Written by Grace 10 September 2010
Here are 5 FREE iPhone apps you won’t want to live without in your classroom. These apps will help you with classroom management and serve as learning tools for your students. Of course, the iPhone is not the only mobile device with apps – so check to see if your device has compatible apps! The following 5 FREE apps can help bring a little 21st century excitement to your classroom.
1. WordPress for iPhone
WordPress is a great app that can benefit teachers in several ways. Perhaps one of the most widely used apps for mobile blogging, teachers can use WordPress to send out periodic updates to students via the blog, post assignments to be done, suggest reading material, and overall, just stay connected to your blog audience while on the move! Do you have students that have iPhones? You could also encourage your students to submit comments via their phone. Don’t forget, you can always put students in groups to work together since not everyone will have an iPhone.
2. iFlashCards
iFlashCards is an app that sounds exactly like it is –flashcards that can be carried around in a convenient digital format! The great thing about this app is that everything can be shared online. Using the very customizable options, teachers can dictate what material should be focused on, allowing students to create and edit the cards, as well as set 5 different study modes: preview, skim, medium, thorough, and test. This could be a great homework assignment or bonus opportunity to give to students. It could also be a fun way for students to spend part of the class –let them study their new cards! It also gives students a means to create their own digital content.
3. Fluent News Reader
Help your students stay aware of what’s going on in the world -using the Fluent News Reader app! This app aggregates the top stories from different major news services such as CNN, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, FOX News, etc. Once downloaded, these stories are available for offline viewing. This could be a great way to start off your class each day, allowing you to get the day’s biggest headlines in a glance. Of course, be careful! As with any news content, you can’t always be sure that all headlines and stories are appropriate for the little ones. With younger students, you can filter and select the headlines yourself – with older students, let them browse through selecting their favorites and reporting back to the class. Current events don’t get much more current than this!
4. Dropbox 1.2.5.
Dropbox is a really cool app that lets teachers access their personal files. This app gives you 2GB of file storage that can be accessed from any computer, at any time. On iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, the app allows you to view documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and some videos and photos that you’ve put into your personal file space. Have something on your home computer that you want to share with your students? Save it in the Dropbox and you’re good to go!
5. Dragon Dictation 2.0.0
Tired of typing out a lengthy assignment or email? Ever wanted to dictate a long series of notes and then e-mail or text them? Dragon Dictation can do that for you! Just load up the app, tap the red button, and dictate for one minute at a time. The latest version even has multilingual support and allows you to paste text directly. This is a great administrative tool for teachers, but also a great learning app to use with students. In a language class? This app can make a “traditional” speech drill much more fun! Or, ask your students to recite their original creative poem into the phone. The possibilities are endless.
I hope these apps are helpful for you to use in your classrooms. If you know any other ones, please leave me a comment so we can continue to share ideas with others!
Below is list of useful iphone app for the classroom:
ReplyDelete1. TeacherPal
2. TeacherTool
3. Essay Grader
4. Stick Pick