Flipped Classroom Resources

When flipping the classroom, wouldn't it be nice to have students assess what they are learning while watching a YouTube video, a teacher-created video, etc.?  Two easy-to-use tools will allow teachers to embed formative assessment INTO the video experience.

EDpuzzle offers several features: open-ended questions, multiple choice questions, and comments.  In addition, teachers may want to add video notes to introduce the video to the students or add comments along the way.  The web-based tool provides straightforward pop-up help messages and tutorial videos for the teacher to quickly learn EDpuzzle.  The teacher can control whether the student can skip ahead in a video.  Students connect to the class videos with a unique code.   A scientific text editor is included for use with math and science.  Edpuzzle Analytics provides useful information for educators, such as percent correct per question and per student, whether students watched the video, and number of times a student watched a video position.  Edpuzzle help videos can be found on their blog as well as their YouTube channel.

eduCanon also converts passive viewing of content into active viewing with embedded objects, multiple choice questions, and check all that apply questions.  Open-ended questions are available with the premium version.  Videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and TeacherTube can be used.  Embedding the interactivity is as simple as pausing the video and clicking a Build Question button.  Teachers may want to add feedback text for each correct or incorrect answer choice.  eduCanon prevents students from forwarding past content not yet viewed. A real-time grading feature is provided to monitor student progress and data.  Watch and interact with this eduCanon video to learn more about this free resource. View their Knowledge Base for other questions.

Photography Apps

TouchRetouch HD

Available in the App Store (Currently $.99)

This app allows users to remove an unwanted section from a photograph right on a device.  It is truly like magic.  Of course, depending on the starting image, the results will differ.

BeFunky Photo Editor

Available in the App Store (Currently Free)

Be Funky is an easy-to-use, however powerful, photo editing tool.  There is currently no login required. Users can import photos from the camera roll or Facebook or take a photo using the camera app. Many effects can be applied to the photos, however it is simple to undo them if you change your mind.  Also included in the free version are many editing tools, such as rotate, crop, contrast, sharpen, etc. A nice variety of frames can enhance the final product.  Users can save their final photo to the camera roll and, in turn, access them in other apps.

Sphere - 360 Photography

Available in the App Store (Currently Free)

Create a panoramic photo or virtual tour with this amazing free app.  It is available for the iPhone and iPad.  The developers offer a few great tips here.  Once you get the hang of it, you can create interactive images.  In the example below, swipe the preferred direction on an iPad and navigate with the mouse on the computer.

Infographics

I attended a session on Infographics awhile back at the Fort Worth Technology Conference.  The presenter, Marcia Hensley, proved a very valid point - looking at a well-designed and easy-to-follow infographic may be easier for some (maybe most) students than reading large amounts of text.  After attempting my first infographic, I realized they MUST be well planned and made with a goal in mind.  Having students create an infographic to present data and content would involve most (if not all) of the 4 Cs - communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.

Ideas for Using Infographics

Kathy Schrock has published a great video on Infographics as a Creative Assessment.  She includes many other infographics resources on her Infographics as an Assessment site.  In addition, Professional Learning Board has listed ways to use infographics in the classroom.

Infographic Design
The anatomy of an infographic, explained here, consists of three parts - visual, content, and knowledge.  In addition, EdTech blogger, Richard Byrne, posted Seven Essentials on Good Infographic Design.

Tools to Create Infographics

1. PiktoChart - PiktoChart offers limited themes, graphics, and upload capabilities.  The free version and Educator Discount upgrade (currently $39.99/year) is explained here.
2. Easel.ly - Explained here - "ideal for educators, students, business owners, and executives who need to convey a thought, lesson plan, or concept in an easy-to-follow visual form"
3. Infogr.am - This online tool allows users to create interactive charts and infographics 
4. Creately - Creately allows users to create 5 public diagrams; Read more here
5. Visme - Free account provides 3 projects; Read more
6. Canva - Read my previous post here
7. PowerPoint - Find directions here

Places to Find Infographics
In addition to some of the online tools mentioned above, example infographics can be found on the following sites:
http://elearninginfographics.com/
http://dailyinfographic.com/
http://www.infographicszone.com/
http://www.discoverinfographics.com/
http://www.infographicsmaze.com/

Poetry Month

In celebration of Poetry Month, I would like to spotlight a few poetry apps:

Diamante Poems by Read Write Think walks students through the process of creating a diamond shaped poem called a Diamante.  Final poems can be shared by email or saved to the camera roll.  View more about the Diamante poem and ways to use the app.

Poetry Creator is a digital version of what the developers call Refrigerator Magnet Poetry.  The student uses a set of words called a mix-tionary to create a poem.  A limited number of custom words are allowed. The final product can be shared via Facebook, saved to the camera roll, or by email.  View more about the Poetry Creator app.

Theme Poem by Read Write Think allows students to create a theme or shape poem that is written inside a graphic shaped as the subject of the poem. Students can select shapes from five themes: nature, school, sports, celebrations, and shapes.  First, they brainstorm words and phrases before writing the poem.  The final image can be shared via email or saved to the camera roll.  View more about the theme poem and ways to use the Theme Poem app.

Haiku Poem also by Read Write Think again does a great job of stepping students through the writing process for the Haiku poem format.  During the initial step, students brainstorm words and track syllables.  The brainstorming step makes filling in the Haiku poem template a breeze.  Students finalize their poem with a beautiful background image from the app image collection or import their own.  The final product can be saved to the camera roll or emailed as a JPG.  View more about the haiku poem and ways to use the app.

Word Mover by Read Write Think is a great place for students to create poetry based on a given word bank.  Those included in the app:  America the Beautiful, Gettysburg Address, I Have a Dream, and Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.  From within the word banks, students can click for other bank combinations within the word bank category.  Read, Write, Think's concepts of found poetry and parallel poems can be found here.  View more about ways to use the Word Mover app.

Read Write Think's app, Acrostic Poems, guides students through the writing of an acrostic poem.  First, they brainstorm words using the title's letters.  Second, they compose the poem in a user-friendly template.  Last, they save the poem to the camera roll or email the final product.  View more about the acrostic poem and ways to use the app.

Visual Poet allows students to create a three panel visual poem.  Images and text can be pulled together to complete this visual product.  Users may import photos from their camera roll, Tumblr, Flickr, and Google.  The final image can be emailed or saved to Tumblr.

Poetry from the Poetry Foundation includes a large library of poems that users can read on their device.  Many titles also include the audio component that reads the poetry outloud.  Note: Teachers may want to preview the app as all poems included may not be appropriate for all age groups. View more about the Poetry app.

 Visual Poetry (currently $1.99) creates a word collage from the words in a poem.  Included are many creative possibilities - text color, background color, a variety of shapes, and a variety of fonts.  In addition, the app now allows users to draw their own shapes.  Final images can be saved to the camera roll, saved as wallpaper, emailed, posted to Instagram or Twitter.  View more about the Visual Poetry app.

Other Resources for Poetry Month:

http://www.edutopia.org/groups/literacy/715651

http://www.appitic.com/index.php/themes/themes/category/poetry-2

Journaling Apps

Things to Think About

Available in the App Store

Things to Think About is a FREE app including 100 prompts to inspire writing or thought.

For younger students, the prompts can be read by clicking the audio icon  The app was developed by teachers and students in Michigan.  Categories include Classroom, Fun, Rules, Family, Future, Safety, Feelings, Health, Scenarios, Friends, Responsibility, and School.   Read more about their story.

Write About This Free

Available in the App Store

Write About This was created by a 4th grade teacher.  The easy-to-use app offers a variety of visual images along with writing prompts.  A Write About publishing tool is also included in the app allowing students to type their journal entry and record audio.  The entry can be saved within the app or exported to the camera roll.  Only one Write About entry can be saved and only part of the images and prompts database is available from within the free version.  A full version of the app is available in the App Store (currently $3.99).  In addition, more than one custom prompt can be created and saved.  Read more here.

BrainPOP's Game Up

Let's face it - our students love games!  As educators, we can capitalize on this interest and leverage game-based technology for classroom gains.  BrainPOP offers a collection of games that are organized by subject.  Although the videos, lesson ideas, and other resources are based on a subscription, the games are free to use and cover a variety of topics. These resources would work especially well in a classroom utilizing a SMART Board.  Go to http://www.brainpop.com/games/ and explore.

View this 5 minute BrainPOP video for more:

Find more FREE resources from BrainPOP here.

Photo Editors

While working with a great resource, Thinglink, I realized teachers may need a supporting resource if they do not have a Photoshop license when wanting to combine several images together into one.  Two free photo editing tools, Canva and PicMonkey, work well in conjunction with Thinglink (view my previous post here). The two photo editing tools allow users to create a collage and save the final image for uploading into Thinglink.

PicMonkey

It is not necessary to sign up for PicMonkey, but users may want to create an account and upgrade to Royale status for $33/year for additional features and an ad-free work environment.  Find help articles for PicMonkey here.  Copied below is an example of a collage created with PicMonkey.  The images were inserted by browsing my computer and then patterned papers were imported from the PicMonkey color swatches.

Canva

Canva can be used for much more than just collages.  Social media, presentations, blog graphics, facebook covers, documents, and cards can all be created in Canva and helpful templates are supplied for the user needing a creative push.  Sign up for Canva here and find help articles here.  Below is an example of what I made with Canva when combining several app images I had on my computer.  The text graphics and background pattern were imported from the Conva library.  View their promo video here.

After adding links to the image in ThingLink:

Note the small circle tags that indicate links.