Group items tagged

" iBooks Author is still making the news in the educational sphere. This is probably the first mobile app to be embraced wholly in education in such a short time since its release. After posting a simple and guided tutorial on how teachers can use the different services of iBooks Author , today I am sharing with you some hands-on examples of what students can actually do with it." Nice examples of how to use iBooks Author

"Create and share great video lessons with your iPad or browser." This is a great tool for getting students talking, or for creating a lively presentation. You can upload a picture, or draw from scratch, as on a blackboard or whiteboard. Easy to use, free download, and available from the App Store for smart phone or iPad.

This looks like a cute app for the very young. You upload pictures and arrange them in a set, create one or more questions for each, which you record. The user taps to hear the questions and taps a place on the picture to answer it. TinyTap also has a market with free and purchaseable games already made. Lots of potential for ESL vocabulary practice, since once you get by the interface it doesn't look childish at all.

"VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols." From R. Davis and R. Wilson: "One of the best features is that there is a portable apps version that you can load onto a thumb drive, and thus you can play streaming media files in locations where you do not have administrative permission or rights to download the VLC player or other applications to computers at work or school." For Windows-based PCs.

Start your presentation, type a few words and then search for a copyright free creative commons-licensed image to illustrate, add charts or graphs, and select theme, layout, and filters. Share and view on any web-enabled device or embed in your website or blog. Help your students create beautiful presentations on the iPads. Free.

Phone to Mac copies music, photos, video, and more from iPod, iPad and iPhone to your desktop. This transfer software will help you get your older Mac (up to 10.6) or Windows PC in touch with your mobile life. Download the app to your desktop computer, install, and plug in your mobile device.

Like Wall Wisher but more features, including calendar, desktop widgets, mobile apps, etc. Used by many teachers to manage projects. Very easy to use, with short screencast help videos for everything. R. Stannard has a training video also.

This is a great creative app for iPhone or Android to create up 1-hr-long videos for YouTube. Your students can make shorter videos on their mobiles, then upload and splice them together.

This article goes a long way to debunk the myths perpetrated by Gardner and the brain-based learning movement. Once again, Schools of Education have fallen for the mythical. "So let's reiterate: A "learning style" curriculum won't affect the way you learn. You don't only use half of your brain, so being taught to your "left-brain" or "right-brain" won't help you, either. Fiddling with an iPhone app? Unlikely. "What might affect how you learn? The types of things you've learned before. "It's not so much based upon how the brain is structured," Alferink says, "it's based upon our experiences." So if you're not a very strong reader, for example, you probably won't learn very well by reading. "Our experiences do affect brain development," he says. "The wiring of the brain depends upon the experiences we have." "And as for the validity of "brain-based" education techniques - that term should really apply to all teaching. After all, Alferink says, "all education is brain-based. It is impossible to learn without a brain.""

This article has tons of information. Just pick the way that works best for you. Towards the bottom of the screen is a charge with features and pricing (some are free - there's an app for that).

10 Twitter Apps for Nonprofits

A nice set of resources, mainly downloadable apps, for teachers to use with their classrooms. Some might also be useful for students to download and use. Another good resource from the EFL Classroom 2.0

SimplyBox is a great way to add some Web 2.0 to your research. This would be esp. useful with group objects where students can then look at what each other group member has found. Use SimplyBox for Education, and get the free app (also has fee-based district or school-wide application that can be hosted and access controlled safely, and boxing from any application). The teacher could start the ball rolling, and have students join in, boxing their own sites and info. Esp. good for visual learners. This page has three good help videos: Overview, Sharing, and Twittering with SimplyBox. Fairly easy to use, once you get used to it.

Corkboard app to organize and share your things

"Find flashcards to study or create your own flashcards. "Study flashcards or use the other activities such as matching, crosswords, hangman, scrambled word, or bug chase. "Study flashcards anytime/anywhere by printing your flashcards or by using a flashcard app. " -- Subjects include geography, business, math, science, languages, medical subjets, and varies tests, such as GRE. Not specifically for ESL/EFL. Nice that you can use the flashcards on- or off-line.

Similar to Bubblr, but this app produces a book-lik presentation, rather than a comic strip format. You add two pictures per open book page, and add text as a subtitle. Good for projects with students' own photos uploaded to Flickr, or pictures found in a search. (See Russell Stannard's description and tutorial at http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/newBubblr/index.html.)

This page holds a list of essential sites for teaching computer science and coding to high school students. Spark interest by having students create their own games and apps while learning math.

Great ideas for tools and their uses, categorized by media aspects, e.g., blogging and writing, photos, audio, PLNs, presentations, research databases, search, etc., with an intro to get you started. The list then continues with other, less frequently used tools, such as digital portfolios, Google drawings, notetaking tools, apps, etc.

Offers songs in multiple European languages with text lyrics which you can manipulate as cloze activities. Lots of student control to repeat lines of a song, click on tab to show an answer to a missing lyric, etc. Students ign-up to keep a record of songs and the tasks completed. Provides 3 different levels of activity; e.g., "expert" is total cloze. R. Stannard has a training video on using this site at