| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

iTouch

Page history last edited by barry.bishop@... 14 years, 8 months ago

This page is for the accumulation of all the ideas we can find on how to use the iPod Touch in a Library educational setting with multiple users.

 

One resoruces will be the "Thing" for the iTouch on the 11.5 More Things; Thing #6 iTouch Apps

 

Many of the ideas below will come from the postings of the players of 11.5 More Things.

 

"...Although...if we did have iphones or ipod touches, there could be some cool discussions that the kids could get in to, and we could get much more input than from just our class. Hmm.

 

"...

It was really fun getting to see the apps and site which people knew of. Discussing their potential pros and cons. It was also nice that a couple of us had iPod Touch to play with to show off particular sites and apps. One of the most difficult thing about showing off iPhone apps and sites is figuring out how to show them to others (en mass). While you can grab screen captures from and iPod/iPhone, I don’t know of a good way to do do full motion screencapture of a iPod/iPhone. I really wish that there was so that I could embed a video of an iPhone demo in presentations. The same can be said for other cell phones. While there are emulators, they aren’t always great. So often we are left with passing around devices which isn’t the most effective. Still, it was really valuable for me to be able to sit with a group of colleagues, look at websites and apps and talk about what we thought worked and what didn’t.  We also spent time talking about what bits of content that we thought would be most appropriate to mobile devices. by Library Web Chic

 

">>>I love my iPhone, and not for the games. Since I have gotten it I've been more in-touch with people, better organized, and actually keep up with the news and weather. I know that it is a powerful tool in the hands of someone who is willing to put forth a little effort into using it as a tool, but am I willing to fight that battle everyday with my students?

I have a hard time picturing 19 kids with touches at their desks at all times. What would they do with them? Obviously use the calculator, use the maps, do some research, but all of these things can be accomplished with tools already in the classroom. The productivity apps available are nice, and I would like my students to get their little selves organized. So there are many things that I can see my kids doing with them, but I guess my main concern comes with time constraints. by Wonder Weiss's Wisdom

 

"...Thanks for all the very thorough lists and links that share some creative apps that will certainly be useful to the student and teacher especially if they have their own iTouch. I found the Apple Learning Internchange webpage to be the most informative. I still see students using the iTouch in the library to work with Facebook, podcasts, digital books, wikis, nings and other internet related activities. For now I see it as a way to get students quick and spontaneous access to the internet when they don't need to print or get to the student server thus freeing up the desktop for other students who do. So 16 more students have internet access at any given time during the day. We were successful at downloading a variety of aps to our new iTouches. "We" means I handed them over to my favorite patient and all knowing student assistants and they had no issues doing this.
 
Duke University Libraries Image Collections for iPhones 
 
I've only had my Touch a few months and I'm still learning about all the things I can do with it.

I have some of the Google tools on mine. I could see the fast facts app. being great in a Social Studies classroom.

I also found this.

These language guides have podcasts like this one at the ITunes Store Imagine studying France and having a cool language lesson!

And they have about 20 different languages.

As for a group in the library, if you had a WIKI app. you could have a whole group of students researching a topic and editing the WIKI from their IPODs right there. You could have everyone listen to a podcast. (every morning I hear some little thing on NPR that I would love to share with my students) Then they could all post comments to a teacher blog, a Ning created for the unit or for the class... lots of possibilities.

I did notice that many of the coolest apps are for Math or Language arts. I wish there were more games with a Social Studies focus. The research tools are great, just would love some fun stuff too. I also have to note that the free books tend to be the classics and older books. All the really current stuff (and many of the nicest apps. cost $$$. I loved the note on one of the sites from a kids who said "I'd hate to have to type notes on this thing" I agree.

I think that this is just the first generation of these devices. They will figure out ways to make these customizable for business or for education or home use.

 
What do I do with my iPhone? E-mail, of course. Connect to the Web. Approve blog comments. Find a good place to eat. Scramble. Read books on the Kindle app (though I prefer the Kindle because of the size of the page and the length of the battery). Listen to music (occasionally). Make calls (especially when lightning knocked out our home phone...again). Take pictures (a few, because they cannot-apparently-be removed). Twitter to see what others are doing. Facebook.

Okay. I use my iPhone a lot.

How could students use it?

First, we would need the technology. Not sure iTouch is a great tool for five-year-olds. But, hey, who knows? Who would have thought we'd have two-year-olds using computers?!

 
 
I found some great educational apps that were in the "top free" games under the education category. It was easy to do and fun to search for. Each app gives a brief description and an age the game would be appropriate for. I found ten great ones which I will describe below:

1. Catch and Count: this is a simple and fun interactive game for young children to learn numbers. They move a truck along the bottom of the screen with their finger and catch falling Easter eggs. As the eggs are caught a voice counts out loud the number. My youngest daughter (4) played this one and liked it. She kept wanting to drag the truck up into the sky to catch the eggs, but soon got the feel for moving it along the bottom.

2. Memory Match: This is a memory game where the player has to match all pairs of animals. It is great entertainment and good at developing fine motor skills. My daughter really liked this one and had no problem catching on.

3. Math Drills Lite: This game helps the player learn basic math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It allows the player to explore solutions using number lines, wooden blocks, facts, and hints the full version even lets the teacher track student progress for accuracy and speed. The teacher can set the number of problems for reviews, practices, and tests.

4. States & Capitals Free: This app has flashcards for each of the 13 original states containing its capital and flag, voice pronunciation of each state and capital, and a link to Google maps for each state. Students can check their memorization skills by playing the timed game mode with 10, 20, 30, and 50 questions which are recorded in the scoring table to track progress. The full version has all 50 states, but you have to buy it.

5. iWriteWords Lite (Tracing Game) : This app teaches young children handwriting while playing a fun and entertaining game. The child has to help Mr. Crab collect the numbers in sequence by dragging him with their finger - and drawing the letter at the same time. Once all the letters in the word are drawn properly, a cute drawing appears. When the itouch is tilted the letters slide into the rotating hole and the child is advanced to the next level.

6. Animal Fun: This is an animal learning program for children. They learn about animals by seeing and hearing the sounds an animal makes. It combines an easy-to-use interface and fun sound effects to entertain children while they learn. It gives the nam, sound of the animal, and spells it too. They are like interactive flashcards. My daughter loves to hear the animal sounds on this one.

7. Numbers Memory Match: Great for improving memory and cognitive skills by matching numbers and colors. Each time the card is flipped, the number of the flipped card is spoken. Players have to match the same number and color in order to receive points.

8. VocabWiz SAT Lite: A tool used to improve vocabulary and boost test scores. Features 200+ frequently tested SAT vocabulary words. Need to purchase the full version software which contains over 4700 words. Example sentences given that demonstrate proper usage of each word. Correct pronunciation of each word, quiz mode, and easy self-assessment. Great for middle and high school students!

9. Pop Math Lite: A fun way to practice basic math. You have to pop bubbles of the same fact families. Only addition is offered in the lite version. Full version features addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, including the choice to practice a given operator for even better drills.

10. myHomework: Simple and easy app for students to use in order to keep track of their homework, classes, projects, and tests while. It resembles a notebook, the sections are separated by colorful "sticky pads" that mark the page. Students can quickly enter their class schedule and use it to differ between HW assignments. myHomework will also notify them when they have upcoming assignments by numbering them on their app icon. This seems to be a great app for middle school and up ages.

 
 
A lucky librarian just happens to have an itouch this summer & loving it! Got some apps in & found a good visual .. from Dave Taylor

Here are some ideas for using the itouch with multiple students ...

1st - I really am just chomping at the bit for the cable that will connect the itouch to a video projector. In that way .. students, teachers, & I can share some things as we learn on the itouch

2nd - If you can display it - then you can share it .. so Google earth on display through your projector onto your ActivBoard ? not sure how that will all dynamically fit together - but I am excited to try it.

3rd - I would like to see an app used by a group of students while they backchannel so I can get feed back immediately on which apps they like & why?

4th - as a former science teacher .. I see a lot of educational apps that can be used by multiple students - If I were still in the classroom - I would love for kids to use the itouch to gather data in the field .. like our school pond. So much easier than carrying around a bulky laptop. Ditto for math & calculator apps.

5th - my students are very capable of sharing the itouch to view video - like an teacher tube video - maybe a way to reinforce some of my first of the year library lessons? also want them to learn together to download an audio book & perhaps a pdf book on the itouch.

 
 
I am amazed when I see all the Apps being advertised on TV. I can't imagine how something you hold in the palm of your hand can keep you so connected to the world, and I do mean the world. I have friends with iphones and they are always willing to share with me the Apps they have, demonstrating what they have access to with the glide of a finger tip. Having this access has been helpful on many occassions. They've even let me "touch" to learn! I'm just not ready for something that advanced. I'm still learning how to use my camera phone and change my wallpaper.

I have an ipod and I have downloaded many things for use in my classroom. Keeping up with all the docking cables, docking stations, etc. has been challenging. If you forget your hook-up, forget using your hardware for the day. I love the easy access I have to music I have for my students. I no longer have to tote around bulky discs, or vinyls. (remember those? I still have them. YIKES!)  

 

Speaking of networking, do you have an iPhone yet? Now that that we can hold the web in our hands, here are a few of my favorite appa:

Pandora and Shazam

Flixster and The Weather Channel

Countdown

Kindle, New York Times, and IndieBound

Word Warp and Solitaire

Flight Status

*What apps do you love most?

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.