App-solute Best Classroom Apps!
by Trina Dill
iPads in the Classroom
With over 700,000 apps,I can see how it can be difficult and time consuming to find the right apps to help teachers reach their learning objectives. The top four ways ipads are being used in the classroom include creating content, curating, cloud storage, and camera usage. By narrowing down how iPads are being used in the classroom, maybe teachers can focus more on how the iPad can help the students. Creating content is one of the biggest ways iPads can be used in the classroom. Students can make an iBook using the Book Creator app. iPhoto is an app to organize media on your iPad as well as edit and create projects. Apps like SonicPics allow you create your own podcast using pictures from your device. Organizing and managing content can be done through curating. The Dijgo Browswer app allows students to take notes and highlight information found on the internet. The information can be saved so that the student can go back and get their information. The Skitch app can be used by students to mark and label maps and pictures. This app would be great during social studies and science. The last curating app that students can use is the Pocket app. Students can create a digital library of the information they want to save on the web. One of the ways iPads have made saving information easier is by using cloud storage. Box, Dropbox, and Google Drive allows teachers to save and share documents online. These resources can provide a wealth of resources for teachers and students. Using your iPad in different ways can make it a valuable resource. Scanner Pro app allows you capture documents and forms to save on your ipad. Think of it as your own personal scanner that can be easily uploaded. The QRafter Pro app can be used for students to scan and link to information or content in the classroom. The TourWrist app allows you to get a 365 degree view of a location. This would be an excellent app to use in social studies! All of the ways teachers are using iPads in the classroom and the apps that they are using are helping our students become more engaged, more excited, and more challenged.
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Using Sonic Pics
The Sonic Pic app can be used by the teacher or students. The teacher could create a lesson for students to watch as a podcast prior to coming to class. By watching this podcast before class, the teacher has more time for direct instruction rather than whole group.
Using Dropbox
The Dropbox app can be used by the teacher or the students. Teachers and students can create and share files needed in the classroom. When a teacher needs students to read a document prior to class, she/he can provide students access to the document. Saving trees just got a whole lot easier!
Using Skitch
The Skitch app can be used in many ways. Students learning about rivers and lakes in social studies can use the Skitch app to mark and label on their iPad. By doing this, students are demonstrating their knowledge and understanding. Not only are they learning using this app but they are engaged.
e-Learning Platforms
The best way to organize your apps and web tools online is to provide your students with a place to go to access them. e-Learning platforms provide just that.
App sites for Educators
Looking for a website that gives you a list of apps by content area? Try these! Appitic is a website that provides apps divided by content taught in the classroom. Apptivites is a website that gives activites that can used with classroom apps. ADEs on iTunes U provides content and apps for the classroom.