10 More Free iPad2 Apps for Teachers

Last month I shared 10 free iPad2 Apps for Teachers and it has become one of the most frequented posts on my blog (Over 1,000 hits in the past month). Since then I have continued to practice tightwad downloading of apps and I’m now ready to share 10 more of these awesome and completely free tools for teachers.

Timer+
This simple timer is extremely easy to use and looks great on the large iPad screen (despite the banner ad at the bottom). Some might say that a timer app is a waste of such a robust device, but it’s a lot quicker than digging through your desk drawer looking for the old egg timer.

QR Reader (Scan)
I mentioned in my last post all of the possibilities QR codes bring to the classroom, and this is just the app for that! It’s free and quickly scans and recognizes QR codes.

Popplet Lite
Popplet is an easy-to-use mind mapping tool similar to proprietary software like Inspiration/Kidspiration/etc. It integrates with the iPad’s dual cameras and photos app so images can be quickly added to the popplet diagram.

GridPaper
I admit that this app is in need of some updates, but it’s still worth the download. GridPaper recognizes complex math problems, exponents, and even multi-step equations (kind of). It’s like a more organic version of a graphing calculator. The app still struggles with some finger gestures, but I suspect this will be one to keep an eye on in the future.

Atoms HD Lite
This is an excellent review tool for chemistry students looking to practice labeling neutrons, electrons, and protons of an atom.

MindMash
MindMash is similar to Popplet but it focuses more on functionality rather than aesthetic appearance. Users can combine text, writing, and images to create mind maps, brainstorm, or take notes.

RSGS URL
Url shorteners like bit.ly and tinyurl have become so popular that the shortened address is actually becoming quite long (at least by the 140 character Twitter standard). Rs.gs is not a pretty name, but it’s handy on the iPad and pumps out urls that are no more than 8 characters long!

ShowOfHands
ShowOfHands is a polling app. There are a continuous stream of general opinion questions and after voting, the app displays a ton of different percentages based on demographics (age, gender, and political party, etc.). It even shows poll winners by state. Aside from this app being strangely addictive, it could be used in a history/economics/political science class to get a snapshot of varying opinions across the country. Because of the math, this could also be used to generate some interesting data for percentage or graphing lessons.

Verbally
The iPad is a natural fit when it comes to assistive technology. Take for example, the $190 alternative communication tool called Proloquo2Go. It essential takes the place of an augmentative speaking device that can cost into the thousands. Unfortunately, it's still $190 more than I'd like to spend for an app. Luckily, Verbally is there to fill the void.

Pocket Pond
Every teacher needs time for quiet reflection. Pocket Pond is surprisingly cathartic. Lazily drag your fingers across the screen and watch the water ripple and fish disperse. It’s like having a koi pond in your pocket (without the obvious problems that would ultimately arise with carrying fish in your pants).

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10 Free iPad2 Apps for Teachers

My wife is the best.

For our fifth wedding anniversary, she surprised me with a new iPad2. The first thing I did was search the app store for as many free apps as I could find. With the dual cameras and 3G capabilities, the educational possibilities have greatly expanded since the premiere of the original iPad.

Here is my list of top apps for the classroom.


AppStart

AppStart is basically a static list of promoted apps for the iPad2. It was the first app I stumbled across while looking for new and exciting things to download, so I figured it warranted heading off this list. The layout is beautiful and it contains some good information. My suggestion – download it, glean as much as you can, and then remove it.


Dragon Dictation

This simple app features a single red record button in the middle and allows anyone to record their voice using the built-in microphone. This has a natural fit in the classroom as assistive technology but can also be used so students can practice their oral fluency expression and speaking skills. Dragon dictation is surprisingly accurate and this makes it a useful tool in the classroom.

Photo Mess

This collage app makes it easy to resize, re-orientate, and manipulate images taken from either of the iPad’s two cameras. This is a great way to make expressive collages on the fly – both as a student project or as an assessment tool.


Photoshop Express

This is the free equivalent to the online Photoshop Express and is especially useful in conjuction with other apps (such as Photo Mess). While it is lacking some of the more spectacular features of the full Photoshop software, it is still an excellent tool for cropping and other basic editing on the iPad.


Junaio

This app uses geo-location to tag a specific location with either text, picture, or 3-D model. At first glance this may appear to be too intricate to be used in the classroom (especially one in a middle school such as mine). But this is not the case. I wouldn't expect students to use this app, but not because it is too difficult. Instead, teachers could use this app for outdoor activities and field trips. I teacher could go to the location ahead of time and place markers. Then, on the date of the trip, students could take the iPad2 to add use it to view the markers and get additional virtual information about the physical location that they are seeing. With Junaio, every outing becomes a potential virtual field trip.

Splice

Capturing video is not very useful without a way to edit and polish it. Despite the iPad2’s dual cameras it does not come loaded with any video editing software. Slice is just that. It doesn't have a lot of special features, but it does the basic editing that most people typically need. This is useful in the classroom to create quick student videos, video assessments, or even on the go vodcasts.

Wikipanion

It's surprising how many companies have not yet created official iPad apps (Facebook, for example). Wikipedia is also one of these offenders. Luckily, Wikipanion is an excellent substitute. In fact, it has features that the native iPhone Wikipedia app should probably consider adding in future versions.

Tour Wrist

Here is another app that makes for an excellent digital field trip. This one, however, uses free recorded 3D Panoramic images and the iPad2’s built in accelerometer to turn the iPad into a pair of binoculars (for lack of a better analogy). There are tours for buildings, museums, airship hangers, etc. An additional app is in the works to allow 3rd parties to add to the available tours on Tour Wrist as well. This is something to check back on!

Confer Lite

This app allows a teacher to add a classroom list of students and then track and monitor individual progress by lesson/activity. It is not a gradebook; instead it allows the teacher to qualify (rather than quantify) students’ learning behaviors. It’s an amazing app, but I don’t think it would work in a regular classroom. This app is probably best geared toward small group instruction situations.

Photosynth

Photosynth is actually an iPhone app, but it still works great on the iPad2. This handy apps creates panoramic images almost instantly. Last fall, I wrote this tutorial on how to do something similar using a digital camera. Using this method, it takes about 30 minutes to create a panoramic image. Using Photosynth, it takes about 30 seconds.

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How to Register Multiple Users to One Email Address

Here’s a familiar problem that teachers often run into when trying to use web 2.0 sites or services with students. Creating a user name and account may be fast and free, but most times also requires a unique email address. If you teach at a school where students are not given their own address, this suddenly gets much more complicated. Students can use their own personal email to register, but then you as the teacher do not have access to passwords in the event that someone forgets. Also, if your district filters email sites such as gmail, yahoo, or AOL, then students may not be able to retrieve lost information or even activate the account at all.

This one small hang up has prevented me from using sites such as Blogger, Weebly, Xtranormal, Aviary, and SlideRocket (to name just a few) with my students. Until now, that is.

This method takes advantage of a little-known but extremely useful Gmail hack. Gmail has a recipient sorting feature where a “+” can be added to an address to identify the intended target.

For example: Let’s say my wife and I use the fictional email address MikulskiFamily@gmail.com. If you wanted to send a message and wanted to make sure it was clear that it was intended for me and not my wife, you could actually send it to MikulskiFamily+JOHN@gmail.com. This would still go to the same inbox, but I would see that it is specifically for me.

In three easy steps, you can create unlimited user accounts to any site with just one email address.

Step 1: Create a Gmail account
Gmail is blocked at many schools, so this will have to be done from home. Create an account specifically for your classes. If you are already a Gmail user, don’t use your personal email address.

Step 2: Forward mail
Under the settings menu, change the forwarding option to redirect all mail to your primary work address. This is very important for two reasons. First, you want to have access to activation/password emails in the classroom, but also so that all email is stored on the school email servers. You don’t want to find yourself in a tricky spot where an administrator is accusing you of handing out a personal email address to students.

Step 3: Assign “unique” addresses
When students sign up for whatever service you choose to use, assign them a number. Have them add this number to the email address (Teacher+1@gmail.com, Teacher+2@gmail.com, etc.). The website/service will identify it as a unique email address, but all mail will be redirected to your work email!

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Top 10 Teacher Apps for the iPod Touch

Searching for iPod Touch apps for teachers in Google results in close to a million hits, so what’s the harm in adding one more? Here is my list (some scholarly, some not so much) of apps that I couldn't do without.

1. Dropbox – This handy app compliments the dropbox.com file storage website. The service is an excellent alternative to uploading and sending files to your own email. The Dropbox app also allows for offline use, which is where it comes in most handy. It also has a built-in media player. If I’m in a hurry and need a media file but don’t want to wait interminably for iTunes to load, and then have to go through the laborious task of finding my iPod usb connector, this is an effortless alternative.

2. NoteBrainer – This is a must have app for any music student struggling to learn how to read both treble and bass clef. The app displays or (optionally) sounds the note, and then asks you to correctly identify it. It’s simple, but addictive (and much more interesting than rote memorization!). I've been learning how to play piano since August, and this app is great practice.

3. Pandora – Pandora is an Internet radio station that plays songs based on your previous song preferences. This is a must have for any English Language Arts teacher who is teaching a book/unit that takes place in a specific era. For example, if I was teaching S.E. Hinton’s That was then, This is now and I wanted to give my students a taste of music from the time period, all I would have to do is create a Pandora station based on the search term “60s rock.”
4. Stanza – This free e-book reader is not only intuitive, but effortless to use. The app contains a searchable database using e-book sites like Project Gutenberg, and downloads automatically so that they can be read offline. The latest version also features capabilities to highlight and annotate.

5. Instapaper – This app takes any website and converts it to “digital paper” that can be stored on the iPod and then read offline. This is particularly useful to me because many of the news sites that I enjoy reading are blocked by my school’s filter. With a little bit of foresight, I can convert the page at home, and then read at my own leisure during my lunch break!


6. Free RSS – This app is exactly what it sounds like. Again, similar to instapaper, I appreciate that this app stores posts from a blog’s RSS feed so I can read them when I am not connected to a wifi signal.

7. Office² Plus – I wrote about using Zoho on the iPod Touch as a portable word processor, but this is only possible when within range of an Internet signal. Office² Plus is a suitable alternative. Files are saved in .doc format and can be emailed to a desktop computer for further editing and printing.

8. Paper Toss – Fine, maybe this isn’t very educational, but if I am making a list of my favorite apps, this has to be on it. Paper toss is a game that challenges you to do exactly that – toss balls of paper into a trashcan. It sounds lame, but it is dangerously addictive!


9. Wink – If you have an iPhone with a built-in camera, then this app is especially useful. Wink allows you to take pictures stored on your iPhone, or from Flickr, Facebook, or Shutterfly and organize them into a photo strip. Then, for $2.50, that strip can be printed and sent via snail mail. This could be a great way to creatively document field trips or in-class activities.


10. Wikipedia – Maybe it’s a bit of a cop-out to put this on an app list, but there’s no denying how important Wikipedia has become. In fact, a recent study has shown that more than 80% of college students turn to the source when beginning research. Of all the apps on this list, this one offers the greatest potential simply because of the extraordinary amount of information that it contains.

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Using the iPod Touch to Word Process

A glimpse of Zoho on the iPod Touch

Maybe it was too much birthday cake, but last night I had a bit of a stomach ache. I called it an early night and climbed into bed to play with my new iPod Touch.

Years ago I had experimented with students writing on a Pocket PC using Pocket Word. I was hoping to find an app for my ipod that was along the lines of a pocket version of OpenOffice but as far as I can tell, that doesn't exist. Instead I turned to Zoho.com - the leading rival to Google Docs. As far as I'm concerned, the two are equal. The only reason I favor Zoho is because up until recently Google Docs was blocked for us at school.

Toying around with my iPod last night eventually turned into a blog post about the dangers of poor administrative decisions. It was a decent post, but I was more proud of the fact it was written in such an unconventional manner.

I'm proud that this post is being written the same way. Here's my quick how-to for turning the iPod Touch into a portable word processor.

Go to mobile.zoho.com. Saving a shortcut to the home screen creates a very app-like icon. Unfortunately, Google gears hasn't quite found it's way to the iPod yet, so cloud sites only work with a wireless connection. Otherwise, it functions very much as a suitable word processing app.

Notice the Zoho icon at the lower left of my home screen.

Pros

• The iPod Touch keypad allows for surprisingly speedy typing (especially when turned horizontally).

• Because Zoho is a cloud app, work started on the iPod can later be completed or edited on a laptop or desktop computer.

Cons

• Mobile Zoho is missing many of the bells and whistles that the full-scale app boasts. The one most sorely missed is probably spell check. As a Firefox user, I've grown used to a built in spell check when I type anything.

• Mobile Zoho does not support direct export to other sites. This means after I'm finished typing this post, I'll have to copy and paste it into the Blogger editor before publishing.

• Creating a new document is not a problem. Neither is adding text or saving it. There's one major glitch with using Zoho on the iPod Touch. For some reason, after the document is saved and closed, it is no longer able to be edited again on the iPod. It can still be opened and viewed, but clicking on the text field does not bring up the key lard and cursor. I sent a support request to the nice folks at Zoho - if I hear back, I'll update this post.

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