iteach: a guide to the most useful apps for the classroom - new smart board

Smartphones and tablets have quickly become an integral part of students' daily lives.
According to Common Sense Media last year, children under the age of 8 spend nearly an hour on mobile devices every day.
The time children spend on the screen will only increase with age. On average, 13-to 18-year-
Older people spend about nine hours a day on entertainment media, most of them on tablets and smartphones.
But mobile devices don't have to be distracted.
When they are used for projects-
Studies have shown that they can improve classroom engagement and student learning in different grades based on learning.
"What you have is that more and more schools are asking their teachers to accept professional development in technology integration," said Dee Lanier, project coordinator for EdTechTeam, an international company that trains educators on how to use technology in the classroom.
When the teacher asked Lanier what they should look for in the app, he told them to remember four values: cost
Effective crossoverCloud Platform
Based on and collaboration.
Like "Four C of credit", he wrote, there are "four C of application selection ". "Cost-
The effective way, Lanier says, is to make apps affordable for students and their families.
He encourages teachers and schools to choose free apps that everyone can access.
Even in schools where every student has devices or can bring their own devices, not every student has the same app and program access.
Because of this, an app should also be "cloud-
Cross based on "or"platform.
"Both phrases mean that the app can run on a variety of devices. Cloud-based, or web-
Based on, the program works on desktops and laptops, while
Platform application features on mobile devices.
Finally, he said the collaborative app allows more than one person to interact with the app at the same time.
The collaborative app lets students work together and respond to each other.
Educators use mobile apps from grading assignments to communicating with parents.
Our readers say they like five of them here. Kahoot! Kahoot!
Is a quiz game app.
It's like a custom dangerous wheel that the whole class can play.
Test by teachers and students (called kahoots)
Can be used to review materials or arrange homework, but the game is the best when playing together.
Show the problem on the shared screen, just like the smart board so everyone can join in.
Each student can answer questions from their own device, and each of them can get points based on who answers the fastest and most correctly.
The person who scored the most at the end of the game won.
"The students love it because it's interactive, fun, fast --
"The pace is fast, the competition is a bit fierce," says Alyson Solomon, a biology teacher at Penn State . ".
Other popular quiz apps like Kaizz or Quizlet, but with more than 70 million users, Kahoot!
Is the most popular.
Lanier says it works for all four C, "it's great from a review point of view . ".
Another popular app is a reminder that this is a project designed specifically for school communication.
With it, teachers can send messages to the whole class and their parents without exchanging personal information.
Users can also send documents and photos, set up automatic reminders and create groups.
Since its inception in 2011, reminders have been the main content of many classrooms and can now be communicated throughout the school or region.
Liz White, a library media specialist in Tennessee, says most of her high school teachers and staff use reminders --
Talk to each other and students.
The principal used it instead of Walkie Talkie notifications, and teachers like White used it to answer questions from students, and college consultants used it to send reminders about FAFSA and college applications.
"Not everyone will check their emails on a regular basis, but most teachers have phones nearby and can respond immediately," she explains . ".
In addition, she said that teachers can talk to parents and students without revealing their personal phone numbers.
The G Suite App, formerly known as the Google education app, is a service that many people are familiar with: Google Docs, paper, slides, etc. —
All the programs that make up your Google Drive account.
The G education suite comes with Google Classroom.
It allows teachers to distribute, collect and rate assignments online.
Mike Balding, a seventh-grade math teacher in northern New York, likes to use the Google classroom because it is flexible and easy to use, making it easy to integrate technology into his classes.
He uses it to create quizzes, provide feedback and work with other teachers.
Other programs require his students to remember different passwords for each class, but Google classrooms create a central location for their work that can be accessed anywhere, Pauldine said.
Lanier of EdTechTeam is Google Certified Trainer and innovatorso he's well-
Proficient in G Suite applications.
For accessibility reasons, he suggested using Google Slides instead of Google Drawings.
They have very similar features, he said, but the slides have a mobile app, and the drawings don't.
PadletThink Padlet is a virtual bulletin board for collaboration.
With it, teachers can do a "wall" where students can post their answers to questions or assignments.
The response can be text, drawing, or video.
"That's why Padlet is beautiful," Lanier said . ".
"It gives students an idea of how they work.
"The background, layout and privacy of the board can all be set up by the person who created the board.
Students can work with people from the same class or around the world.
Padlet meets all four criteria for Lanier's selection of applications until the paid version is released on April.
Now, there are only three free "walls" for Padlet users "--
They have to pay for them if they want more.
This may be problematic for middle and high school teachers who teach more than three classes.
Despite hearing different reviews from colleagues, Lanier still likes the app.
He suggested Flipgrid, for teachers looking for unlimited options that don't charge a subfee.
"It's 100% free and you can use unlimited grids, but it will be limited to video replies," he said . ".
Seesawesaw created a digital journal for each student.
They can add pictures, text, or videos to their profile.
Every time a teacher approves a child's post, parents are notified that they can see a personalized record of all the work of the child.
"Seesaw allows students to react directly to their homework, which is really early," said Lanier . ".
While Seesaw is similar to Padlet as it allows for a wide variety of responses, it does not have the same open collaboration that higher-level learners need.
But Lanier says the app is recommended for young learners.
Madeline Menden, a second-year teacher in Oregon, says her class uses seesaw to make learning more intuitive.
For example, her students recorded their own math tutorials to show their understanding of the skills they have learned.
Students can see each other's creations and choose to post the work on their class blog.
What is the next big thing in this rapidly changing technology era?
Lanier recommends that educators focus on augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR).
Many of the apps that teachers use are digital alternatives to things that have been done manually in the past, he said, but AR/VR has prompted teachers to think about technology in a whole new way.
"What kind of experience will the students have and they can't even imagine?