31 Top Apps for Education from FETC 2013
FETC 2013 App Shootout |
Like last year, this year's popular App Shootout at FETC 2013 tossed around dozens of useful apps for teachers and students. Once again the closeout session was led by ed tech pros Gail Lovely, Hall Davidson, and Jenna Linskens, who each presented apps in three different categories of their choosing, including their favorite "wow" apps. Read on for a selection of the most buzzed about apps for Apple devices. For even more app ideas, visit the shootout's Web site and complete app list Google Doc.
Jenna Linskens, assistant professor in education technology at Marian University, WI:
Science
1. Earthlapse
Showcases interactive views from the International Space Station.
Jetson Creative
Free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
2. Monster Physics
Build and operate a variety of vehicles while learning physics-related concepts.
Dan Russel-Pinson
99 cents for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
3. Bobo Explores Light
Explores fundamental scientific concepts like light and lasers through 3D holograms and engaging interactive activities and animations.
Game Collage
$4.99 for iPad.
Math
4. Too Noisy
Displays graphically, via a dashboard-like meter, the background noise level in a room.
Walsall Academy
Free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
5. Financial Football
A collaboration between the NFL and Visa, this game lets users test money management skills by answering financial questions. Correct answers will allow you to move down the field and score touchdowns.
Visa
Free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
6. AppTutor
Series of math apps for elementary school, on topics like place value and long division, that encourages students to "learn-try-test."
PadStar Publishing
Free-$4.99 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
7. Math Blaster Hyperblast
3D game with 30 levels covering addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Knowledge Adventure
$1.99 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
Wow
8. Proloquo2Go
Augmentative communication app for those with difficulty speaking. Provides more than 14,000 symbols that can be combined into clauses and sentences and converted to speech.
AssistiveWare
$189.99 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
9. Don't Let the Pigeons Run This App
Create pigeon-themed stories with shake-and-play technology, customized voice integration, and other interactive features.
Disney
$5.99 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
Gail Lovely, education technology author, consultant, and speaker:
Student work apps
10. Collins Big Cat Books
Popular reading series for young learners that include interactive features, like audio narration and story creation.
HarperCollins
Free for iPad.
11. Futaba Classroom Games
Create and play multiplayer games on subjects like mathematics and sight words that support up to four simultaneous players on one iPad.
INKids
$5.99 for iPad.
12. Explain Everything
The quintessential screencasting tool for mobile.
MorrisCooke
$2.99 for iPad.
Note taking apps
13. Chirp
Uses sound via built-in speakers to wirelessly transmit data like photos and notes from one mobile device to another.
ASGI
Free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
14. AudioNote
Sync voice recordings with text notes. During playback, just tap a word or drawing to jump directly to the point at which it was recorded.
Luminant Software
$4.99 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
15. Book Creator
Let's users create e-books with interactive features like audio and video and then save them in a variety of formats and share them.
Red Jumper Studio
$4.99 for iPad.
16. Sling Note
Use this split-screen app to pair a Web browser with a note-taking tool to drag and drop elements from one side to the other and jot down ideas.
Mobilebuster.com
$2.99 for iPad.
Wow app
17. Bump
Lets users exchange contact information--and now files and videos--by touching two devices together.
Bump Technologies
Free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
Hall Davidson, director of global learning initiatives at Discovery Education:
Tools, Browsers
On the handout for the App Shootout, Davidson explained the following apps thusly: "These apps insert themselves between the network and the iPad ... They allow specific functions to be used in ways that Safari or Chrome would not allow, e.g., drawing tools, playing Flash, or eliminating the computer as a 'middle man.'"
18. Pointer
Browse the Web in real time, and layer pointer and drawing tools over the browser. The app also lets users beam their screens to projectors.
Karmeye
Free for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad.
19. Epson iProjection
Share the screen from a number of mobile devices--like iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad--directly to a projector without a computer.
Epson
Free for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad.
20. iCab
Let's you download videos from the web onto the iPad directly. Once downloaded, the videos can be pulled into programs like iMovie or Coach's Eye.
Alexander Clauss
$1.99 for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad.
21. Rover
A Flash-capable browser for iPad featuring educational content.
iSwifter
Free for iPad.
Builders – Wow
22. 123D Catch
Create 3D models by stitching together common points from several similar photos.
Autodesk
Free for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad
23. Subtext
Annotate and add a variety of multimedia elements to books, Web pages, and more.
Subtext
Free for iPad.
24. TourWrist
Uses location-based technology to allow users to view different 360 degree panoramic photos depending on where they are, giving greater depth and context to locations like historic sites, schools, homes, and other points of interest.
Spark Labs
Free for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad.
25. 360 Panorama
Use a device's camera to take full panoramic photos.
Occipital
99 cents for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad.
Misc/augmented reality apps
26. InaWorld Drama
Create movie trailers using pre-recorded sound bytes that can be layered over photos and music.
Optimum Drama
$1.99 for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad.
27. Aurasma
Turn any photo or object into a QR-code like marker, which will trigger a Website, video, or other content when scanned with an iPad camera.
Aurasma
Free for iPad.
28. Common Core Standards
A Common Core reference app that can be filtered by subject, grade level, and category.
MasteryConnect
Free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
29. Nearpod
Create slideshow lessons or presentations using a special "teacher" app, then send them to users running the "student" version. Teachers can control the pacing and flow of the presentation.
Panarea
Free (with premium content) for iPad.
30. iFunFace
Make animated "talking head" videos using photos stored in a device's album.
DryGin Studios
99 cents for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
31. Word Lens
Scan signs in foreign languages for translation into English or other languages.
Quest Visual
Free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.