Monday, April 7, 2014

Tony Vincent's Favorite iPad Apps That Are Also Android Apps

Tony Vincent's Learning in Hand is one of my go-to places for ideas about iPad apps. Last week after Book Creator for Android was released Tony published a document in which he has listed his favorite iPad apps that are also available as Android apps. About half of the apps on the list are free. You can click through the document to go directly to each of the apps in their respective iOS and Android app stores.

Applications for Education
One of the biggest challenges facing teachers in BYOD environments is locating apps that will work on the two most popular mobile operating systems. If you teach in a BYOD environment, Tony Vincent's list of favorite educational iPad apps that are also on Android is a must-bookmark.

A Handy New Tool for Giving Proper Attribution When Using Flickr Images

A couple of years ago Alan Levine published a Chrome extension that correctly formatted the attribution of Creative Commons licensed images found on Flickr. Unfortunately, the latest update to Flickr's user interface broke that extension. Not to be kept down by Flickr, Alan has released a new browser bookmarklet for quickly formatting Creative Commons licensed images found on Flickr. Click here to read Alan's explanation of the process he used to create this handy new tool. I encourage you to read the explanation of how it was created, but if you just want to jump to the Flickr CC Attribution Helper it can be found here.

To use the Flickr CC Attribution Helper drag the bookmarklet to your browser's bookmarks bar. (If you're using Chrome, you may have to go into the settings and select "always show bookmarks bar" before dragging the bookmarklet into your browser). Then whenever you're viewing an image on Flickr you can click the bookmarklet to get a pop-up window (make sure your browser allows pop-ups) containing the properly formatting attribution information.

Applications for Education
Besides offering a great way to make sure that your students are giving proper attribution for images they find on Flickr, the Flickr CC Attribution Helper will tell students if an image is not a Creative Commons licensed work. See my screenshots below for a visual explanation of this feature.

Padlet Introduces Usernames to Replace Email Sign-in

Over the weekend Padlet announced the introduction of usernames to replace email sign-in for your Padlet account. Along with this change Padlet is introducing two related features that should prove to be helpful to teachers and students. First, all of your walls will be moved to a special URL containing your username. This should make it easier to direct students to the Padlet walls you are using in your classroom. Second, Padlet announced that soon you will get a public page containing your username and all your public walls will be shown there.

Applications for Education
Padlet is one of my favorite tools for hosting brainstorming sessions, collecting exit ticket information, and creating collaborative KWL charts. In the guide embedded below I outline how to use in your classroom. You can download the guide here and view it as embedded below.

Next Vista Announces Educational Videos of the Year

Last week Next Vista for Learning announced the finalists for their educational videos of the year contest. Over the weekend the winners were announced. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners. The winning videos are embedded below.

Student video: The Breathing System


Teacher video: We Are Bullied


Teacher/ Student collaboration: Allow Us to Illustrate


Sunday, April 6, 2014

Science Games and an Interactive Periodic Table

Glaxo Smith Kline's Active Science offers fifteen interactive games covering a range of science topics. There are games appropriate for elementary school, middle school, and high school students. The games for younger students appear at the top of the Active Science list and the games for older students are at the bottom of the list.

The Interactive Periodic Table is a game designed to help chemistry students practice identification of the elements. To play the game students are given some clues about an element's properties. Using those clues the student has to place the element in the correct place on the table.

Applications for Education
Active Science is a nice collection of games that unlike a lot of games are not simple drill activities.

Popular Posts