those flashcards to study online or from their phone. Study Blue is logically organized (by class) making keeping track of study materials easy. Students can invite classmates to add to the notes or study materials from within Study Blue. Students can even upload notes they have taken outside of Study Blue. As students are creating flashcards and notes, they can enter text, audio recordings, and images. Even better, Study Blue has a library of special characters that can be inserted into notes and flashcards-perfect for math and language studying.
How to integrate Study Blue into the classroom: What makes Study Blue so brilliant, is the way that it works for students. The features within Study Blue are robust enough to stay up with students needs, but simple enough that it will get used often. Study Blue is a must-recommend to students. I love the way that Study Blue pays attention to what has already been mastered, and works with students to strengthen study habits. The ability to share within Study Blue means that students can work together to share resources, collaborate, and tackle their studying. It may be worth creating a teacher account to share lecture notes with students via Study Blue. Study Blue is a great way to help your students stay organized, and make the most of their study time in a way that makes sense for them. It is flexible enough to work for any student!
Tips: Students will need an email address to sign up for an account on Study Blue. Study Blue is a free service to use, they also have an upgrade version that lets students compare notes with others, print notes, combine flash card decks, etc.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Study Blue in your classroom
The following is a re-post from my other blog: iPad Curriculum. I shared Send Felicity a few weeks ago as part of my advent collection but thought I would give everyone a little more information about this incredible site and invitation for play. Even though Send Felicity has an iPhone/iPod Touch app, the app isn’t necessary to engage in the creative play which is also available on the Send Felicity website and Facebook page. I encourage you to offer your students opportunities for play. I deeply believe that play is a strong catalyst for learning.
What it is: Everyone could use a little more magic and enchantment in their lives and Send Felicity brings students (and teachers/families) just that. Take a look at the video below to watch some of that magic unfold.
Felicity is six and three-quarters years old. She loves imagination, making things, and magic. She comes from a magical place called Thin Air. Felicity invites children everywhere to join her in play. Every day there is a new special surprise waiting for children. Each surprise invites students to engage in creativity, play, imagination, and learning. It is an enchanting-ongoing place that involves technology, imagination, and the real world in new ways. The artists, geeks, and minds behind Felicity are deeply committed to keeping the childhood experience one of magic, imagination, and exploration. They bring these values to life beautifully as an application, website, and social experience. What I love about the Send Felicity experience is the storyline behind Felicity, and the invitation to be part of something that is engaging, meaningful, and magical. The combination of the three makes Send Felicity a unique learning and interactive experience. So, how does Send Felicity work? Children can visit the application or website to learn of a new craft (adventure) to take with Felicity. Felicity takes every day objects like paper plates and makes them magical. Children follow the adventures and create and pretend along with Felicity. Children can take pictures of their finished masterpieces and upload them to the Send Felicity website, sharing the creative experience with others. The application is truly unique and takes what is real and adds a bit of magic (as you saw in the video).
How Send Felicity can enrich learning: Play is an important part of learning. It provides the building blocks for self-regulation and executive functions, promotes creativity, imagination, and divergent thinking. Unfortunately play is often stripped from the classroom. Send Felicity weaves together a wonderful tapestry of play and learning in the form of an application, a website, and a social movement. Felicity uses open-ended play and experimentation that leads to an attitude of fun learning. Felicity helps your students turn ordinary objects into creative works of magic. Use Felicity’s daily dose of magic to spark your students imaginations. Set aside some time for your students to do a little creative play. The benefits that play has on the rest of the learning day will be well worth the time invested. Go beyond the crafts and invite your students to write stories, poems, or secret letters in connection with the imaginative play of the day. Activities for Felicity are open-ended and include art, language arts, literacy, and even math and physics. Send Felicity marries technology and real life in new fun ways. The application is just a piece of the bigger picture. The application takes students physical creation and adds a little magic to it.
Today we are boldly making mistakes.Today, our children will make a small mess.
Today, we’ll set out on an adventure and begin with an “oops” and end up in a place where we can look and wonder. Together, we can do something mistaken and wrong; and audacious and wonderful to surprise everyone.
This project shows children that it is okay to make mistakes, and that, in fact, those mistakes can be turned into something wonderful, new, and meaningful. Students don’t hear often enough that it is okay to make mistakes and that it is indeed an important part of the learning process. Take a look at what these beautiful oops turn into:
The Send Felicity App has not yet been released to the iTunes store, but don’t let that stop you from using Felicity in your classroom right now, the Send Felicity website is full of fun activities, instructions, and even a bit of magic. You can also check Felicity out on Facebook where she shares creations made by children from around the world! Send your students home with a wonderful gift this holiday season and point them toward the Send Felicity website. Students will love the opportunities for play and imaginations, parents will love the ideas to keep their kids learning and playing. Let parents know about Send Felicity along with this article from Geek Mom for a little explanation.
The wonderful people over at Send Felicity are so passionate about creating a world of wonder and imagination for children to play in that they have made the technology that Send Felicity is based on open source. Interested parents, educators, and developers are invited to sign up to play along with them.
Devices: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch iOS 3.1.3 or later
Math BINGO on my blog iPad Curriculum is a fun app for practicing math facts.
eduPad on my blog iPad Curriculum a platform where teachers can create iPad/iPhone/iPod apps for free without knowing how to code. eduPad takes care of all the hard stuff and you get 20% of all app sales.
IceBerg kids on my blog iPad Curriculum an eReader for beginner and emergent readers.
Incomplete Thoughts my reflection on Sir Ken Robinson’s RSA animate video on my blog Dreams of Education
Twitter Academy– I’m starting a school…check out the details and help out if you can!
