Category: Free - iPad (& More) Resource Center

Summer PD: Google Courses

6/23/2015

Hello, everyone! I know I've said my goodbyes and I thank you all for the well wishes as my husband and I move on to our next adventure, but I do plan to continue this project of blogging at least once a month about using technology in the classroom. It remains a passion of mine and I am happy to share my successes and failures so that we can all do better. As Will Rogers once said, "A [hu]man only learns in two ways--one by reading and the other by association with smarter people." And you know I'd like to keep that association with all of you. :-)

Speaking of doing better, that's what the summer is for, right? It is a time of rest and rejuvenation, but it is also a time for some more PD (professional development). If you're still at a loss of what you can do this summer, let me remind you about the free Google courses. (You can find them here--https://www.google.com/edu/training/get-trained/?utm_referrer= ) These are the courses that are currently available:

Classroom
Docs Suite
Gmail
Sites
Calendar
Chrome
Search
Google Maps
YouTube
Chromebooks
Google Play for Education
Android Tablets for Education
Implementing Google Apps
Digital Citizenship for Educators
Slides
Sheets
Forms
Drawings

As you can see, there is a lot to choose from, but they are all free so you could have a very busy summer. Whatever you choose to do, I hope you'll share what you've learned. Happy summer, everyone!

Cheers,
Lesley

Firefox Add-on that lets you save YouTube Videos

5/16/2015

I had this great idea for the Art Festival that will happen in just two short weeks--I wanted to sing Karaoke as part of the festival activities. I've seen my students singing along to their music almost daily, so I'm hoping it will be lots of fun. (Plus, I love to sing, too!) However, my classroom has been recognized as one of the Wi-Fi trouble areas so I am concerned that we will be singing along to a karaoke video on YouTube and then it will stop because it has to load. I know we've all been there, right? It's always embarrassing when your video stops and the kiddos start telling you to play snake as it loads.

To avoid this situation, I could use PlayTube, the iPad app I recommended a few weeks ago, but that would mean I would have to use my precious iPad gigabytes to store the videos. I set out to find an alternative so that I could use my laptop computer because I have more gigabytes to spare on my computer than on my iPad. Anyway, I found my answer: a Firefox add-on that downloads YouTube videos as MP4s. All you do is click on the add-on link and follow the instructions to install the ialc extension. This add-on has such high ratings because it is so easy to use! It simply adds a download button under the YouTube video which you click on and select the file type you'd like.

Next, you have to decide if you want to open the video or save it. I've been saving them and taking the files from my Downloads folder and adding them to a special Karaoke folder for the Art Festival.

And that's really all there is to it. Easy, right? I've been using it for a week and I haven't had any trouble, so if you are looking for a new, easier way to save YouTube videos, try ialc's Firefox add-on and let me know how it works for you.

Cheers,
Lesley

Play Tube

4/17/2015

It’s official… Facebook and YouTube will be blocked for MAP testing. While I don’t know how to help you with the former, I can help you with the latter. Play Tube is a free app that lets you download YouTube videos so you can play them later, even if you aren't connected to the internet. I've used it a couple times and it hasn't failed me yet. I even have a few workout videos downloaded so I can sweat it out no matter where I am. However, the downside of this app is that the videos do take up your gigabytes so you'll have to be careful with the number of videos you choose to download and perhaps even delete them when you are finished using them. That part might get a bit tedious, but it's better than planning to use a YouTube video to introduce or explain a complex topic and then realizing that the school's internet is down or YouTube is blocked. Now if the power goes out, you are on your own! (Or you can have your 20-some students huddle around the iPad to watch.) Either way, I hope you find Play Tube to be a useful app.

Cheers,

Lesley

30hands

3/27/2015

Recently we had a PD session dedicated to using technology in the classroom and the app I got to use was 30hands. 30hands is a fun app that allows you to take pictures and add narration. It’s very easy to use. Here's a quick tutorial from Brittany Bowers that explains the app quite well:

It’s really an easy app to use, so here’s my brainstorm of some possible uses:

You could use it to write an original short story.
You could use it to summarize a story or novel that was read in class.
You could recreate a children’s book and share it with younger students.
You could practice a foreign language by narrating a children's story in that language.
You could create a step-by-step lesson for the class.
The students could create a step-by-step lesson for the class as a reteaching activity or as part of a sort of jigsaw.
You could use it as a kind of show-and-tell.
You could use it as an ice breaker and have everyone create an introductory video about themselves.
You could use it to summarize a research project.
You could use it to present a possible project idea.
You could use it to present a challenge to the students.
You could use it to catch students doing something good and share it weekly to recognize those who are always on task or who help others.
You could use it to create an end-of-the-year show to celebrate all of your achievements.

What do you think? Can you think of other ways to use 30hands? Let me know by leaving me a comment or by contacting me directly.

Cheers,
Lesley

Brainstorming with Popplet Lite

2/25/2015

Prewriting is an important part of the writing process and I still encourage students to partake in messy brainstorming webs; however, I have students who lose all of their papers! Enter Popplet Lite to save the day. Popplet Lite is a mind mapping application that’s quite easy to use and students can keep their work on whatever device they are using. (You may still have to search for the work, but at least you know the probability of deleting the work is quite low, right?)

To use Popplet Lite, you double-tap the screen and a “popple” appears. If you tap once in the middle of the popple, you can write (which is what my students do when they are brainstorming). However, the bottom of the square has more options.

1) The first icon is a square and that will allow you to change the color of the outline.

2) After that is a “T” which will also provide the cursor so you can write. At the bottom right side of the screen, you can choose the size of the text as well as the alignment.

3) Next there is a pencil icon that would allow you to draw in the popple.

4) Finally, there is the image icon that would allow you to either open your photo library, take a photo or paste an image.

Making the popples is quite easy, but the best part of the app is moving them around and connecting them. To move a popple, all you have to do is select it and then place your finger on the popple and drag it to where you want it. If you want to connect it to another popple, click on one of the surrounding dots and it will create a popple nearby that connects to the original one. If you forgot to connect them, though, all you have to do is drag the dot to the popple you want to connect.

Finally, once your mind map or brainstorm is complete, you can export your work as a PDF or JPEG. It’s that easy. Give Popplet Lite a try and let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Lesley

PlayTube

9/13/2014

I don't know about you all, but lately the internet at school hasn't been my friend. Students taking quizzes via our Moodle have had to step outside or at least get closer to the door to get a good signal. I'm sure we've all managed to find ways to survive with our lackluster internet service, but I would like to share one solution I have found, especially when you want to share a video from YouTube.

Play Tube is a free app that let's you download YouTube videos so you can play them later, even if you aren't connected to the internet. I've used it a couple times and it hasn't failed me yet. I even have a few workout videos downloaded so I can sweat it out no matter where I am. However, the downside of this app is that the videos do take up your gigabytes so you'll have to be careful with the number of videos you choose to download and perhaps even delete them when you are finished using them. That part might get a bit tedious, but it's better than planning to use a YouTube video to introduce or explain a complex topic and then realizing that the school's internet is down. Now if the power goes out, you are on your own! (Or you can have your 20-some students huddle around the iPad to watch.) Either way, I hope you find Play Tube to be a useful app.

Cheers,
Lesley

Ask Me Anything for Teens

8/20/2014

As we prepare for our morning meeting, I'm sure some of you are concerned about having too much time or not enough time to cover everything. While I can't help you with the latter, I do have an app for the former: Ask Me Anything for teens (AMAFTFREE). This is a very simple app with a simple idea: you tap the screen and you are given a question to discuss. For example...

Do you use social media? Which ones?
What is the worst relationship advice you have ever heard?
In your opinion, what kinds of emotions are acceptable in public, and which are not?

And here are some other questions so that you can see what it looks like:

Imagen

Imagen

All you have to do is tap the screen and a new question will appear. It's very easy to use and I haven't seen any repeat questions... yet. :-) I like this app because I think it will help us learn more about our students and our morning meeting groups. Plus, it's an easy time filler, right? You can even project the question on the board with the Apple TV so that our ELL students can work on their reading skills. Basically, it's a win-win with this free app. Get it today and try it out for tomorrow's meeting.

Cheers,
Lesley

PowToon

5/21/2014

These past couple of weeks have been consumed with research and helping students write their first research paper. I took the traditional routes to teach those skills for now, but after so much tradition I’m itching to give my students some freedom with their presentations.

Yes, after writing their research papers, they now need to adapt their papers into a presentation so we discussed what it means to adapt a written work by using some of the examples most people can relate to—you know, The Hunger Games and Romeo & Juliet (since we all read the play this year and then watched the Baz Luhrmann film). It led to some interesting discussions and ideas. In fact, I’ve been encouraging my students to use a new tool--PowToon.

PowToon is presentation software that allows users to create animated videos. It’s completely free (unless you want to upgrade to have more features) and quite easy to use. Today I showed students an example video I had found on TeacherTube (sorry, but I’m knee-deep in research papers and have no time to make an example myself!) and then let students decide if they wanted to use PowToon to make a video for their presentation. Some were taken with the idea and went straight to work, but we did discover that it needs to be done on a computer, not an iPad. Yet after they all found a computer, they agreed it was quite easy to use because it’s all about dragging and dropping and making it your own. I haven’t seen the final products yet, but I have seen the work in progress and I think this will be a tool they will continue to use in the future. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s a little different than a traditional PowerPoint. Check it out for yourself! The price is right, don’t you think? ;-)

Cheers,
Lesley

ProProfs Quizzes

4/6/2014

This past week I needed to embed a quiz into a website. (Check out the final results here.) Where did I go? ProProfs. ProProfs has a variety of products (i.e., quizzes, polls, surveys, flashcards, etc.), but I'm just going to focus on the quizzes since that is what I needed to embed.

ProProfs has some reasonable plans if you are a K-12 educator. You can have the Free plan which is free forever but you don't get some important features like the ability to track who took the quiz or any of the analytics. However, if you wanted those features, you could get the Test plan which is $3.97 a month. But if you wanted more features like groups and question banks, the Test & Tech plan ($5.97 a month) might be a better option for you. Those prices are really very reasonable and if you have a classroom website and want to use quizzes, I think ProProfs would be a great resource.

With ProProfs, if you just wanted your students to take a formative quiz that means nothing for their grade, you could use the Free account to have students test their own knowledge before and after a unit just for the sake of becoming aware of what they should know and what they do know (i.e., metacognition). Honestly, that's how I'm thinking of using ProProfs. If the quiz will be for a grade, then I will go back to our CMS (course management system). You might even think about creating an account that students could use to create a quiz for their peers. That could be a fun way for them to prepare for a test or even reteach a topic to their classmates. Try it out and let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Lesley

eduCanon

4/1/2014

eduCanon is an amazing website that can help you transform a dull video into an interactive lesson. As some of you know, I'm currently working on my capstone project for my M.S. in Instructional Design & Technology with Andrea, the library coordinator. We've been making videos about the library databases, but they seemed a bit dry. Luckily, I stumbled upon eduCanon, a free website that helps you take a video (either yours or another video from YouTube or what have you) and you can embed questions throughout the video. For your editing purposes, it will leave a little question mark at the stop where you added the question so that you can space your questions out and ensure that your learners are engaging with the content regularly. You can also leave feedback for each answer, so if a learner responds incorrectly, s/he will learn from her/his mistake. Here's the EBSCO tutorial, transformed by eduCanon:

Now if we had created a course and asked you to take this lesson, you wouldn't be able to skip through it. We would also be able to see your answers, but since this is going to be a resource for the whole school, it wouldn't be practical to set it up that way. (That would be waaaay too many accounts to keep track of!) Nonetheless, this video is better than the original 8:45 YouTube video because it will engage the learner and ensure they don't tune out the video. The eduCanon video breaks the content into smaller chunks and periodically checks students' understanding. I'm a fan and I've only just begun! Check it out and see how it can help you flip your classroom or help struggling students (or bored, unmotivated students) view content in a new way.
Cheers,
Lesley
(p.s. Wouldn't it be great to challenge your students to use this kind of tool for a class project? Oh, the possibilities....)