ShowMe

Format: iPad
Price: Free
Vendor: iTunes

We have reviewed this app in a previous post but there is new activity on the app as we featured it on Thinking Thursdays September 20. James Howard was our featured presenter and many staff members took advantage of the session. This free app is a tremendous tool for screencasts of any flavor. It may be used if you are anticipating an absence, make a screencast if you don't wish to repeat a skill lesson five times in a row, or make a screencast for absent students and post it on your blog or web page. Maybe you have this knockout lesson that you wish to revisit so you pull it up and bam! You have it.

RH: I put together a short follow up ShowMe video clip further explaining how to make backgrounds, import images, and add pages (so to speak) to your presentation. A good rule of thumb is to never exceed the 10 minute point in a clip. Actually, if you stay around 4 or 5 minutes, you will get better focus and attention from your students. If you have longer lessons, or presentations, feel free to do them in installments. In other words, make them in part one, part two, etc.

Pleas click on this link: ShowMe tutorial

Air Sketch

Format: iPad
Price: Free Version
Vendor: iTunes

Turn your iPad into a wireless whiteboard! Project live sketches to a local computer that is linked to your LCD projector and you can walk around the room and broadcast your sketches. You can also link to any computer (BYOD) that is logged onto the same URL broadcast from your iPad.

RH: I tested this app using my laptop and iPhone. It worked flawlessly on both. This means that a student with Internet connection may log into "your" broadcast that you are making from your iPad as you walk around the room. Great for math teachers. All you have to do is place the URL address, that your iPad shows you, into the browser of any device that is on the same network. I have not tested this at school yet. The device or your desktop computer will show the blank screen and any drawings you produce. The drawback is that the drawing that you produce is not real smooth but rather crude in the free version. The free version boasts 3/5 stars. The Pro version runs a salty $9.99 but allows you to put documents, pictures, and more on your iPad for you to mark up. If you would use this app daily, it would be worth it and has collected 4.5/5 stars in reviews. If you want to research more uses for this app check out this link: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/02/use-air-sketch-with-dropbox-for.html#.UFbkYKOuWAq

VideoScribe HD

Format: iPad
Price: $4.99
Vendor: iTunes

VideoScribe.tv is a completely unique way to create engaging animated videos quickly and easily. Often called Whiteboard animation or sometimes Fast Drawing, VideoScribe replicates the stop-motion capture style of drawing that's so popular on commercials at a fraction of the cost.

RH: If you have ever wanted to create a marker board style creation that you have seen on commercials and all sorts of professional presentations, this app is for you. It is a fee based app at $4.99 but it is a lot of fun and makes a rather impressive show. The sample I have included below was my first attempt and it has potential. It is voice over capable but I found the timing to be a bigger challenge than I wanted for a Friday night. I ended up just using the in-app provided background music and found it to be plenty cool. If you are still not sure what I mean this app allows you to make a video that shows a hand drawing text and images on a white board with voice over and or music in the background.

Web Browsers to View Flash Video

Skyfire

Format: iPad
Price: $2.99
Vendor: iTunes
Skyfire allows you to watch Flash videos that otherwise don’t work on iPhone! Ever see a 'black rectangle' instead of a video while browsing with the native iPhone browser (Safari)!? That's when you need Skyfire!

Photon

Format: iPad
Price: $4.99
Vendor: iTunes

Photon Browser is a powerful new browser with Flash capability designed to enhance your browsing experience on the iPad. We have been the #1 paid browser on the app store for several months and you can read reviews on the web on why we are the best Flash browser for the iPad.

Rover

Format: iPad
Price: Free
Vendor: iTunes

Rover is powered by the iSwifter platform (the world’s first cloud-based Flash streaming platform for mobile devices). We have specifically designed Rover based on feedback from teachers, IT directors and administrators from schools across the country.

RH: I have tried two of these three "Flash" enabled browsers. The point here is that iPad does not support Flash. Therefore, anytime you wish to view a video built with Flash you will get a message saying that you need to download Flash. You cannot do that with the iPad. That's where these browsers or one like them come in. Rover works fine, is free, but is slow, and a bit unstable causing you to be kicked out of your video. Skyfire is popular but has not had as many positive reviews at Photon. The price on Skyfire has just lowered from $4.99. Photon is the one I like best. Each time I come across a Flash video I just copy the URL of the site or video, open Photon on my iPad, and paste the URL in the box at the top. When the site opens and the message that it is Flash appears, I click on the lightening bolt which then runs the flash video perfectly.

PowToon

Format: Web Based (Flash only)
Price: Free and Paid versions
Vendor: PowToon

PowToon is a brand new presentation software that is so simple and intuitive, it allows anyone who ever used PowerPoint or KeyNote to easily evolve their presentations to AWESOMENESS!
PowToon contains themes of animated characters, props and cool transitions which you can just drag and drop into a slide to create eye catching and fun presentations that can be presented in person, or turned into animated videos at the click of a button - to be shared on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter.

RH: This is a pretty neat presentation creator. I have made two, so far, and although the learning curve was a little tedious I would use it again here and there. It is currently in beta so it allows you to use it free of charge. I believe they have an educator account as well. I don't know how long before it becomes totally fee based.  In my view I wouldn't use it for content. I would use it for introduction, poster videos, and other announcement type of videos. They are fun to make. Below is Jennifer Cobb's and my first attempt and an AIM High video.

Format: iOS
Price: Free (for now)
Vendor: iTunes Store

Description: This app lets the user create mind maps, which can be save either locally on the iPad or, after setting up an account, in the Cloud.

JH: I used Inspirations frequently in the classroom. This may be a replacement! I have only started playing with it, so it is too early to tell, but being able to use the iPad's tactile functionality seems to make it easy enough to drag and drop elements of a mind map.

MentorMob

Format: Computer
Price: Free
Vendor: www.mentormob.com
MentorMob, a site that allows users to curate online content into step-by-step lessons on any topic.

RH: This is the free version and lets the user gather video, document, and web articles together into  a play list that students can access. One could put together an entire unit or area of study so students could access them all from the same location. Check out the tutorial video collection I put together for my students about Edmodo. I used ScreenCast-O-Matic to screen capture  and uploaded the videos directly to You Tube from the program. Very easy.

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Format: Computer/iPad
Price: Free Resource
Vendor: iTunes


This ed site, which you can be a member or not, has provided a spreadsheet with 100+ must have iPad apps for education and personal use. All subjects are available and is in one place for easy scanning. The list includes free and fee based apps and are available in iTunes.

 RH: If you are like me and may be overwhelmed with the many resources available for the iPad. This spreadsheet may simplify your search for apps that you may want to try out for both your class room and personal use. You may have to either go "full screen" or resort to your desk top as you will have to move the slider at the bottom of the page to view the entire spreadsheet.

ScreenCast-O-Matic

Format: Computer
Price: Free
Vendor: ScreenCast-O-Matic

This is a free computer download that allows you to capture anything on your computer screen and posted to the Internet giving you a URL to be pasted or embedded on your site. You may play videos, show images, show power points within the capture and more.  


RH: This capture tool is not for the faint of heart. It can do a lot of things and therefore has somewhat of a learning curve. It is relatively easy to use but has the ability to zoom, draw focus to a spot on your screen, and be edited after the fact. My first experience resulted in a lot of noise in the audio. I don't know if it was because I just used my mic that was built into my laptop or what. The free version limits the recording to 15 minutes but a good screencast should  be less than 8-10 anyways. The pay version is only $15 a year and opens up more possibilities. This would  be a good choice if you have a lot of content on your computer and don't want to bother moving it to your iPad  or can't in order to use an iPad app to screencast. 

ScreenChomp

Format: iPad
Price: Free
Vendor:  iTunes


Share a great idea... Explain a tricky concept... Help kids with their homework...

RH: This screen casting app is similar to ShowMe and Educreations in that it provides you tools to write and record your ideas over a whiteboard or image. This is a very simple app and also lets you scroll up or down to a new page. The only drawback I see is that you can only import one image or background at a time. You can pause the recording and change the image but cannot have two at once. This app is perfect if you want simple and  no image or one image on the screen at a time.  I really like the three pen choices that are always displayed to make color changes on the fly.The app seems very stable and is made by TechSmith, the same company that makes Camtasia used by Khan.

360 Panarama

Format: iPad, iPhone
Price:$0.99
Vendor: iTunes


This photography entertainment app can take 360 panoramic photos with perfect ease. Panoramas may be shared online, through email, and more.


RH: This is the easiest panoramic photo app I have ever seen. The "stitching" is very seamless and may be used for fun or even for taking a panoramic view of your entire class room in one shot. Worth every penny of the 99 cents in cost. Very fun app and more importantly, very cool.

 http://360.io/NdTXjj
Here is a sample hosted on line. Check it out. Don't mistake this for Google Earth's Street View.

Halftones

Format: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Price: $0.99
Vendor: iTunes


Halftone turns your photos into unique, vintage comics that friends and family will love! More than a simple “photo filter” app, Halftone makes it easy to add paper styles, captions, speech balloons, graphic stamps, and fonts (including built-in comic fonts).

RH: This is an entertainment app that can turn your pictures into fun "comic" like end products. I have had some fun making cards of my grandson's antics.

Just a sample of a Halftone creation. Lots of fun. Also, I signed it using A+ Signature (previous post).

Net Texts

Format: iPad, Computer
Price: Free Demo App
Vendor: iTunes


Introducing the Net Texts iPad app, which lets students use multimedia courses customized by their own teachers instead of a backpack full of heavy books!

RH: This app is amazing and has tremendous potential. I thought it would be fun to create an app that would allow a teacher to aggregate subject matter from open and free resources on the Internet in any subject or area of study. Well, this app does just that. I don't know the details of how this will be priced or if it will be an education open source app. There is a web site introducing it which can be searched under the same name. Awaiting further details. Caution! When you download this app and choose a course to download as well, it will take awhile as it is thick and rich with goodies.

Have Technology Will Travel

Format: iPad
Price: Free
Vendor: Internet Blog


Fishing for good classroom apps? Here is a blog site that has put together a ton of good search sites for the latest apps for classrooms.


RH: As you read down his page you will see Blog Posts, Websites Devoted to Apps,  a Database List of Apps, a group titled "Other," and the author's (Jason Mammano) Personal Must Have Teacher Apps. Granted, these will be reviews from teachers you don't personally know but it is a good resource none the less.

Good Notes Free

Format: iPad
Price: Free Lite (upgrade 3.99)
Vendor: iTunes


GoodNotes lets you take handwritten notes, sketch diagrams, mark-up PDFs and organize them on a beautiful bookshelf. Turn pages with a swipe, highlight or add notes to any page, and share your notes with anyone. GoodNotes will automatically save your notes and has full backup function to prevent data loss.

RH: This is the free version of GoodNotes. This app provides a number of templates including lined, blank, squares, and music note sheets. The free version limits you to two notebooks and the upgrade is a little pricey at 3.99. I really like the ability to enlarge your paper as you write and then shrink it back at will. You can also import images and be able to write all over them.