Apps that rock my world!

It's been a long while since my last blog post and lots has happened since. So I'm going to make a very late New Year's resolution to try to make an effort to post more regularly.

Having paid a visit to the BETT Show a few weeks ago, I'm eager to share some of my favourite toys for the iPad that can be used in the classroom. I'd like to mention that I don't usually like these kind of blog posts... Too often the apps are very specific in their function and can only be used in certain lessons/situations. I have picked these apps based on their ability to be used throughout the curriculum. So, I'd like to present to you...

My Top 5 iOS Apps:

Book Creator

Book Creator
I've been using this app for a few years and the children in my class love the ability to create their very own multimedia eBooks. I often use it to allow the children to review their learning. For example; during a maths lesson on solving word problems, I asked the children to record themselves explaining the solution! I also love the ability to App Smash with Book Creator - create an image and video in another app and simply import it in!

Chatterpix

Chatterpix

This app is a new discovery for me and I absolutely love it! It essentially allows you to turn anything into a living talking creature by taking a photograph of it and drawing a simple line mouth. Children can then record their own message. It is easy to imagine how this could be used in the classroom. I recently had some Year 2 children creating talking foods to describe their smell using similes!

YAKiT Kids

YAKiT Kids
YAKiT Kids is very similar to Chatterpix but allows you to add cartoony eyes, noses, mouths and more onto your own photographs. You can then record an audio message and watch your image come to life! What a fantastic way to create new characters and allow the children to bring them to life!

Google Classroom

Google Classroom
Google have finally released their iOS app for their fantastic Google Classroom service. I posted previously about how excited I am about this and the app has made things even more accessible. It seems to be mainly geared towards student access, rather than for teachers but it's perfectly fine by me.

ThingLink

ThingLink
Another new one to me, but again, it's easy to see the huge amount of potential there is for both students and teachers! With this app you can basically add text, web links, pictures and videos to your images. Maybe you'd like your children to label the countries within a continent? Or label the bones in the human body? This can be done in a much more interactive and creative way thanks to ThingLink.

If you have found any apps that are worth mentioning, please let me know!

Google Apps for Education starring Classroom

iPod 3rd Gen.

Apple
For the last 5 years or so I have been what most would call an "Apple Fan Boy". I've had the iPhone since the 3GS and now am rocking a fairly "retro" iPhone 5 (upgrade due next year! Grrr) Actually, my first Apple product would have been one of the earliest iPods - you know the one with the touch wheel with four glowing red buttons above it?

I loved that thing! It was released in 2003 so it's probably more like 11 years ago that I started my love affair with Apple. But back then I was still syncing my beautiful, slick 3rd Gen iPod up to a Windows PC. It did the job.

Fast forward to late 2011. I finally took the plunge (and saved enough money!) to purchase my first iMac. Shortly after that, in my role as ICT Coordinator within my school, I finally persuaded my Head Teacher to move the whole school over to Macs. I have barely touched a Window PC since.

Apple iMac

Google
But now, in 2014, I think I'm finding myself drawn to another. Google have been incredibly impressive of late in the education world. With Google Apps for Education (GAfE), they have created something that I'm extremely excited about. Google Apps have been around for a good while now and I know I'm not jumping on GAfE early, by any means. But after recently introducing Google Classroom to the world, my excitement has been increased dramatically.


Using Google Apps in School
I first introduced Google Docs to my staff as a cool way for the children to collaborate together on a single document. I simply created a Google account for each year group so they could login and away they went. This was ground breaking for me. The children could write together on a single piece of work! Not taking it in turns, but complete collaboration for the first time on a word processor. Now Google have a complete suite of Apps including Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Hangouts and very recently Classroom. They have covered everything needed in a school (and business) environment - For teachers as well as pupils. Personally, I've always used Yahoo for my email, Dropbox for cloud storage and Apple Calendar for my... erm... calendar! Yet now I am definitely moving towards Google's suite of Apps, especially Drive.

Google Classroom
One of the reasons I've always loved Apple is that all their products work together seamlessly. The same is true for GAfE, but it's the introduction of Classroom that shows this off perfectly. Now, as Classroom is only a matter of weeks old, I haven't used it with children yet. However, I have tested it fairly well with a 'test pupil' account and it has me seriously excited to roll this out in my school! The home screen of your Classroom is incredibly simple.

My Google Classroom

Click the + next to your email address to create a class. Give it a name and it will appear on your home screen - told you it was simple! As you can see, I have two Classrooms - one for my class next year, and one for staff. Each class has a unique code for you to give to whoever you wish to join your Classroom. Once you have 'students' in your classroom, you are ready to go!

As well as being able to communicate much more efficiently with the class via announcements, the teacher can set assignments. This is where the suite of Docs, Slides and Sheets, used through Drive come in.

As you can see I have set an assignment for my Year 2 class to write a brief recount of their summer holiday. The children will see this in their list of assignments and be given the option to create a new document using Docs, or they can upload a Word document from their computer. Once they have completed the task, they submit their work which then appears as 'done' on my screen. Here is the best bit... Feedback! As the teacher I can now comment on the work done and, if needed, send it back to the child for improvement. They would then resubmit it through Classroom once finished.

Staff CPD
After playing around with Classroom for a few days, I realised that not only can it be used with the children in schools, but also for staff professional development. So I created my 'Staff' classroom!

Do you ever find yourself wanting staff to complete something for you and never get it back? They are incredibly busy people after all and paper is very easy to put down and never find again! As an example, I have added a computing audit for my staff to complete in order to find out what their knowledge and experience is of computing. A copy of the document will magic itself into their free 30GB Drive storage, they would complete it and then submit it back to me through the classroom. Various other tasks and announcements could be created all in one place.

So, there you have it. Google are fighting for my love... and winning! Pull your socks up Apple... :)

Mr B

Questions to you:
I'd love to know what your experiences are in using GAfE. How are you using it? What age group are you using it with? Your success stories?