IPod & ITouch
Playing with the IPod was very easy. It is still so hard to believe that something so small and so thin has such an amazing capacity to hold a large number of songs, store them on separate playlists, and provide a visual with text component. The portability is such a wonderful aspect of this tool.
I was pleasantly surprised by the number of educational apps that were available on the ITouch that my daughter has. I was very impressed with the app by Appcylon LLC that could turn your ITouch into a graphing calculator. I can see why “Time magazine selected it as one of the top 10 back-to-school apps.” After spending over $90 per calculator for each of my three daughters this definitely has a cost appeal. The app has a graphing display, calculator, equations, and table as some of the various features. I think that this is an excellent use of technology in a learning environment. My only concern is whether or not it would be allowed in a testing environment. Even if it were not allowed, not having to bring the actual calculator to class each day would mean less to carry. Now that we have the technology, being able to use it in a school environment only seems like the next logical progression.
Another app that I found creative and helpful was the Fractions App by June Infrastructure Pvt. LTd. This app was geared towards younger children who struggle with fractions and the concept of comparing different fractions. This app uses kid friendly, familiar visuals like chocolate bars and pizza to relate to them. The difficulty level increases as the child masters the skill. Working with 2nd and 3rd graders, I know that this is a math concept that is particularly challenging. For those children that do struggle, I would definitely recommend this app.
I noticed the Basic Spanish for Dummies app by Skava. The video tutorials really appealed to me. In addition to learning Spanish, it is great for business travel or to refresh your knowledge of Spanish. It comes with popular phrases that you can bookmark, a dictionary, greetings, flashcards, the basics, and videos to name a few areas of concentration.
I also liked the Flashcards Deluxe app by OrangeOrApple.com. My oldest daughter uses this feature for her Spanish words and phrases. When in study mode, the app shuffles the words or phrases and gives you 3 seconds to answer. If you get the card wrong you can flag it. Knowing how many index cards that we typically go through in a year, the savings of one tree is definitely worth the $3 app.
ITunes
While you can’t physically touch the music on your ITunes account (unlike a CD, tape, or for those that have a really good memory…a record), once it is purchased on your ITunes account it will never get scratched, break, or wear out from overuse. Initially I only thought of ITunes as a way for my oldest daughter to download songs, instead I found this site to have a wonderful educational value with the variety of podcasts available. I was very impressed with the podcasts available through this site pertaining to the start of the American Revolution. I found an incredible example of teaching and technology with the Project Revolution ’07 series of podcasts that were researched, written, and reenacted by this talented 5th grade class. I found this site very easy to maneuver and my only difficulty was finding the URL for the individual podcasts.
YouTube & TeacherTube
YouTube and TeacherTube had some great videos and podcasts. Granted the content wasn’t always age appropriate and some videos that would have been perfect were unfortunately edited so that adult commentary was posted on the actual screen. It seemed like the 100 Acre Wood all over again! I know that TeacherTube is more educationally geared, but I found YouTube actually easier to use and found more sites that were similar to what I was looking for. On TeacherTube the most challenging thing for me was figuring out how to save my favorites. This was not nearly as challenging on YouTube. I also found YouTube a fun way to relive my youth. I found old School House Rock clips that I used to love watching between cartoons on Saturday mornings…”No More Kings” was my favorite.
Pandora
I am writing this while listening to Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I like how you can rate the songs you like so that they will offer other similar songs. The genre stations are great because while 80’s Pop Radio sounds great now, I could easily find myself hopping between the various stations depending on my mood. This somewhat delivers on its claim to be “personalized internet radio.” I was happy to find that I could skip some songs that I didn’t like, after a while I received a message that told me that there was a limit on the number of songs per hour that I could skip. I was advised to create another station. I found the ads to be very distracting. While the Netflix is prominently displayed, it is the Just Fabulous shoes ad that keeps flashing and catching my attention. I guess that is why you can pay to upgrade to the ad free package. In an educational setting, you would need to have the upgraded package so the children wouldn’t hear the ads or see them. While the classical music could be used for some nice background class music or as an example in a music class I think an IPod or ITouch would allow more flexibility. This could be a tool for a teacher to find the music that they want before buying it.
Europa Film Treasures
As a child I discovered an early love of old movies, so I was like a kid in a candy store with so many different films from various parts of the world and time periods. They are truly treasures. I am watching a Macedonian film titled Ritam I Zvuk- 1955 that reminds me of my Albanian heritage. Ritam I Zvuk - 1955 It shows women and men in traditional outfits enjoying life through song, work, and dance while showcasing the amazing scenery of the country. It portrays a simpler but harder time that I had only seen in home movies of much lesser quality. I think that this is a great site for teachers to help children experience different cultures. They can see how the cultures maintained or evolved with their customs and traditions over the years.
Vimeo
I was very interested in learning about this tool after seeing Joyce Valenza’s “Read It” video a short while ago. The series of tutorials, while simplistic in nature, are very helpful. I was really excited about the editing potential that this tool offers. The words like “blending, fading, and overlapping” when it comes to making a Vimeo production, seemed like something I would have thought only accomplished by a professional. I also found the 4 levels of private settings very comforting. This is something that you could definitely use with a class or personally with your family without worrying about unwanted exposure. I think that this is a great classroom tool.
Voice Thread
I like that the home page very clearly has the products by market listed. Their motto that “children’s work is worthy of public attention” because it is great really is obvious. Their “safe and accountable environment for publishing” is possible with comment moderation where the creator(s) must view the work before the other users on the network can view it is a nice safeguard. The hardest thing for me to do was to figure out how to save student work that I particularly liked through the menu on the thread I wanted to save.
There was a wonderful 1st grade reading analysis from Leanne Windsor where the teacher took a picture of the child with their book (or just the book) and then the children gave the details of the story (setting, characters, problem, solution, & feedback). The teacher meant for this to be part of their electronic portfolio. I also found some examples of digital storytelling surrounding a picture or student generated book that allowed children to add a voice to the person or page shown. This tool really does let students find and use THEIR voice and take away a potential roadblock to the traditional paper and pencil writing projects.
Education Podcast Network
I liked that this site made it very easy to locate the age group, topic, & program that you were looking for. I did like that you had to apply to have your podcast listed on the K-12 approved site. I felt that this acceptance by nature has more oversight built into this tool. I was surprised that there were only about 700 subject specific podcasts listed from 75 schools. I am guessing that this number will definitely grow with the desire to share information and show student work in a larger forum.
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