Thing 23 - Evaluate 23 Mobile Things

Once again, I've enjoyed going through this process and learning new "Things" along the way. 

I'm going to answer the first number of questions together. By participating in this activity, I finally took the time to learn more about my iPhone (and update it!). I purchased an iPad. And I'm working with a Chromebook from school. Having all of these devices together was extremely helpful during the process because I could look at what was similar and what was different. As I mentioned earlier, we are in a state of transition and piloting both iPads and Chromebooks. So it was interesting to compare and contrast.

I will be using a number of the apps and adding them to my website as well such as Elm4You (with an explanation of the mobile version) and the Hennepin County Library app. In addition, as I said in one of my posts, I will be working on highlighting these apps for my staff and students so that they can easily find them and try them out. A couple others I really liked were Dragon Dictation and learning more about options for Infographics.

Regarding connecting with others, I did look through some of the blogs, and I'm hoping you post some of the user recommended apps. I suppose one positive feature of 23 Things is that you can complete the activities anywhere at any time on your own. So I didn't feel directly connected. But connected enough. It would be nice to promote in my school. So perhaps opening it up to teachers again is something to consider. 

As far as improvements, I liked that this version was very focused. The first round of 23 Things had a great deal of fabulous resources to read and go through. I did finish, but not on time. While completing the activities this time around, I did find myself checking the various devices I had on hand. So perhaps including Chromebooks in some way.

I would definitely participate again.

Description: mobile + learning = engagement (and fun)

Thing 22 - Discovering apps

I'm always curious how people discover all of these new apps, tools, etc. I took a look at Quixey and Apps Gone Free. I didn't find either of these options as helpful as doing the searches listed at the end of this Thing - which has been my typical method. I'm usually looking for something in particular or new in education. So entering specific search terms seems to be the most efficient way of finding apps and tools. 

There are also certain people/sources I like to follow like Garrison Sites, Leslie Fisher, Richard Byrne (freetech4teachers) and Joyce Valenza to name a few. 

Completing 23 Mobile Things has been helpful as well. As I mentioned, I will be updating my information resources and including many of the apps that have been shared in this site.

Thing 21 - Free-for-all

I've mentioned a few apps throughout this blog:

• Evernote for note taking. It's been around for a while - which is a good thing. And I still see it on every list of recommended apps.
• WeVideo / iMovie or some sort of video editing program. Every time I introduce students to video editing, they're so engaged. 
• Google Drive for those of us using Google Apps for Education. Our students have quickly adopted these tools. 

For personal use:

• WhatsApp - A friend introduced me to this app. It lets users text across platforms. I used this tool while traveling out of the country to correspond with my hosts. It worked great. It was recently purchased by Facebook. So I'm not sure how much it will change.
• Since I live in Minneapolis, I added their Snow Emergency app which came in very handy this last winter. It was so much easier having this information right on my phone.

I'm looking forward to seeing what else is listed for this Thing!

Thing 20 - Games

I have to admit that I'm not a huge game person. I actually like to get outside either on a walk or in my garden to get a change from being in front of a screen or online. But a coworker introduced me to a game long ago, and it's my one online vice that I play every once in a while. I think it's because it has shiny, sparkly jewels... as in Bejeweled! And it's now on my iPad. 

I do think games or programs (apps) with game-like interfaces can be beneficial in education. When I taught K-5 media we used Type to Learn and the students really liked these sessions. They also enjoyed many other educational gaming sites. I will definitely explore more gaming apps for education. But it was fun to find Bejeweled and play a round.

Thing 18 - Education

Being a former science person, I had to check out Bill Nye the Science Guy app. It had an interesting mix of games, activities, videos, etc. It's been a while since I've taught science. But the videos certainly could be used to quickly show students the results of a chemical reaction. For example I watched one where steel wool reacted with oxygen. With the close up filming, I'm sure students would be interested. One of the games demonstrated the affects of gravity. 

I did try out another app called Show of Hands. It's interesting in that students can participate in nation-wide polls or create their own. One downside was that there was advertising for a casino at the bottom of the screen. So this app should be used with older students. The advertising provides a teachable moment with regard to how free apps actually make it to a person's mobile device. 

There were many more apps listed that I will have to pass on to my staff.

Thing 19 - Hobbies

Just checked my iPad and Chromebook and found both Pandora and Spotify. I know that Spotify has become very popular recently, but I've been a fan of Pandora for quite a while. I like that I can just enter a song or artist and have Pandora play a selection of music rather than having to create a play list. I like the variety of this feature. This is one area where Pandora is rated over Spotify - music discovery. I will have to give Spotify another chance when I have more time. 

So I moved on to Vivino Wine Scanner. There have been a few bottles of wine that I wish that I would have recorded during my travels that I still think about... So the Vivino app seems like a no brainer. I just tried it on a bottle of wine we had here. How cool that it gave me all sorts of information just from a photo of the label. We will definitely be traveling to some wine areas this summer, so this app will get used. The wonders of technology!

Thing 17 - Connecting to community

Since we do a lot of hiking up north, the first app I loaded was for the Superior Hiking Trail. This app definitely brought the trail maps right to my iPad. This access is so handy for planning trips to this beautiful area.

Next, after checking out the app, I forwarded the information for the MN Beer Activists site to a number of people who I thought would be interested. I may have to jump ahead to Think 19 for the wine info. Very fun.

I was hoping that the Minneapolis Skyway app would help me to not become so incredibly lost downtown, but I couldn't find it. 

However, while looking for the skyway app, I also noticed an app for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. This made me think that for school it would be helpful to check out if there are apps for some of the sites our students visit in order to prep them for the trip. Giving them this kind of background information is a great way for them to start thinking about questions and connections. 

Great to know that Minnesota is creating all these apps!

Thing 16 - Audio

For this Thing I tried ipadio. It was very easy to use. It's a great app for recording classroom notes, interviews, etc. I liked that additional information could be added like photos, titles and descriptions. 

In the directions I read that the audio could be edited. I've used Audacity in the past, so I wanted to try this feature out. Perhaps I need to get a paid version, but I didn't see the options that were shown in the directions for editing the audio. However, the recording times are very generous and the additional features still make this a very useful app for the classroom.

I should add that I was familiar with SoundCloud already. My neighbors, who have started a new band, had uploaded some of their new music to this site. So it's a great place to find new music as well as for students to share their own creations.

Thing 15 - Infographics

I was curious to try out these apps since infographics have gotten so popular. I looked at info.Graphics first. I have to admit that I was expecting a lot more content. However, this app could be used as a source for projects, or as an example of what an infographic looks like. 

I also tried out i Visual Info Touch Lite. It was easy to use, and had a nice selection of graphics. So this tool could be an option for actually creating an infographic. This type of application could be used for just about any subject area. Creating the infographic typically requires generating data, synthesizing it then presenting in an interesting format. So I would definitely like to get teachers using this tool next year. 

Since we are still using computer labs as well as piloting devices I did a quick search and found a number of tools that can also be used on the web (including the ones listed in this Thing). I had heard of a number of these as well. So I will definitely be promoting these apps and sites.

Thing 14 - Videos

I work with students quite a bit with video editing. So I was curious to see what would be listed for this Thing. I tried Magisto. It reminded me of Animoto since it seemed that everything was preformated. I made a cute cat video (yes, I have cat video footage readily available). I noticed that some of the photos needed to be adjusted - weren't positioned correctly with the theme video. I've gotten the question before with Animoto of how can it be used at school. So far I've come up with using to for unit introductions, compiling photos and videos of projects, etc. I was glad to see that students can use photos and videos stored on Google Drive. 

One tool I didn't see listed was WeVideo. I like this online tool because it has more features similar to true video editing software. I think video editing is one of those skills that help students to build confidence with technology. So I appreciate that WeVideo has users go more in-depth than just uploading media and selecting themes. It also allows users to select media from Google Drive.

On an interesting note, I've seen Vine videos listed on You Tube. I didn't realize they could be the source of all the short videos included in online articles. I always want to see more of the content. But it was nice to realize the source.

Thing 13 - Presentations

Our district is piloting both Chromebooks and iPads, so I tried Lensoo Create and Haiku Deck. I liked that Lensoo Create was so versatile with how items could be added. I think this tool would work well for flipping a classroom or just providing extra, interactive information to students to extend their learning. 

I then went to search for Lensoo Create on my Chromebook. I know that Android doesn't necessarily mean there is a version for Chromebooks, but I thought I would check. Haiku Deck was the result. Since we are in a definite state of transition, it was nice to see that Haiku Deck was available on the web and could be exported to PowerPoint. 

Our students have mainly been working with PowerPoint, Prezi and Google Apps Presentation. I think that Lensoo Create offered more functionality making it more worthwhile to check out. But since it was only available on the iPad, its use would be limited for us right now. 

These many offerings on various platforms bring up an interesting point. I think that it's good for students to explore different applications because it helps them to gain confidence when they try new ones in the future. But mastering new applications should not become the focus unless they have something unique to offer a student's educational experience. 

Thing 12 - Books, Books, & More Books

I know that my students will be interested in these apps. I downloaded Free Books and Audio Books, but I will also promote Wattpad. The two apps I tried were again, easy to use. I specifically appreciated that the Audio Books app had genre categories that included a teen option. I've already had students ask about getting digital versions of some of the classic books that they need to read for school. So I've been telling them about digital books we already have, Project Gutenberg and Librivox. These two apps will be a nice addition for them. 

I also downloaded Yalsa's app. When I'm shopping at book stores, I'm constantly looking for information about titles before purchasing them. Having this app, along with the Hennepin County app and better access to my Destiny catalog will definitely help with this process!

Thing 11 - Library & Reference

This Thing was very helpful! I'm aware of these many apps, but once again, I hadn't taken the time to review them and add them to my website for users. So much to do, but so little time! 

I loved the Hennepin County Library app. It was so streamlined and simple to navigate. I think the Hennepin County Library system rocks, so it was nice to be able to access the site so easily. Students will appreciate this too - I often check Hennepin County and let students know how easy it is to request a book if we don't have what they are looking for.

I also knew that Follett had apps, so I finally loaded Destiny Quest. Again, I will have to promote this to our students. I see an app page in my website's future.

Finally, I tried out Elm4You.org on my phone. I have the ELM databases set up on my website. I know that students have been having issues accessing the EBSCO options from mobile devices off site through the school. I assumed this was because of authentication. But I just tried via the ELM4You site and had no issues. I will contact the people at ELM (also rocks), but this could be the answer to an issue that I haven't been able to address to date. The more I have been promoting the ELM databases, the more our students use them. So this option will definitely help.

Thing 10 - Sharing Photos

I definitely know about these two tools since they are in the news a lot for both good and not so good features. Instagram is easy to use and very popular, and I should probably embrace this fact. But I feel that I need to do more with Facebook and Twitter for promoting my library before adding another social media outlet. Since I know about Throwback Thursdays, I can't be too far behind on this one!

Thing 9 - Taking & Editing Photos

I do some work with photos, so I was interested in trying out some of these tools. I used Line Camera and Color Splurge. Line Camera was easy to use, and I quickly modified an existing vacation photo. I can see how this will be handy for easily adding some extra interest to photos for promoting the library, clubs, etc. Photo below:

 

I also tried Color Splurge because it looked cool. I can see how this app could be fun to use. But I didn't like the little icons on the bottom advertising games, and I'm not sure what else, that I wasn't interested in getting. Unfortunately their placement made it a bit difficult to work with the app without hitting them. But, I suppose the app developers have to make money too.

Definitely fun and useful tools.

Thing 8 - Social Media Management Tools

I'm actually going to come back to this post at a later date. I currently have an after school club that consists of a group of students who love to create and edit their own films. They have a You Tube Channel and Facebook page. My dilemma is giving students access to post videos and information to these accounts, as well as me being able to post and tweet to staff for example, without having to sign in using multiple profiles. One feature I've appreciated in You Tube is to be able to have one account, but create multiple profiles. Perhaps one of these apps will help as well. So stay tuned...


Update: Well, I still haven't decided what I'm going to do about consolidating accounts and devices. This dilemma will be one of my goals to work on over the summer. I'm sure others are facing this problem: Personal and professional accounts as well as personal and school issued devices. Both my principal and our new superintendent are Twitter advocates. So I will get this task completed one way or another. 

TweetCaster looks like it may work. But I appreciate having this list available for future reference. One question that comes to mind is that Twitter and Facebook accounts can already be linked, which I have done. So I'm not quite sure of the advantages of using something like TweetCaster. Hopefully I will have an answer to this question once I have more time to investigate.

Thing 7 - Content Saving & Sharing

I had signed up for Pinterest a while ago so that I could find another way of posting new books and other book news for our library. At the time, I found it a bit difficult to get started with pinning the book covers. On a funny note, users had to select three or five categories to get started. I randomly chose some including "Cats". So in that account I ended up with all sorts of cat photos. I didn't spend a lot of time looking, but it was also more difficult to edit these randomly chosen categories. Meow!

This time around, the interface seems more user friendly. On a side note, the addition of bookmarklets and extensions is a big improvement in the web version (maybe I missed those the first time around, although I still had to search for them). 

So I will have to give my book board idea another go. Obviously others are doing this. Surprisingly, I feel like the mobile version is more user friendly than the standard web version. 

Thing 6 - Creating & Editing Docs

I had read about QuickOffice previously, so I tried this App out. It worked seamlessly with my Google Drive items. What I really liked is how it made MS Office documents editable, but storable on Google Drive. We don't have a 1:1 program, but more of the teachers in my building are using iPads for various tasks. This App worked great for a Work Experience teacher who needs to do evaluations of students at their work site. The teacher's documents are in the MS Office format. But now she can get to the documents, edit them, then convert them to Google Apps as needed. It ends up being a simple way to move her work to Google Apps at her own pace. Perfect!

Thing 5 - Notetaking

When I went to read about this Thing, I was surprised not to see Evernote there. I have to admit that I've only just started using it, but I've seen it on many top App lists. It's definitely more of a true note taking program. But it has nice features such as being able to scan documents, take photos, record, add tags, organize notes, etc. 

The first few Apps listed in this Thing have more organizational features than Evernote. However, in order to consolidate places to find this type of information, my first thought is to use Google Calendar since we are already using Google Apps. However, for those needing a different interface, these may be a good fit, so I would still introduce these tools to users. 

I wanted to specifically try Bamboo Paper because of the sketching/drawing features. But it's not available for the iPhone. One more reason to get that iPad!

Dragon Dictation worked very well. Again, for students with special needs, this could be an excellent tool. I just had my husband use it (a special ed teacher), and he definitely wanted to try it with his students.

Thing 4 - Keeping Up

I know that this Thing mentions Google Reader as a preferred aggregator. Personally I loved iGoogle. I liked the newspaper like format, and that I could quickly scan for new posts (the ones I hadn't read were in bold) and see a bit of what an entry was about. It was a very efficient way of keeping up to date professionally.

I tried Flipboard since I haven't had as much success with sites that choose your news like Zite. There are certain individuals that I find helpful to follow. Again, I liked being able to add and organize iGoogle in this way. 

I will keep an open mind, but Flipboard still didn't fill the void that has been left by iGoogle going away. It seemed like more clicking just to get to the content of the few sites that I set up. I had heard about Flipboard, so it was good to try it out. But I will still continue my search for my iGoogle replacement... :(

Thing 3 - Utilities

After scanning the list of utilities, I had to try the Google Search because it said it included the Google Goggles. I've read about this feature and always thought it was cool. But hadn't taken the time to try it out. 

It took a bit to figure out because you have to tap the search bar when it's blank in order for the camera to show up. This option used to be available from the first screen according to many of the help sites. I tried it on a few museum prints that I have. It got some correct but not others. Still, worth looking into and figuring out how this can be used with students.

I like the idea of the wifi finder as well. This option is always helpful when on the go.

For other browsers, I loaded Puffin. I had heard that this was a good browser option for sites using Flash. I tried it out, and the site containing flash played fine. 

I think I will be saying this a lot, but it was nice to take the time to learn about useful tools that I often come across. 

Thing 2 - Tips

I go back and forth between using Windows and Apple devices. But I do most of my work on PCs. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that I knew many of the tips and tricks for my iPhone. I should add that one of the reasons that I got an iPhone was that it was a practical way for me to prepare for students and staff asking me questions about their own devices. It has proven to be helpful.

I did learn more about the accessibility options. I work with many special education students, so it was nice to see all of the modifications that were available for users with special needs.

I also liked the Mapped Pictures option since this can be used both for education and just plain fun.

Finally, I took the time to read more about the Find My Phone feature. This option is both practical and gives users a way of keeping their personal information safe.

I should add that some of the features that I use constantly are texting of course (so simple yet so effective), Maps (being directionally impaired, this ones a life saver), the Camera plus editing (no need for a separate one any more), Weather, the Calculator (no need for another device as well), listening to audio books, etc. not to mention all the other available Apps.

Thing 1

I participated in the first round of 23 Things, and I found it to be a wonderful learning experience. I was able to share much of what I learned with colleagues. I also confirmed that I really like learning at my own pace. So I'm looking forward to participating in this session of 23 Mobile Things.

http://23mobilethingsmn.org/the-23-things/