Cool Tools 2014 -2015
Thing 11: Coding
I really want to work on new things, so I was waiting for Track 3. In the meantime, so that I can be sure I am registered according to my local BOCES, I am going to talk about Coding.
Last year I went through the lesson on coding (there is a previous blog post on it), but I hadn't used it with students. Recently I had the opportunity to us it with a group of 8 students in an afterschool computer discovery session. It really was the perfect opportunity to use Hour of Code. Since it was not anticipated, I did not create accounts for the kids, which was unfortunate. Without it, they had difficulty saving where they were in the lessons, but some students learned that they could move themselves forward in the lessons by clicking on the dots at the top. This proved to be a problem because they skipped ahead without doing all of the lessons and missed how some of the blocks worked.
Another difficulty we ran into was with the videos. I don't know why, but the help videos did not work on our computers. Although I tried to show them all the slide tutorials that you could read through, many of the students did not have the patience to read their way through all of the slides. That meant that they again were unprepared for how some of the blocks worked.
Still, several of the students earned their certificate and all of the students had a good time and learned a little about programming. Several expressed interest in doing more coding in the future.
Unfortunately, probably due to our district's filter, some of the other links to continue learning about coding did not work in our school. I did send all of the students off with information on how to get on the site from home and I am sure that some of them will. I feel bad for our students who do not have internet access at home. (Broadband access is sketchy and expensive at best in these rural areas.)
If I had it to do over again, I would stress how to do the tutorial appropriately. I would try to keep a sharper eye out for students that were trying to skip ahead and make them start again. I would also try to check with our IT person to investigate why the videos did not work for us.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Thing 18: Digital Tattoo & Digital Citizenship AND some final thoughts
Okay so this is my last "thing." I think I will explore more of the resources during the summer.
For now, I tried to look at the videos, but had trouble seeing the embedded one. I did watch the vimeo one. I think I might show that to my students next year.
I had previously explored Spokeo, Pipl, SocialMention, and 123People. I find it really scary how much info these sites have on us. Even my 84 year old father is on them! I am not a big social media person. I use GoodReads because it is related to my job. I have tried Twitter, but was not impressed. I have a Pinterest account, but it is more for the ability to store links than for the Social part. I really want to keep my personal and professional lives separate for the most part. I guess it is really because I am an introvert, although most people say that you wouldn't guess it when I'm with the kids. Even in my small rural school, there have been several incidents where Social Media has gotten teachers into trouble, not so much teacher-student issues as teacher-parent issues. I check my school e-mail regularly, so I am fully accessible.
Perhaps because of being a small rural school, we are fairly conservative in our work with students. The older elementary students are given e-mail accounts, but they have historically been local only, not gmail accounts. We are exploring Chromebooks, so that might change. Our primary students have logins, but no email accounts.
I read the article about the CO Teacher Librarian who uses Digital Passport. I use Digital Passport with our students, too, but in a different manner. Our library catalog has a social media aspect -students can make friends, recommend books, comment back and forth, and review books. I don't let them access those features until they complete the Digital Passport. Many students start the process, but not all complete it. Perhaps if I start it at a lower grade, I can attract more kids to finish it. Another option is to try to get it adopted as part of their computer lab training, but that is difficult since Common Core sets typing speed expectations and SO many of our students don't type at home at all. Although they practice in the lab regularly, there is still a lot of hunting and pecking going on. I actually recently had to ask the Computer Lab to have the students power off the machines when I had some lessons with the laptop cart and, despite my instructions to go to Start and choose Shut Down, I caught the students just hitting the Power button. I also caught some kids coming in for recess to use the desktops who were just hitting the Power button. Sometimes there seems like there is so much to teach and so little time to teach it!
I had previously ordered the Netcetera OnGuardOnline materials and while I still put them out for parents, since the "student" book covers sexting and we are a fairly conservative rural school, I am not handing it out! I will look into more of the links from this thing to see if there is anything more appropriate.
In other final thoughts...
I really love these CoolTools lessons. I keep copies of them to refer back to when I want to learn (or relearn) something or when I want to look for a new tool for a project.
I want to follow up on Productivity. I still have Evernote on my phone and at home, but I decided that I wasn't sure it was the best tool for school. Again I like to keep my personal and professional lives separate and I was worried that others might see my Evernote notes as I am always logged into one of the computers at the circ desk. I decided to explore the Groupwise Calendar, tasks, and notes more. It syncs with my phone. And that is working fairly well. I have a calendar to carry with me as well as to-do lists. The only problems with it is that you seem to have to set the notification every time you add an event or a task and if I check off a task at work on my desktop (after signing into Groupwise), I still have to check it off on the phone. Annoying! Still, for now it beats the methods I have been using.
Another new site that seems really great is Quizlet. Did you mention that in one of the Things and I missed it? I learned about it in a magazine article. I used it to make flashcards, games, and quizzes to help our students remember some important vocabulary words. Then I shared those lessons and the site with the teachers. People seem pretty excited about it. I know that there have to be other sites like that, but I haven't found them yet. I am also looking for a way to make games/quizzes like HyperStudio used to have where if they answered wrong, it was recorded, but you could make the stacks so that it told them they were wrong with an explanation and had them try again to learn the correct answer. There seem to be a lot of ways to make it so that they get points for being correct, but not so much the teaching why they were wrong. Maybe there is something I just don't get. PowerPoint works great for me teaching a whole class, but it really does not lend itself to individual viewing. A Google form is great for a quiz, but not for teaching. Quizlet is good practice, but still has limitations.
Well, thanks for the lessons! I hope that we do this again next year! I have learned a lot!
For now, I tried to look at the videos, but had trouble seeing the embedded one. I did watch the vimeo one. I think I might show that to my students next year.
I had previously explored Spokeo, Pipl, SocialMention, and 123People. I find it really scary how much info these sites have on us. Even my 84 year old father is on them! I am not a big social media person. I use GoodReads because it is related to my job. I have tried Twitter, but was not impressed. I have a Pinterest account, but it is more for the ability to store links than for the Social part. I really want to keep my personal and professional lives separate for the most part. I guess it is really because I am an introvert, although most people say that you wouldn't guess it when I'm with the kids. Even in my small rural school, there have been several incidents where Social Media has gotten teachers into trouble, not so much teacher-student issues as teacher-parent issues. I check my school e-mail regularly, so I am fully accessible.
Perhaps because of being a small rural school, we are fairly conservative in our work with students. The older elementary students are given e-mail accounts, but they have historically been local only, not gmail accounts. We are exploring Chromebooks, so that might change. Our primary students have logins, but no email accounts.
I read the article about the CO Teacher Librarian who uses Digital Passport. I use Digital Passport with our students, too, but in a different manner. Our library catalog has a social media aspect -students can make friends, recommend books, comment back and forth, and review books. I don't let them access those features until they complete the Digital Passport. Many students start the process, but not all complete it. Perhaps if I start it at a lower grade, I can attract more kids to finish it. Another option is to try to get it adopted as part of their computer lab training, but that is difficult since Common Core sets typing speed expectations and SO many of our students don't type at home at all. Although they practice in the lab regularly, there is still a lot of hunting and pecking going on. I actually recently had to ask the Computer Lab to have the students power off the machines when I had some lessons with the laptop cart and, despite my instructions to go to Start and choose Shut Down, I caught the students just hitting the Power button. I also caught some kids coming in for recess to use the desktops who were just hitting the Power button. Sometimes there seems like there is so much to teach and so little time to teach it!
I had previously ordered the Netcetera OnGuardOnline materials and while I still put them out for parents, since the "student" book covers sexting and we are a fairly conservative rural school, I am not handing it out! I will look into more of the links from this thing to see if there is anything more appropriate.
In other final thoughts...
I really love these CoolTools lessons. I keep copies of them to refer back to when I want to learn (or relearn) something or when I want to look for a new tool for a project.
I want to follow up on Productivity. I still have Evernote on my phone and at home, but I decided that I wasn't sure it was the best tool for school. Again I like to keep my personal and professional lives separate and I was worried that others might see my Evernote notes as I am always logged into one of the computers at the circ desk. I decided to explore the Groupwise Calendar, tasks, and notes more. It syncs with my phone. And that is working fairly well. I have a calendar to carry with me as well as to-do lists. The only problems with it is that you seem to have to set the notification every time you add an event or a task and if I check off a task at work on my desktop (after signing into Groupwise), I still have to check it off on the phone. Annoying! Still, for now it beats the methods I have been using.
Another new site that seems really great is Quizlet. Did you mention that in one of the Things and I missed it? I learned about it in a magazine article. I used it to make flashcards, games, and quizzes to help our students remember some important vocabulary words. Then I shared those lessons and the site with the teachers. People seem pretty excited about it. I know that there have to be other sites like that, but I haven't found them yet. I am also looking for a way to make games/quizzes like HyperStudio used to have where if they answered wrong, it was recorded, but you could make the stacks so that it told them they were wrong with an explanation and had them try again to learn the correct answer. There seem to be a lot of ways to make it so that they get points for being correct, but not so much the teaching why they were wrong. Maybe there is something I just don't get. PowerPoint works great for me teaching a whole class, but it really does not lend itself to individual viewing. A Google form is great for a quiz, but not for teaching. Quizlet is good practice, but still has limitations.
Well, thanks for the lessons! I hope that we do this again next year! I have learned a lot!
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Thing 10: Productivity Tools
So I decided to look at these Productivity Tools. One thing that really caught my eye was ifttt – If This Then That. I think that I will definitely download the app and join. I LOVE that I will be able to automatically mute my phone when I get to work and unmute after I am gone. I certainly will look into getting updates on new free books. As I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, logging the supposed wi-fi connections and disconnections could come in handy. I do wish that it worked with IKeepBookmarks.com though. I know that everyone seems to have abandoned it for diigo and, especially, delicious, but I have found it to be really very simple to use and I don't want to go through all of the work of restoring the links to the new tool.
Along those lines I explored delicious a little. The thing is that I am not into Facebook and Twitter. I want to share relevant content with my students and teachers I am collaborating with, but I am NOT interested in the social end. It looks like LiveBinders might work for me. I can embed the shelves on my website when I want to share.
I already use Lookout on this phone and the previous one. It has always worked great! I also have a Dropbox account, but I don't use it much right now. I think as with GoogleDrive, I am just going to have to make a decision on which way I want to go. Right now, Dropbox seems more useable because I tend to use Microsoft Office, but if the district really ends up going with Chromebooks and Chromeboxes, it might send me in the GoogleDrive direction. We have been passing a Chromebook around to try out. The tech guy and I had a long talk today about the issues we may have with Chromebooks. The switch to GoogleDocs is obvious, but I think that we could make it. He is looking into a Virtual Desktop to expand the usability. At the elementary level, though, I think that we really need to find a solution for printing. I know that the push is paperless, but it is hard to tell a 7-year-old that he/she cannot get a copy to take home.
Clearly looks like it will be quite useful. I have Evernote on my new phone and I really need to explore it more. I think that it could be an awesome tool for me, though the transition is tough because I have been such a paper-based person organization-wise. I use PrintWhatYouLike alot when I print from Webpages, but knowing that there is an alternative for viewing them is great.
I have explored Zotero previously. I thought that it would be great for my students, but frankly all of these browser add-ons in whatever format are problematic. First there is the fact that we can't download them all ourselves at school because of the security. Then there is how much they slow down the browsers. Given the fact that we already have such old computers at school, anything that slows them more is a real problem. Scrible has a similar problem.
Well that is it for now. I hope do more with Evernote and to create LiveBinders for our sixth-graders research project in particular.
Along those lines I explored delicious a little. The thing is that I am not into Facebook and Twitter. I want to share relevant content with my students and teachers I am collaborating with, but I am NOT interested in the social end. It looks like LiveBinders might work for me. I can embed the shelves on my website when I want to share.
I already use Lookout on this phone and the previous one. It has always worked great! I also have a Dropbox account, but I don't use it much right now. I think as with GoogleDrive, I am just going to have to make a decision on which way I want to go. Right now, Dropbox seems more useable because I tend to use Microsoft Office, but if the district really ends up going with Chromebooks and Chromeboxes, it might send me in the GoogleDrive direction. We have been passing a Chromebook around to try out. The tech guy and I had a long talk today about the issues we may have with Chromebooks. The switch to GoogleDocs is obvious, but I think that we could make it. He is looking into a Virtual Desktop to expand the usability. At the elementary level, though, I think that we really need to find a solution for printing. I know that the push is paperless, but it is hard to tell a 7-year-old that he/she cannot get a copy to take home.
Clearly looks like it will be quite useful. I have Evernote on my new phone and I really need to explore it more. I think that it could be an awesome tool for me, though the transition is tough because I have been such a paper-based person organization-wise. I use PrintWhatYouLike alot when I print from Webpages, but knowing that there is an alternative for viewing them is great.
I have explored Zotero previously. I thought that it would be great for my students, but frankly all of these browser add-ons in whatever format are problematic. First there is the fact that we can't download them all ourselves at school because of the security. Then there is how much they slow down the browsers. Given the fact that we already have such old computers at school, anything that slows them more is a real problem. Scrible has a similar problem.
Well that is it for now. I hope do more with Evernote and to create LiveBinders for our sixth-graders research project in particular.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Thing 16: You Pick!
Well, for my Thing 16, I decided to do two things:
I found the process of making the Google form surprisingly easy. In the midst of it, I had to make a Google Doc. At this point, I plan to print the doc and give the students a copy, but In wonder if there is a way to refer to the Doc in the form so that students could go back and forth.
Another question I still have to investigate is whether there is a way to change the font size on the Google form. It seemed very small. Fine for older students with good eyes, but a problem for younger students who are used to larger print and for those who have a visual impairment.
I am not sure why I never bothered to learn about Google Docs and Google forms before. I guess I just assumed that I could learn them easily when the time came. I think that they will come in very handy when I do reading inventories in advance of booktalks. It will be very easy to summarize results, not like the paper copies I have done.
In my investigation of the Chromebook, I found it easy to use, but I don't much like being signed into Google all of the time. I feel like I am being tracked, which, of course, I am. Since I was using my school account to make the form, but I wanted to add this blog post which is on another account, it was just that much more confusing. When exploring some of the apps that were added for the students to use, I found them surprisingly lame. They didn't give immediate feedback, either. Telling a student at the end when their score is on the screen and "fireworks" are shooting off in the background that they got some questions wrong and why is worthless. I doubt 2 out of 100 kids would really study what questions they got wrong. Students need more immediate feedback.
So much for Thing 16. Now I won't be hesitant to make a Google Form.
- Try out the Chromebook that the technology team is supposed to work on.
- Learn more about Google docs, Google drive, and, especially, Google Forms!
I found the process of making the Google form surprisingly easy. In the midst of it, I had to make a Google Doc. At this point, I plan to print the doc and give the students a copy, but In wonder if there is a way to refer to the Doc in the form so that students could go back and forth.
Another question I still have to investigate is whether there is a way to change the font size on the Google form. It seemed very small. Fine for older students with good eyes, but a problem for younger students who are used to larger print and for those who have a visual impairment.
I am not sure why I never bothered to learn about Google Docs and Google forms before. I guess I just assumed that I could learn them easily when the time came. I think that they will come in very handy when I do reading inventories in advance of booktalks. It will be very easy to summarize results, not like the paper copies I have done.
In my investigation of the Chromebook, I found it easy to use, but I don't much like being signed into Google all of the time. I feel like I am being tracked, which, of course, I am. Since I was using my school account to make the form, but I wanted to add this blog post which is on another account, it was just that much more confusing. When exploring some of the apps that were added for the students to use, I found them surprisingly lame. They didn't give immediate feedback, either. Telling a student at the end when their score is on the screen and "fireworks" are shooting off in the background that they got some questions wrong and why is worthless. I doubt 2 out of 100 kids would really study what questions they got wrong. Students need more immediate feedback.
So much for Thing 16. Now I won't be hesitant to make a Google Form.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Thing 17: Coding
Okay, so I spent several hours on this Thing today. (Personal day, hooray!)
I should say that I really understand the concept of coding because before my current career as a library media specialist, I got my Bachelors (and worked 1 1/2 years toward an MS) in Chemical Engineering. I have done a fair amount of programming, albeit 25-35 years ago. Back in the days of BASIC and FORTRAN. In fact, my first computer was a Commodore VIC-20 that I spent all summer working at McDonalds to buy. I was in the computer club in Middle School and I took programming course in HS and college.
With that said, I delved into the Hour of Code site first after watching the videos. I earned my certificate. :) And I would probably personally go back to do more as it is fun.
I am interested in having kids try the Hour of Code, but I will have to see what I can pull off. I don't usually get students for an hour. I know that they can sign in to save their progress, but our kids don't have an e-mail address until 5th grade and even then it doesn't connect to the outside world. It is only an internal e-mail address. I can think of a few 5th grade boys who would LOVE it, if they haven't already done it.
I did take a look at the Blockly site itself, too. While it is doable, it doesn't lay things out in an easy to understand way like Hour of Code does.
I also read several of the Libraries & Coding posts/links. I also animated my name. http://www.codecademy.com/ajaxSolver16877/codebits/Ns3TPO#.UzXF0X7_K2k.email
Then, I went to Mozilla Thimble Webmaker and worked on the Keep Calm and Carry On poster. https://thimble.webmaker.org/project/44448/edit
I was disappointed that I couldn't print out my poster when I was done. I know that there must be places where you can because people are making different posters. (Our art teacher has Keep Calm and Crayon.)
So these coding lessons are really cool. I will have to work to see if I can do it in school.
I should say that I really understand the concept of coding because before my current career as a library media specialist, I got my Bachelors (and worked 1 1/2 years toward an MS) in Chemical Engineering. I have done a fair amount of programming, albeit 25-35 years ago. Back in the days of BASIC and FORTRAN. In fact, my first computer was a Commodore VIC-20 that I spent all summer working at McDonalds to buy. I was in the computer club in Middle School and I took programming course in HS and college.
With that said, I delved into the Hour of Code site first after watching the videos. I earned my certificate. :) And I would probably personally go back to do more as it is fun.
I am interested in having kids try the Hour of Code, but I will have to see what I can pull off. I don't usually get students for an hour. I know that they can sign in to save their progress, but our kids don't have an e-mail address until 5th grade and even then it doesn't connect to the outside world. It is only an internal e-mail address. I can think of a few 5th grade boys who would LOVE it, if they haven't already done it.
I did take a look at the Blockly site itself, too. While it is doable, it doesn't lay things out in an easy to understand way like Hour of Code does.
I also read several of the Libraries & Coding posts/links. I also animated my name. http://www.codecademy.com/ajaxSolver16877/codebits/Ns3TPO#.UzXF0X7_K2k.email
Then, I went to Mozilla Thimble Webmaker and worked on the Keep Calm and Carry On poster. https://thimble.webmaker.org/project/44448/edit
I was disappointed that I couldn't print out my poster when I was done. I know that there must be places where you can because people are making different posters. (Our art teacher has Keep Calm and Crayon.)
So these coding lessons are really cool. I will have to work to see if I can do it in school.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Thing 5: Digital Storytelling & Presentation Tools
I took a look at Thing 5: Digital Storytelling & Presentation Tools to see what I didn't know about there. I looked at the Don't Let the Pigeon be the Principal story. It is very cute and I'm sure that the kids had a ball, but what was the rest of the class doing when one kid was narrating and (maybe) one was filming with a third moving the pigeon? I just have a hard time thinking that this is the best use of our limited time with students. Maybe it is because I don't see the same students every day and what with assemblies and testing and such, I am lucky to see any given class 25 times a year.
I also looked at the example, Science Time. Although it was pretty lame in itself, I decided to explore the ZimmerTwins tool. It seemed pretty intuitive and had a nice intro movie on How to make a Movie. I liked that joining was free and that kids needed parental permission to join as the password is sent to the e-mail address for mom and dad (if the kid doesn't lie). However, the fact that you can't edit after you save is very disappointing. Also, you need a VIP membership (which costs $$) share your movie. Too bad as it had so many possibilities. I'd love to know of a similar tool that let you edit and doesn't cost $$. I could see teaching that to a class, perhaps as part of a lesson on writing instructions/how-to nonfiction.
The ToonDoo tool seemed interesting, especially after I saw the Lifecycles examples. It seems easy to use, but it is limited. They only let you make such short cartoons. Four panels is the max. That is the same as some of the other cartoon creators I have tried, like Makebeliefscomix .
Then, the links for "I'm Thankful for Teachers" and "The First Book I've Ever Liked" jumped out at me. While I get that the glogs are booktalks, I don't think that they prove that the kids read the books. A simple google search for a book's title would easily give you enough information to complete a glog like this. I guess it depends on what you are grading. The ability to create the glog or the completion, comprehension, and connection to a book. I also have to say that this is another have/have not assignment. My library doesn't have enough computers for every student to have their own to work on. Many of my students don't have broadband or Fios or even real access to a computer at home. I can imagine that this would work great in many suburban schools, though I'm still not sure what I would be grading. I get that the blogger, Sarah Ludwig, would like to let the kids create these glogs or trailers just to encourage reading, but as a teacher tied to APPR and who works hard to support the curricular goals, I totally understand that the teachers need to have a purpose for their time usage. Perhaps Ms. Ludwig should create a club for students who want to work on projects to encourage reading. I'm sure that there are students who would join.
I appreciated seeing the list of CC image search tools and music. I love StoryCorps. So many people love Prezi, but I guess it is my engineer, left-brain personality, but Prezi drives me NUTS! Just like people who use PowerPoint and change the background, the font, the colors, and the transitions all of the time. Yes, I get it. You were playing, but come on, don't do it when you are presenting to your peers. I expect that from children, but not adults! I tend to use SMART Notebook because I have a SMARTboard in my room, but I can easily use PowerPoint.
In other ideas...
I want to get into using Audacity. I hoped to get the time during this vacation, but it didn't happen.
I also think that I will take a look again at Thing 6: Curation Tools. But maybe I will save that for another time. I finally signed up for Pinterest this year, but I have almost nothing pinned. Maybe I will use this idea in case I don't like on of the next few "Things." I've done enough for today I think. I believe I am all caught up!
Thing 15: App-palooza!
Okay, apps... I have devices, but the problem is that at this point, the school does not. Many (if not most) of our students don't either. Still I will take a look. I do know that WorldBook online has an app that I have let our students know about, as do many of the eBook options (OverDrive, FollettShelf, etc.) and our Library Catalog, DestinyQuest. (Does anyone listen when I go over these things? Does anyone read about them at home?) I do like the GoogleDoc idea with the QR codes. (Not that I've really delved into the whole QR code thing because they seem more difficult on my Android device than other people's iPhones. Maybe when I get my new device they will be easier?!) I could link it off my website. I also got the link to Shannon McClintock Miller's elementary website. I like to get ideas and links by looking at other people's.
I was glad to see that Kathy Schrocks Bloomin’ Apps were not just limited to iDevice or Android apps, but included Web 2.0 sites. I also think that looking at the apps she classifies for the different taxonomies might help me with defining how my lessons address the different skills as well. Sometimes I am not sure what to classify something as. Maybe it is just because I didn't go through the "normal" process to become a teacher, but lesson/project creation seems easy while writing a lesson plan is painful. Of course, this list will be also helpful as a reference of sites.
I was surprised not to see Google Apps for Education. I know that our Technology Committee is getting at least one tablet with it to take a look. Our elementary school has no tablets at this point. We will be playing with it to try to decide a direction to take.
Okay, I just learned how to make QR codes. I will definitely make one of these "Library in My Pocket" pages for my school. I'm going to try to make posters and handouts for Open House, too. I have successfully made QR codes for the district homepage and for my library website. Here is my websites:
I like that the goo.gl page saves the shortened URLs and QR codes you make. The only disappointment is that you can't put a name on it. You have to read the long url to make sense of the shortened one.
As far as using apps goes, I look forward to getting my new phone. (Maybe Tuesday, cross your fingers!) My current droid is so old that it is not supported by many apps now. I'm also hoping that my circulation app will actually scan barcodes soon. iPhone users have been able to use the FollettDestiny app to check out books, but Android users have not. Hopefully the update will come soon.
Too bad the Apps for Education blog is all about iPad apps. iPads are SO expensive. As I said, it is likely our school will go Android if we jump in at all. The AASL Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2013 list would be more useful if it were separated by or searchable by platform, too. Anyone know of an Android list? I found a list at http://www.teachthought.com/technology/the-best-education-apps-for-android/, but it is not organized by subject or grade or anything, limiting its usefulness. Another list is at http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-apps-teachers-tutors-teaching-88110/. It also is not organized in any way, though I didn't know about some of the apps that were listed.
That is all for now...
I was glad to see that Kathy Schrocks Bloomin’ Apps were not just limited to iDevice or Android apps, but included Web 2.0 sites. I also think that looking at the apps she classifies for the different taxonomies might help me with defining how my lessons address the different skills as well. Sometimes I am not sure what to classify something as. Maybe it is just because I didn't go through the "normal" process to become a teacher, but lesson/project creation seems easy while writing a lesson plan is painful. Of course, this list will be also helpful as a reference of sites.
I was surprised not to see Google Apps for Education. I know that our Technology Committee is getting at least one tablet with it to take a look. Our elementary school has no tablets at this point. We will be playing with it to try to decide a direction to take.
Okay, I just learned how to make QR codes. I will definitely make one of these "Library in My Pocket" pages for my school. I'm going to try to make posters and handouts for Open House, too. I have successfully made QR codes for the district homepage and for my library website. Here is my websites:
As far as using apps goes, I look forward to getting my new phone. (Maybe Tuesday, cross your fingers!) My current droid is so old that it is not supported by many apps now. I'm also hoping that my circulation app will actually scan barcodes soon. iPhone users have been able to use the FollettDestiny app to check out books, but Android users have not. Hopefully the update will come soon.
Too bad the Apps for Education blog is all about iPad apps. iPads are SO expensive. As I said, it is likely our school will go Android if we jump in at all. The AASL Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2013 list would be more useful if it were separated by or searchable by platform, too. Anyone know of an Android list? I found a list at http://www.teachthought.com/technology/the-best-education-apps-for-android/, but it is not organized by subject or grade or anything, limiting its usefulness. Another list is at http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-apps-teachers-tutors-teaching-88110/. It also is not organized in any way, though I didn't know about some of the apps that were listed.
That is all for now...
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