10 Top iPhone Apps for Teaching & Learning
Posted by Sandra Pinto Pires | Filed under E Learning, Mobile learning
And just because my iPhone is my favourite mobile device, I couldn’t resist organising a list of great Educational apps for iPhone, mentioned at the Learning Without Frontiers Conference 2011.
This handheld device has great potential and I think we, teachers, cannot just ignore it and be afraid of it – trust me, it’s so easy to use and extremely intuitive – anyone can learn how to interact with an iPhone – you don’t need to be a geek!
We, in the adult education world, normally think that our learners are not able to deal with technology as effortlessly as young children are. I just tried out a few iPhone/iPod apps last week with a small group of adult learners and they rapidly found out what they were supposed to do with the apps by a touch of a finger. I didn’t have to give them lots of instructions at all.
Here are the Apps that you should try with your students.
1.SentenceSpin
What does it do?
Challenges students to build sentences, helping them with their reading and writing skills. The App offers practice sentence construction, communication, comprehension, grammar and punctuation.
How can you use it?
- Point out basic parts of sentences
- After building a sentence, draw a picture that illustrates their understanding of the sentence
- Share sentences and drawings with teachers and colleagues
- Create an animation using the drawings
- Use it as a formative assessment tool
2.TimesBy
What does it do?
It’s an interactive touchable multiplication board that helps learners practice multiplying all numbers up to 9, and also learn about the multiplying patterns.
How can you use it?
- Practice multiplying in and out the classroom
- Set up tasks using “TimesBy” instead of a calculator
3.Motionmath
What does it do?
It’s a game that helps students with their ability to distinguish and estimate fractions in multiple forms.
The player has to follow a star that has fallen from space and must bounce back up and moving fractions to their correct place on the number line is the only way of helping the star.
How can you use it?
- Practice in and out the classroom
- Set out competitions
4.AudioBoo
What does it do?
It’s a free App that records and shares your audio recordings with the rest of the world.
You can create audio up to 5 minutes and post it to your AudioBoo account, your Facebook, Twitter and more. You can add titles, tags, geolocation and photos.
You can also listen to featured, popular, recent, nearby and favourite Boos in the App.
You don’t have to create an account, you can log in with your Twitter.
How can you use it?
- Practice speaking and listening skills
- Create mini podcasts
- Send messages to your students and vice-versa
- Provide spoken feedback
- Describe field trips
- Create study guides
- Create quick tips and post to your Twitter or Facebook group
- Ask students to create an audioboo to give opinions or add comments
5. eClicker and eClicker Host
What does it do?
It’s a low cost response system that allows teachers to create polls during the lesson. All you need is a Wi-Fi network and students with any internet-enabled devices to participate in the polls.
The system works for up to 64 clients.
Teachers use the App’s host to create, edit and add pictures to their questions, and begin the polling.
First of all, teachers need to create an account within eClicker Host app at http://editor.eclicker.com
Students with iPhones participate in polls using the iOS App or students with other internet-enabled device participate by entering the host’s address in a web browser.
How can you use it?
- Create polls and surveys
- Use the polls to test students
- Share questions with other teachers via Bluetooth
- Review older polling data
- Email reports
- Analyse polling results
- Display polls on the SmartBoard
6.Flickr Lunes Web App
What does it do?
This web app provides an interface for searching Flickr creative commons photos. It allows you to create images combining the Flickr images and text. You can’t find this App in the iTunes Store as it is not a Native App.
It allows you to create a Lune. A Lune is an American form of poetry. A way of writing a Lune is to count the words: Three words in the first line, five words in the second line and three words in the third line.
How can you use it?
. Ask your students to select a photo from the Flickr search. This photo will open with a 3 line form over it and students type in the poem. The image and text is sent to the server where it is stamped with the text. The students can then save the image to their photos and add voice using an editing video App.
Here’s a great example of a Lune created using Flickr Lunes.
http://pod.nleducation.org.uk/users/glencairnipod/weblog/461f1/Animal_Lunes.html
7.Instagram
What does it do?
Instagram is an amazingly fun & simple photo-sharing App.
The App allows you/your students to snap photos wherever you go to show everyone in the class what’s going on in your class, project or field trip.
After taking pictures you can select from filters that transform normal photos into works of art.
You can also add geolocation to your pictures, share on Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Posterous, Foursquare and Facebook, or send them by email.
How can you use it?
- Students staying home or at the college can follow their colleagues’ photo updates as they move through a field trip.
- Students can comment on the photos
- Create a photo documentary of a field trip or class project
- View, describe, comment and analyse the most popular photos from around the world taken by Instagram users
8.Posterous
What does it do?
Posterous let’s you post text, photos and video instantly on the web from your iPhone or iPod touch for free. Posts can be done via email or web editor.
It is extremely easy to post to Posterous. You can also set up your posts to be automatically sent to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa and more.
Your Posterous blog is automatically optimized for mobile viewing.
You can also create group sites on the go so all your students can contribute.
How can you use it?
- Share important content with your class
- Ask your students to give opinions and comment on the posts
- Ask your students to collaborate and create posts just by sending an email
9.Museum of London
What does it do?
This App gives you a unique perspective of old and new London whether you’re discovering the capital for the first time or revisiting.
Loads of images from the Museum of London’s extensive collections showcase both everyday and momentous occasions in London’s history, from the Great Fire of 1666 to the swinging sixties.
All you have to do is select a destination from London map or use your GPS to locate an image near you. Hold your camera up to the present day street scene and see the same London location appears on your screen, offering you a window through time.
Some streets or buildings may not exist today, so you have to look for clues in the images to find the current site.
You can tap the information button for more historical facts.
How can you use it?
- Ask your learners to create their own trails around London. They can do it on their way home.
- Show the Apps descriptions and ask your learners to guess the location/site.
- Create a touristic guide with your class
- Carry out a History project
- Create a timeline
10. Comic Touch
What does it do?
This App allows you to create comics with your photos. You can add balloons with thoughts, words and captions to photos in your iPhone.
For more fun, you can also add effects, turn people into caricatures or change their expressions.
The comics you create can be shared by email, or save them to your photo library to post on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc
How can you use it?
- Ask your students to create comics using their own pictures
- Practice writing/literacy skills
- Carry out story telling activities
- Once the comics are shared, ask the learners to comment, ask questions or write reviews
- Ask learners to illustrate historical moments and turn them into dialogues
And that’s it! Have fun!
