iPads 4 Learning @ Manor Lakes College

It’s no secret that there are thousands of App’s available via the iTune App Store. There’s even less of a secret that a lot of those app’s are pointless and not at all very useful, fun, or engaging, especially from an education point of view. Although the ‘Pimple Popper App’ does seem very popular. Perhaps we could create a mathematical formula for popping the most pimples in a given time? Hmmm… thinking outside the box!

Moving on… There has however been some utter App ‘brilliance and excellence’ that has been unleashed. Applications that have been created either for intended Educational purposes or App’s that can be used with an educational setting have really made using the iPad as an educational teaching tool extremely valuable.

So, i thought that i would share very a very select few iPad App’s that we have found to be of great benefit to teaching and learning. App’s that foster engagement, creativity, and motivate students to learn. Here we go (in no particular order)…

1. ToonTastic!

This is a great creative tool for students which allows then to draw, create and animate Cartoons for any purpose they wish! Students can add characters that are pre-placed in to the App such as Kings and Queens, Pirates, Robots, etc.. and voice record speech in the scene itself. The App also shows students the key component of their Cartoon via showing therm that they require a set up, conflict, challenge, climax and resolution. The characters that students add can be animated by simply touching and dragging the inserted characters. Students can also embed already included music, which they can choose from, in to their scenes which is a great touch. Once their ‘Toon is completed students can upload their ‘Toon to the web to share with anyone and everyone! Give it a go!

2. Comic Life

If you’re familiar with the MacBook/iMac version, you’ll already know what a great Application this is. Comic Life essentially allows students to create their own comic and other documents but in a much more engaging way. There are a number of templates that students can choose from to begin creating their comic or poster straight away of as usual students can start from scratch and drag and drop in frames in include images taken and or pictures obtained. I must say i found it a little tricky at the beginning to use however after having used it several times it’s quite simple! Must have been just me! Like other Apple App’s, the sharing of created work is simple and very easy to do. A great creative application!

3. iMovie

I have been using iMovie for years with students having their own MacBooks and found iMovie to be an absolutely great tool! It is easy to use and has some outstanding features. When i saw that it had came to the iPad i was a little sceptical of its usability and the features that it would have. However, it is great. The ease of dragging and dropping images and video in to it are very simple as are the editing features. A great feature of this Ap is that created videos/films can be immediately exported to your Camera Roll, You Tube, FaceBook, Vimeo, CNN iReport, or iTunes. In saying all of this, a GREAT alternative to iMovie (but only works on iPad2), is Videolicious which is excellent also. And Free!

4. iBooks

There’s quite a bit happening at the moment regarding the whole eBook/eReader, what’s better, what’s not debate. As an eReader, i feel the iPad is more than capable of holding it’s own. As a free App which allows the download of free eBooks, is excellent. Granted, the content of those free eBooks can leave a little bit to be desired however it is only getting better. As an eReader it is a great App, that allows students to annotate and book mark pages, change font, colour, background and font size. I do not think that the ‘old paperback novel’ will ever die, however iBook is a wonderful app that encourages reading during reading time.

5. Google Earth

An interactive and innovative App, Google Earth allows to students to ‘roam the globe’ with amazing embedded information. Students can search for particular places, find photos and information of that place and then share what they’ve found with others. The Google Earth Gallery is a great site to introduce students as the discussions that can arise from the galleries shown are excellent. Google Earth can cater for so many Curriculum areas, one of my favourites being History where students can trace the life and times of famous people and their whereabouts. A great site to show an example of this is the Google History Tours Wiki! Great Content!

6. The Guardian Eyewitness

The Guardian Eyewitness App shows a great new photograph which has been taken that appears each day in the Guardian UK Newspaper. The topics of the photographs which are shown range from political, sporting, nature, cultural among many many others. The photographs are a great discussion point with students and are a great way foster creative writing and discussion regarding global events. Students can then use other Applications, such as Google Earth, to investigate where the photo was taken or use Google Search to find key information about the person in the photo. Great for quick challenge based learning tasks!

This entry was posted on May 12, 2011 at 2:23 pm and is filed under app's with tags App, app's, Apple, curriculum, education, educator, engaging, Google, iTunes, learning, students, teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.