Tech EDGE: Mobile Learning in the Classroom Podcasts
This week I explored the world of podcasts, and boy let me tell you this world is very informative to say in the least. How did I start my journey into this unknown world? I went to a list of youtube videos full of podcasts, in fact there were over 300 to choose from! I watched 3 videos in total, each thoroughly discussing educational apps for my future classroom.
First video is Episode 56 and it was about apps working on vocabulary.
This video talked about 3 different apps but I am only going to talk about the first one, TypeShift. First, because we are teachers let's talk cost. The app is free in the App Store but there are a few in-app purchases. You can purchase more puzzles and then puzzles without clues for your more advanced students, both costing $1.99. As the video describes the app was created working with Merriam Webster Dictionary. So the video displays perfect examples but the students are basically searching for words within the puzzle. Once they solve the puzzle it erases the word as an option to eliminate confusion. Your students can have clues turned on or off, and at the end they get a time of how long it took them. My favorite part of the app is that because they partnered with the dictionary at the end of the puzzle they can click on any word they didn't know and go see the meaning. We all have been there, you play word games and sometimes you are just swiping or arranging until you get points, then you look back and say "I didn't even know that was a word." Your students are smart, they are going to do the same thing, so it's a resource and as a teacher it could be part of the assignment to use the words they didn't know in a sentence to prove that they learned something.
Second video is Episode 39 talking about a math application.
Starting with cost for this one it's a little tricky, it's a free download but you do have to pay for a year or two year subscription. But don't check out on this app yet! Todo Math, is a math app geared town lower age Elementary students which for any of you who keep up with my posts know this is perfect for my ideal classroom and content emphasis. What I like about this app is that it gives the students options but they all correlate. The three options it gives the user is daily adventure, free choice, and mission. Daily Adventure is probably where you would want to start your students. In this option it is highly kid friendly with it's game interface, use of points and different ways to complete tasks. So this is called adventure for a reason students have different "levels" and as they complete them they go down a path completing tasks. The next option is called free choice, in this option it is just a list of different games. The video actually gives a great example of how you can use this to your advantage in your classroom. If you are focusing on a topic you can limit the games they can play to the ones focusing on the area you are covering in class. The last option is a mission, this is where the whole app brings it all together. The way I understand the app the missions are harder but can be prepped for by doing the daily tasks. So then you can teach your students that by working daily on something you will be ready for a mission. I think this could be a good tie in for state assessment if you were teaching third grade or higher.
Third video is Episode 137 and it focuses on collaborative apps.
This video addresses a few apps but I am going to focus on Vidopop. So this app is weird in that I cannot find it in the app store. Hopefully you have more luck than I do but I did find the app's twitter so I've included a link to that so that you can find how to download it through there. Vidopop is a quick way to share videos and it's extremely user friendly. To send a video you just press send and it gives you many options of how you want to send it. The best part about it, there is basically no wait time for processing it's almost instantaneous. It's a great way to have your students record something on the spot and send it to you or another classmate with little wait time and the user friendly part should minimize questions and complications.