Name: iReward
Price: Free or $3.99
Features: iReward is a digital way to organize a rewards system. This app features the ability to add multiple charts for multiple children. It seems to be marketed towards parents, but since the systems and rewards are customizable, they would work perfectly for teachers. You can use different types of charts and add different types of rewards and points systems.
Likes/Dislikes: This is an easy way to keep track of a participation or behavior system, and if all students have access to technology they could even become responsible for updating it themselves. However, it may not have the kind of effect and the nuances that a traditional classroom behavior/participation system might. It seems a little simple, and if you don't have ready access to technology to use it, it might be easier to do a paper or chart-based system.
Recommend: Probably.
Monday, October 15, 2012
StoryBuilder
Name: StoryBuilder for iPad
Price: $7.99
Features: This app helps students with many educational goals, including the improvement of paragraph formation, the improvement of integration of ideas, and the improvement of higher level abstractions by inference. The app also includes over 500 audio clips to help students with sensory processing disorders to improve their auditory skills, but visuals are also provided. Students can also record their own voice and use auditary cues to construct a narrative. There are three levels of play, and stories can be easily saved and e-mailed.
Likes/Dislikes: Love how this app actually helps students construct cohesive paragraphs, something which can be a challenge to teach. The auditory clues can really help students develop their story in an orderly way. It could be childish for older students, though. It would be interesting to use an app like this to help secondary students develop essays.
Recommend: Yes, but for younger students only.
Price: $7.99
Features: This app helps students with many educational goals, including the improvement of paragraph formation, the improvement of integration of ideas, and the improvement of higher level abstractions by inference. The app also includes over 500 audio clips to help students with sensory processing disorders to improve their auditory skills, but visuals are also provided. Students can also record their own voice and use auditary cues to construct a narrative. There are three levels of play, and stories can be easily saved and e-mailed.
Likes/Dislikes: Love how this app actually helps students construct cohesive paragraphs, something which can be a challenge to teach. The auditory clues can really help students develop their story in an orderly way. It could be childish for older students, though. It would be interesting to use an app like this to help secondary students develop essays.
Recommend: Yes, but for younger students only.
ACT Spell
Name: ACT Spell
Price: $2.99
Features: ACT Spell is an interactive spelling application. The user can create wordbanks with words, phrases, and sequences, adjust button size for motor coordination, select different background colors, and was developed with the help of an assistive technology coordinator.
Likes/Dislikes: This app is really cool in the ways that it can be customized for individual students based on their motor coordination skills and how they perform with different background colors. I like that it could be used for older students too, as it's not overwhelmingly childlike. The acronym itself can even be interpreted by high schoolers as being relevant to the ACT test, which might help with buy-in. No real dislikes, other than the fact that the program is limited to spelling games and doesn't integrate other aspects of reading and writing skills.
Recommend: Yes!
Price: $2.99
Features: ACT Spell is an interactive spelling application. The user can create wordbanks with words, phrases, and sequences, adjust button size for motor coordination, select different background colors, and was developed with the help of an assistive technology coordinator.
Likes/Dislikes: This app is really cool in the ways that it can be customized for individual students based on their motor coordination skills and how they perform with different background colors. I like that it could be used for older students too, as it's not overwhelmingly childlike. The acronym itself can even be interpreted by high schoolers as being relevant to the ACT test, which might help with buy-in. No real dislikes, other than the fact that the program is limited to spelling games and doesn't integrate other aspects of reading and writing skills.
Recommend: Yes!
soundAMP R
Name: SoundAMP R
Price: $4.99
Features: soundAMP R is an application that magnifies environmental sounds, making them easier to hear for students who may have hearing disabilities or just need to hear things more clearly in order to focus. It also has a recording feature, and is available for the iPad and the iPhone. It can also be used as a hearing aid for adults as well.
Likes/Dislikes: I like that this application is basically a cheap version of a hearing aid - how incredible! Many people say that it has similar functionality to a device that costs many many times as much. Complaints involve the drain on battery life and the fact that the microphone is usually close to the user, causing their own voice to sound very loud
Recommend: Yes. This is an awesome program for students with hearing disabilities.
Price: $4.99
Features: soundAMP R is an application that magnifies environmental sounds, making them easier to hear for students who may have hearing disabilities or just need to hear things more clearly in order to focus. It also has a recording feature, and is available for the iPad and the iPhone. It can also be used as a hearing aid for adults as well.
Likes/Dislikes: I like that this application is basically a cheap version of a hearing aid - how incredible! Many people say that it has similar functionality to a device that costs many many times as much. Complaints involve the drain on battery life and the fact that the microphone is usually close to the user, causing their own voice to sound very loud
Recommend: Yes. This is an awesome program for students with hearing disabilities.
Social Skills
Name: Social Skills
Price: $3.99
Features: This app uses social stories to teach social skills to students. It focuses on these areas: Joint Attention; Non-Verbal Communication; Greetings; Structured game play; Turn Taking; Classroom rules; and Imitation. It features both visual and audio components, and can be modified by the teacher. Additionally, there are different levels of content for learners of all ages.
Likes/Dislikes: I like that this app is customizable, because I could even make it work for high schoolers if I needed to. One thing I dislike is that it is basically geared towards younger kids only, when my high schoolers also need to master these skills in a way that is engaging and interactive.
Recommend: Yes, especially if you have younger students
Price: $3.99
Features: This app uses social stories to teach social skills to students. It focuses on these areas: Joint Attention; Non-Verbal Communication; Greetings; Structured game play; Turn Taking; Classroom rules; and Imitation. It features both visual and audio components, and can be modified by the teacher. Additionally, there are different levels of content for learners of all ages.
Likes/Dislikes: I like that this app is customizable, because I could even make it work for high schoolers if I needed to. One thing I dislike is that it is basically geared towards younger kids only, when my high schoolers also need to master these skills in a way that is engaging and interactive.
Recommend: Yes, especially if you have younger students
Seasonal Foods
Name: Seasonal foods
Price: Free through Bloggers gadget offerings
Likes/Dislikes: I jsut thought this was a really fun app. I used to have a cooking blog, and I could see students using this app for a blog they would use for a Culinary Arts project. It tells you what kinds of foods are in season based on your location. If dinnertime is approaching, it's a nice visual reminder of what your options might be. Dislike...it might not be useful or interesting to everybody.
Features: The gadget shows thumbnails of seasonal foods based on a location that you plug in, which can be changed. Each thumbnail also has a link attached so you can click for more information. I am unsure of whether it automatically updates based on season, month, week etc.
Recommend: Sort of. I like it a lot personally because I would use it for the type of blog I would have. I think students at my school could use it for their Horticulture or Culinary Arts class. Besides that, it's just a fun little gadget.
Price: Free through Bloggers gadget offerings
Likes/Dislikes: I jsut thought this was a really fun app. I used to have a cooking blog, and I could see students using this app for a blog they would use for a Culinary Arts project. It tells you what kinds of foods are in season based on your location. If dinnertime is approaching, it's a nice visual reminder of what your options might be. Dislike...it might not be useful or interesting to everybody.
Features: The gadget shows thumbnails of seasonal foods based on a location that you plug in, which can be changed. Each thumbnail also has a link attached so you can click for more information. I am unsure of whether it automatically updates based on season, month, week etc.
Recommend: Sort of. I like it a lot personally because I would use it for the type of blog I would have. I think students at my school could use it for their Horticulture or Culinary Arts class. Besides that, it's just a fun little gadget.
Labels
Name: Labels
Price: Free! Easily accessible when you set up a Blogger account, as it is also one of the most popular gadgets offered through Blogger
Likes/Dislikes: I like that this app serves to organize your posts into categories; this is basically a way to manage your tags, and it can be presented in either list or cloud form (I chose cloud). There are no major dislikes so far.
Features: The Labels application makes it easy to organize and visualize the content of your posts. You can "label" posts with different words or phrases and then refer to your toolbar to find posts that fit under that category. This is a good way to stay organized.
Recommend: Yes, this is an easy way to organize your posts, show readers what the most popular topics of your blog are. With the cloud feature, the most popular topics are in a bigger font, so it presents a visual representation of what your blog is all about.
Price: Free! Easily accessible when you set up a Blogger account, as it is also one of the most popular gadgets offered through Blogger
Likes/Dislikes: I like that this app serves to organize your posts into categories; this is basically a way to manage your tags, and it can be presented in either list or cloud form (I chose cloud). There are no major dislikes so far.
Features: The Labels application makes it easy to organize and visualize the content of your posts. You can "label" posts with different words or phrases and then refer to your toolbar to find posts that fit under that category. This is a good way to stay organized.
Recommend: Yes, this is an easy way to organize your posts, show readers what the most popular topics of your blog are. With the cloud feature, the most popular topics are in a bigger font, so it presents a visual representation of what your blog is all about.
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