I thought I would take the easy way out today and share my favourite apps as they are currently. Now the following apps are in no particular order:
Plickers
I have always loved plickers as not every school is as lucky as my current school and has a 1:1 student:device environment. As such apps such as Kahoot which allow students to interact and answer questions in real time are not always possible. Along comes plickers which allows students to use a QR-Code style card to select an answer based on the orientation of the card. All the teacher needs is a mobile device with internet access and a camera and they can instantly gather student answers ready for sharing via their classroom data projector. As such you can accomplish very similar to what you can with Kahoot but without the need for each student to have a device.
Foldr
This is relatively new to me however is excellent although it does require the IT services team to set it up. Basically Foldr allows users to interact with their network folders and files via their iPad. It also allows users to do this remotely including using a web interface on a laptop or desktop instead of using the app where needed. This is a great tool to marry up the mobile technology solutions with existing network user areas.
GoogleDrive
We want collaboration and sharing however we cannot fully predict how collaboration will grow once started. Through Google drive we put the ability to share in the hands of the users thereby allowing the collaboration and sharing to grow organically as opposed to be centrally controlled by the IT Services team. Now there are many other benefits to Drive including Google Forms, etc however it is the collaboration aspect which I find to be most important.
I just love twitter for sharing ideas and for discussion. I wouldn’t have found StaffRm to post this or #29daysofwriting if it hadn’t been for twitter.
Evernote
I need somewhere to drop occasional notes or to scrapbook ideas I come across on websites, etc. I also need to be able to access these notes across different devices. This is my use for Evernote. I have found it invaluable.
Overall the above are just five of the apps I regularly use, and my current favorites. Please feel free to share your comments and your favorites.
Technology and Learning