Tech EDGE: Mobile Learning in the Classroom Podcast
Tech EDGE is a very wonderful resource for those teachers who want to incorporate technology into the classroom. Honestly at this point, it’s very hard not to incorporate technology into the classroom! I found so many apps to use on this channel that I found it hard to include just three on my page. I highly encourage teachers and future teachers to check this out; they have so many videos with different subjects to help you integrate apps into your classroom.
Khan Academy
As the episode said, this app is fantastic for students who want to keep their brain going during summer break whether they’re in kindergarten or high school seniors. You are able to connect it to your google account to use the app. The player selects a character, which would be PERFECT and totally fun for elementary school students, to represent them in their learning. Then, you can select a subject that you want to study. These are a wide range of subjects such as a variety of math, science, engineering, computing, arts, humanities, and more. It even has a test preparation part for the SAT for older students using the app. When you select a subject, it will take you to a page with a YouTube video explaining the specific topic that you picked. Underneath, there are an assortment of questions and responses about the subject written by other people who use the app. Anyone can add a question and response. After that, you can do an activity that helps you to apply what you learned. Other subjects have different activities; for instance, some math subjects have the students do a test with fun word problems. Throughout your learning, you are able to earn badges, which would be incredibly rewarding.
I was familiar with Khan Academy because I read Khan’s book in a previous semester, but I had no idea there was an app. I only knew about the videos, and those really helped me a lot whenever I needed a refresher on a subject. I can only imagine how helpful it would be to students who are learning about these subjects currently! It seems like a really fun, rewarding app that students should have.
I was familiar with Khan Academy because I read Khan’s book in a previous semester, but I had no idea there was an app. I only knew about the videos, and those really helped me a lot whenever I needed a refresher on a subject. I can only imagine how helpful it would be to students who are learning about these subjects currently! It seems like a really fun, rewarding app that students should have.
Duolingo
One of the apps mentioned in this video is Duolingo. I just added the app to my iPad because they added Japanese to their list of languages and I wanted to refresh my memory for whenever I get the chance to go back. From personal experience, it really does help me out! I’ve also taken up learning some Spanish and Russian in my spare time.
There are so many languages you can choose to learn. This app helps you learn by giving you these entertaining tests that are helpful and not very difficult to get the hang of. Some questions are matching, some are multiple choice, some have pictures and audio included, and some are fill in the blank. You get daily goals for each lesson, and I have mine set to the standard 10 minutes of play a day. It is very easy to fit those into my day; I just complete two lessons as I’m waiting for my next class. Duolingo also reminds you of your daily goal by sending you a notification.
As someone who is returning to a language I already know a bit of, Duolingo lets you test out of some lessons. You can even take a placement test before you start so you can find out how fluent you are in the language. I got to skip a couple of lessons because I studied Japanese for 3 years in high school, so I am not a master but I can make simple conversations. I found that to be really awesome because it would be a little annoying to go through everything I’ve already learned again.
What I didn’t know is that you can create a classroom for your students to learn a certain language. I found that to be super cool! It would be totally awesome to help the students who aren’t fluent in Spanish to understand how it feels to be a non-native English speaker. The app is so amazing and I know kids would love it as much as I do.
There are so many languages you can choose to learn. This app helps you learn by giving you these entertaining tests that are helpful and not very difficult to get the hang of. Some questions are matching, some are multiple choice, some have pictures and audio included, and some are fill in the blank. You get daily goals for each lesson, and I have mine set to the standard 10 minutes of play a day. It is very easy to fit those into my day; I just complete two lessons as I’m waiting for my next class. Duolingo also reminds you of your daily goal by sending you a notification.
As someone who is returning to a language I already know a bit of, Duolingo lets you test out of some lessons. You can even take a placement test before you start so you can find out how fluent you are in the language. I got to skip a couple of lessons because I studied Japanese for 3 years in high school, so I am not a master but I can make simple conversations. I found that to be really awesome because it would be a little annoying to go through everything I’ve already learned again.
What I didn’t know is that you can create a classroom for your students to learn a certain language. I found that to be super cool! It would be totally awesome to help the students who aren’t fluent in Spanish to understand how it feels to be a non-native English speaker. The app is so amazing and I know kids would love it as much as I do.
Edutopia
One of the apps mentioned in this video is mostly a resource for teachers as opposed to students. Edutopia has a vast selection of teacher resources such as blogs, articles, lesson plans, videos, and more for teachers to use in their lessons. This is a great way to find inspiration to integrate technology into the classroom, all throughout kindergarten to 12th grade. You can look up articles of the effectiveness of integrating technology into the classroom, or find many articles on how to integrate technology in the classroom. From there you can research blogs from real teachers using these techniques across the world for some real-life testimonies on how these things have worked. I’ll probably be using this for the lesson plans since you can never have too many of those! The video mentions that there is a mini movie festival on this app and website where teachers make videos on a certain topic and they all can be found in the same place. Not only can you access this on your iPad, but you can access it on your computer as well. I know my professors use this website and they also talk about how fantastic it is. I found this app to be very useful and I will absolutely be using it in the future!