Aurasma

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aurasma/id432526396?mt=8

iTunes rating 3 stars

My rating 3 stars

The app takes an object or image and allows you to use layers  of information over the object or image for augmented exploration. It allows both the learner and creator to interact with the world.

I would like to start off the year with examples of different medias in art for the k-2 and different types of art for 3-5 laid out on table tops that have been augmented. The learners by choice would scan an artwork and see the process and explore several related artworks. Later on in the year I would like 3-5 to find a famous artwork that was created with historical, social, or scientific connections and augment it for their classmates and younger students at our school. Augmenting the famous work of art with a visual interactive explanations of the WHY this artwork was created and so famous.

I rated it a 3 it is challenging to get the hang of. The app does stall quite a bit. I'm looking forward to the improvements that will come and the places this type of creating and learning will take us.

Sent from my iPad

Comic Maker

Comic Maker provides an easy way to create comics. Many options are available for layout and pictures. You can even upload your own pictures. This would be a great tool to use in the classroom. It serves as a new avenue for students to write while having fun and expressing their creativity. I can see it being especially popular with boy writers. Many times, they don't enjoy writing, so this gives them a new approach.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comic-maker-hd/id649271605?mt=8

Photocard

I enjoyed exploring the Photocard app today. First of all, it is a free app, so anyone can create an account and explore on their own. Essentially, Photocard allows you to send a postcard through email (or actually send a real one). You can customize the postcard with a picture or select from several provided. I plan to have learners use this tool to capture a moment in history (a final goodbye note from a soldier in the Alamo, a postcard to a relative after moving to a new country) or document correspondence between characters in a book. The possibilities are endless. My learners could show their understanding of a topic while using correct friendly letter format and showcase their writing skills. I can't wait to share this with my campus!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photocard-by-bill-atkinson/id333208430?mt=8

Jennifer Braafladt

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ThingLink

Great app that allows you to add video, music, and notes to your images. I would use this app for students to describe structure and function of a body system or, cell and it's organelles. This app is easy to use I rate it as 5.


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Haiku Deck and BookPress

I spent my time looking at 4 different apps and these two were my favorites. I had fun making a Haiku Deck presentation using the tutorial first and then creating my own without it. It was very easy to use and has lots of built in resources. 

BookPress is the other app that I'm excited about. If you've ever wondered how to write and publish your own book, BookPress makes this easy for you. I plan on using this in the classroom and reminding students that each time they write a report or an essay, it will come together in a published ebook at the end of the year. Hopefully this will motivate them to produce better work.

Write About This

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/write-about-this-free/id601382666?mt=8

This app serves many purposes. It allows learners to create digital stories using either photos they have taken, or there are a plethora of photos already in the app ready for use.  Learners can also voice record what they have written. Another cool feature is the writing prompts that are associated with photos on the app. I would use this app as a tool used for writing. 

I would rate this app as a 5, as it seems like an awesome way to incorporate creative writing and inferring into the classroom. 

Haiku Deck

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/haiku-deck-presentation-slideshow/id536328724?mt=8

Haiku Deck is a great presentation tool that allows students to "easily and quickly create slides that have copyright-friendly images and are easy to share." I can't wait to use this apps with my students by giving them a way to share/present creatively to the classroom. Whether they are sharing the biography of a famous Texan, or providing the synopsis of a book that they are reading- the opportunities are endless! The images are safe for my students and they are challenged to write their thoughts in a concise way. No more cluttered PP presentations that students read off of while presenting. I haven't had the opportunity to master this app, but would give it high stars based on what I have seen thus far. I am interested to see how I can utilize this in my 1:1 classroom.

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Chatterpix Kids

With this app, learners can take a photo, record their voice, and make it appear as if the picture is speaking.

Since I will be teaching First Grade next year, I thought that this would be a user-friendly app to use for checking for understanding, presenting information, etc.

Kidblog

Kidblog is a student friendly app where you can create a class blog. It is easy to set up usernames and allows you to use the same password for all students. I loved looking around on the website for Kidblog and seeing how other teachers used this in their classroom. My favorite was a teacher set up a rubric for students to post weekly blogs about the book they were currently reading. It would be a great way to open up the classroom for students to be able to reflect and learn about books their peers are reading as well as reflect and make connections in their own reading. 

Here is the link for this App. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kidblog/id565951433?mt=8

 I would give this app 4 stars simply because I have not used it in the classroom so I do not know how it would fully work with a class of 26 students. 

Taylor Miles 

Subtext

I chose to write about the app Subtext. This app allows for teachers to have a book discussion online with their students. The teacher can search for any type of book or article that they would like their students to read and then discuss. They also offer both Fiction and Non Fiction. Once the teacher finds a book, they can upload it to the class discussion board. From there the students can read it and then upload a comment. This app allows for critical thinking, because the teacher can begin the discussion by asking a higher level question, and then students can take over. The teacher can also facilitate throughout the entire discussion. The teacher can also make it private to where no one can see the students response except for the teacher. Students will be very motivated and engaged during this, because they can to use technology to have a whole book discussion. It also allows for teachers to assess students by following the responses of each students during the discussion. This app does need an account, but you can just use your email and then add your class from there.

I would use this app with my students in order to get them to read more nonfiction or current events and then be able to use it to have a meaningful conversation. I would use this to go along with another project or a book study more as a supplement to my lesson instead of just using it on its own.





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Administrators and Apps

Maybe that's my next presentation title! I like it!

Being a lover of learning and Administrator in the district, I am beyond excited to see so many resources in one place. I focused on grouping them in the categories provided, taking notes on each one (surface level notes), and tweeting out what I could. I want to be able to use myself as a resource when it comes to teachers needs regarding professional learning...and other things.
Tami and Nancy did an excellent job providing teachers with choice and TIME, which led to empowerment of everyone who was in the session today. I am inspired to go and share...all that I have seen and all that I know. Bravo job ladies! My iPad app list is STOCKED for the 2014-2015 school year!

Fotobabble

I used Fotobabble and enjoyed it. I think I will use it for book trailers for the library. I will add a picture then record my voice describing the book and try to hook my readers. I also used Comic app and did not like it. I found that it was not very easy to use and need to spend more time looking into it and playing with it before I feel comfortable using it. Thanks!

Courtney George

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BookPress

BookPress is an app that allows anyone to create a storybook, cookbook, photo book, children's  book or yearbook in minutes.  I could use this in class by having learners create a class book about story elements.  Learners can create a poetry book or a book on the top 20 books middle school kids love. It helps to watch the video for simple features and tools. You can app smash it with sketchbook.  

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bookpress-best-book-creator/id531606316?mt=8

http://youtu.be/8Qbhxjng708 -       Video link

Comic Maker

I had a great time using Comic Maker because it is straightforward and easy to use. I was looking for an App for my 8th graders to use to create graphic stories as an exercise in word choice and dialogue writing and Comic Maker is an excellent avenue for this. Learners can use pictures from their camera roll and add text boxes and speech bubbles over the pictures to convey speech and captions in the frames.  There are pre-created frames as well. I would rate it a 4.5 out of 5- it's sometimes difficult to fit the images into the designated frame boxes.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comic-maker-hd/id649271605?mt=8

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Aurasma

Recommended for Ages: K-12 (see below)

Scanning only: K-12 
Creating auras: 6th - 12th grades


Rating in iTunes: 4 out of 5
My Rating: 4 out of 5


Brief Description: Aurasma is a free augmented reality app that allows a user to scan an image and view one or more layers of content in the form of video, audio, and text that makes viewing the image a truly interactive experience. The layers of content over the image are called Auras.  

• For a cool demo, download the Aurasma app and scan the back of a dollar bill.

User-Friendliness: The learner can easily use the app for scanning a picture and getting the content. A first time user will need to search for and follow a target channel (like an educator's class channel) in order to unlock and view the content within it. 
Many features of creating an aura are not intuitive. There is a definite learning curve for Aurasma Studio (the software for creation), but the help tutorials are very useful. 

Critical-thinking: Creating an aura requires multiple high-level thinking skills: analyzing, evaluating, applying, synthesizing, creating. 

Differentiation: The overlays allow for a great deal of differentiation. Auras can project video, webpages, images, text to engage all types of learners. Creation of an aura lends itself to many levels of complexity, from a simple overlay to multiple overlays and advanced options.

Motivation: The app has the potential to be highly engaging, depending on the content/aura that is attached to the image scanned.  Creating an aura is an engaging challenge for middle and high school learners. 

Assessment/Reporting: The aura content can be assessed, but not within the app itself. The only feedback option within Aurasma is a "like" button, which applies to the whole channel. Users can share channels through Facebook, Twitter and email.

Account: Simply finding and scanning auras does not require an account. Creation requires an account, but it's free. There is a pro account option, which is fee-based, but the regular account is robust enough for most users. 

Classroom Use: For ELAR and in the library, Auras could be attached to book covers to show trailers, author bios, reviews. Learners could scan the book covers and see the content attached. Learners in upper grades could create their own book trailers and/or reviews, and attach those to books as well. 
If an educator doesn't want a channel to be public, a private sharing option is present. There is also an option for setting a time limit on the aura so that it only available between a limited time frame. 
The beauty of this app is that it's usefulness in any content is limited only by the creativity of the user. It is applicable for any content area and at any grade level. 

Reflection: Aurasma lends itself to many educational applications in all content areas. It is an engaging and creative platform that will challenge the creators and capture the interest of the users. Once the initial learning phase is accomplished, use is simple. Only drawback for educational use is that there is no commenting feature within the app. Still, it's a highly engaging app and will probably become more popular as time goes on. I see Auras replacing QR codes. 

Aurasma website: http://www.aurasma.com/#/whats-your-aura

Helpful videos:

Aurasma Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/AurasmaLite Short Introduction: http://youtu.be/2ylRCVQtyWA
Creating and Publishing: http://youtu.be/ZkYZHCRKJbo
Teaching with Aurasma: http://youtu.be/uHIxYpBW7sc

Educreations

Recommended Age Range:  2nd to 12

Rating of App in iTunes:  4 stars

My Rating: 5 stars

User friendliness:  Can the learner launch and navigate the app independently?

Pretty easy to make a video, yet flexible. You can add pages, insert videos, and learn ears can launch and navigate easily. Also a website, so the learner can access what they created from home or a laptop.

Critical Thinking:  does it allow for critical thinking?

Great way for learners to show their thinking and apply skills and concepts to real world situations.

Differentiation:  Is flexibility available to meet learner's needs?

Can be utilized as a teacher or learner led lesson. A way for the teacher to gather feedback and check for understanding.  The learner can navigate at their own pace.

Motivation:  Will learners be motivated and engaged while using the app.

The learner can create through color, video, and pictures. It can be personalized to what the learners want to present.

Assessment/Reporting:  Does the app provide a product or outcome that can be assessed?

Definitely. The learners create a video that can be shared with the teacher and others. It clearly shows mastery of the concepts.

Account:  Does the App need an account?

Yes, the teacher has an account and she shares it with the learners. Each teacher can create   separate class accounts that the students can access using their class code.

Educational Application:

Learners demonstrate knowledge of new concepts, review previously taught concepts, or create lessons for peers. Learners can access for daily review, absences, and teach parents and classmates. 

Reflection:

The created videos can be used by learners, parents, and other classmates to demonstrate decoding, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension. It can be used across all curriculum and has the flexibility to be used in all types of learning environments.

Did you find another helpful video or resource to help explain this App?

There are several YouTube videos that are very good tutorials for Educreations.

Nearpod

The app I chose to research more about is nearpod. Nearpod is an app that allow teachers to create an interactive presentation with students.

User Friendliness:
The learner can launch and navigate the app independently. If you upgrade this app students can move freely at their own pace through the presentation. Students also can only access the information using an apple product like the ipad or ipod. If you want students to be able to access the information through a PC then you will need to purchase the next level account for $120 per year.

Critical Thinking:
This app does allow for critical thinking through the draw it features, Q and A, and quiz features.

Differentiation:
This app does allow for differentiation though pacing. Students can move throughout the presentation at their own pace. It does not however allow for different content to be given to students.

Motivation:
Learners will be engaged using this program becuase each slide can be something different. One can be a video and another could be a poll where students have to give feedback.

Assessment and Reporting:
There are assessments you can build into the presentation to get students feedback on their progress. Once students take these assessments the resports are easily accessable to the teacher. They are easy to read and have graphs that are colored coded for easy reading.

Account:
Yes you need an account as a teacher to build presentations using this app. Students will have to enter in your site id to get access to to the content that you have created.

Skitch with Evernote

 

Students can create, collaborate, and collect data using Evernote. This blog will hone in on creating documents via Skitch app that automatically shares in an organized manner with Evernote.

~The Skitch app is easy to launch and navigate independently.

~Learners will be using critical thinking skills by creating products which will involve interpretation of content, observation and reflection on how to share their creation.

~Differentiation to support all Learners is flexible with the choice to use voice note for auditory, written, and visual  modes for creation.

~Motivating for learner to express themselves while applying their knowledge.

~Evernote provides an organized manner for Learners to  share their documents. Make sure you have students be specific when titling their work  ,so Evernote can systematically organize per class or concept, whichever you prefer.

~Account is needed, yet you can have all  iPads logged into your account so all documents and creation are organized in your Evernote.

~Assessment/Reports - Evernote provides an organized method to view work to provide feedback to learners.