Category Archives: group
Chatterpix app
This is a simple free app that allows a mouth and speech to be added to a photograph. The photograph can chosen from those already on the camera roll or taken in the app.
- Take or choose the photo.
- Use your finger to add the ‘mouth’ to the photo.
- Use the microphone button to record up to 30 seconds of speech – a clock ticks down to show how much time is left.
- Text, frames or stickers can be added next.
- The talking photo is saved in the app (in gallery) or you can email it, save to camera roll or add to YouTube.
Here’s an example I made of four things in the garden talking about their secret life:
There is a version of the app called ChatterKids. In this version of the app there is no opportunity to share, making it safer for use by children. The talking picture can be saved onto the camera roll.
Post it Plus
I came across the app ‘Post it Plus’ by accident. I often use post its as a teaching tool with groups of students, asking them to write ideas on post its and then move them around into themes or rank order. Since I had my ipad I have sometimes photographed these – but the Post It Plus app is a more flexible and versatile way of doing this.
When you open the app it allows you to take a photograph of a group of post its. To do this you hold down the capture icon. Green lines appear around the post its that have been captured and if there are any that do not have a green line, you can touch these and the green line will appear around them so that all the post its are present. You then touch ‘create board’ and the image is saved. I usually take groups of post its and end up with maybe four or five boards to record an activity.
After this you can move the boards on top of each other to make them all into one, you can name each group and the bigger group, add additional post its and write onto them and the board.
You can also share and export the boards in a number of ways eg by email as a PDF, as a photo, via social media etc. I was able to send the PDF record of our discussions to a group of students after the session so that they could use the discussion ideas after the session. I could have annotated questions and comments onto it to challenge them further – maybe next time! I’ve added one to see what it looks like, above)
You can read more about the app here.
Explain Everything
Explain Everything
Explain Everything is an app (IOS, Android and Windows)
Cost – £2.29 in the Apple appstore.
You can read about it at this link Explain Everything
It is a very flexible presentation tool allowing you to:
- import and insert documents, pictures and video
- draw and annotate
- move and animate
- zoom and pan
- record and play
- export and share
There are some useful video tutorials available at the link above and some help pages within the app.
So far I have used Explain Everything in three different ways.
I have made a presentation that consists of a sequence of slides that I have added spoken commentary to. This was to introduce an assignment to students and remind them of where the supporting resources are. It was useful to be able to record the commentary with each slide and it was very easy to stop and rerecord small sections without having to record the whole thing in one go.
It can be seen here:
I have also narrated a short guide for students showing them how to get from the opening page of a NILE module to their discussion board and then how to access and use the discussion board. It was so useful to be able to click on the sequence links and show students where to click and what to expect live in the website.
It can be seen here:
Finally I have used it construct two page by page views of collaborative sketchbooks that I have been working on this year. I was able to add the sequence of photos, add annotations and export the presentation to YouTube, Dropbox, imovie and ibooks and email it to myself. I would like to have added music but couldn’t quite work out how to do this.
One of these can be seen here:
I think this app has got a huge amount of potential for use with and by students and I am looking forward to exploring it further.
Pinterest
Cost – free
Available on computer, tablet and phone and as website and app
Website – Pinterest
Help and information available here – All about Pinterest
Account – with your email address or sign in using Facebook.
Pins
Pinterest describes pins as visual bookmarks – images that you collect and save or ‘pin’ to boards. You can browse and search the pins of other Pinterest users and pin them to your boards. Images might be your own photos and those taken by others, images collected from the internet and other sources. When you choose a pin and add it you have to name or label it and it is important to note the source of the image so that you can acknowledge the person who originally made it, unless you made or took it yourself.
Boards
You can collect your pins onto boards that you create, title and share, keep secret or use as a group. Have a look at the help pages above to explore how to create secret and shared boards.
Boards are the way you group your pins around themes related to an idea, interest, event or subject. You can follow the boards of other users that interest you.
Following
You can choose to follow other Pinterest users who pin on themes of interest to you and other users can follow you. You can also follow specific boards made by other users.
Pinterest for learning and teaching
Pinterest can support learning and teaching in a variety of ways both in the classroom and as part of your preparation for support or teaching.
In the classroom
You can collect images around a theme to support learning in a subject or lesson. When starting a unit of work on portraits in art or history you might collect some examples that you want to use in your teaching. You can label these with questions, information or suggestions.
You can pin photos of learning outcomes from a group of pupils or students and these can be shared with the pupils or students and their parents or other interested people – other teaching assistants and teachers.
To support your own role
Pinterest is a great tool for research. There are many teaching resources and ideas already pinned there that can give you ideas or spark off your own ideas for supporting learning. You can search using keywords and phrases to find these and then either follow the boards or users you find or collect the pins you choose onto a board of your own.
You can read a guide by edudemic here – The Teacher’s Guide to Pinterest
Some links to Pinterest users:
Jean Edwards – Jean’s Pinterest boards
Helen Caldwell – Helen’s Pinterest boards
Tate Gallery – Tate Gallery
Teaching Ideas – Teaching Ideas
If you are on Pinterest do add your name and link to the comments below so we can enjoy and learn from your boards.