Tech EDGE: Mobile Learning in the Classroom
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This week, I reviewed Tech EDGE, an innovative program that is a partnership between the schools of Nebraska and the teacher education programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Concordia University. Their goal is to create a generation of teachers that are able to integrate new technology into their classroom so as to prepare their students for our global society. Dr. Guy Trainen and Dr. Laurie Friedrich make a weekly podcast series about using iPads in the classroom for grades K-12. Their YouTube channel has over 200 videos that present and review useful apps for the classroom. I found their channel to be very informative about the apps and their possible uses and really enjoyed learning about the thousands of educational apps that exist. During their videos, they make sure to talk about how they can be used at home for students who are struggling or who want an extra challenge and how they make it easier for students to work at their own pace. I think these apps make a refreshing change to curriculum and help students be interested in learning. For this review, I watched two of their episodes, then downloaded the apps they recommended to try for myself.
For more from Dr. Guy Trainen: Blog |
Duolingo
Duolingo is a popular app that can be used on any device including a computer. As a free app, it is a great way for students to practice their foreign language skills through a fun, quiz based game. Players make their way through a skill tree by completing lessons that earn them XP, which they can use to buy extra categories or customize the mascot's appearance. Once they have completed all lessons associated with a skill, that skill is considered "learned". Each skill has a strength bar that corresponds to how strongly words or concepts are remembered. After a certain amount of time, the strength bar fades, which alerts the player to the need to refresh their memory and strengthen their weak skills. There is also a practice mode that allows players to learn vocabulary and brush up on skills they haven't practiced in awhile.
Teachers can create a virtual classroom that students enroll in so that their activity and progress can be monitored. When I tried out the app, I found it to be a good way to reinforce basic concepts and vocabulary. However, there is not much speaking practice, and the activities can become rather repetitive after awhile. In addition, some of the sentences and words Duolingo presented for practice were kind of nonsensical, strange, or rarely used. In my opinion, this app would be a good warm up activity for the class and would also make a good review game for students to take home and practice with.
The app can be found here
Teachers can create a virtual classroom that students enroll in so that their activity and progress can be monitored. When I tried out the app, I found it to be a good way to reinforce basic concepts and vocabulary. However, there is not much speaking practice, and the activities can become rather repetitive after awhile. In addition, some of the sentences and words Duolingo presented for practice were kind of nonsensical, strange, or rarely used. In my opinion, this app would be a good warm up activity for the class and would also make a good review game for students to take home and practice with.
The app can be found here
Phrasalstein
Phrasalstein is an app available for both Android and Apples is designed to help English language learners with phrasal verbs and their meanings. This free app has a practice mode and a quiz mode. In the first mode, students can combine different words and prepositions to create a phrasal verb, which is is demonstrated by a short animation of the meaning of their phrases. Verbs and prepositions can be combined in a multiple of ways to create hundreds of verbs. Once in the quiz mode, students are presented with an animation and have to select the matching phrase.
I absolutely loved this app. The style and animation are reminiscent of early horror films and the animations are creative and funny. Something else I found is that you can change the language it operates in. For example, a native Russian speaker could set it to Russian and have the explanations and example sentences appear in that language to make sure they understand the equivalent of the phrasal verb in their language. The only downsides are that the app hasn't been updated in a couple of months, so it can run a bit slowly on the new iOS systems and that there is no way to create a profile and track your progess. I think this app is a great way to learn phrasal verbs, one of the most difficult parts of the English language. I look forward to using this in my classroom as is, perhaps as a station activity or as homework.
The app can be found here
I absolutely loved this app. The style and animation are reminiscent of early horror films and the animations are creative and funny. Something else I found is that you can change the language it operates in. For example, a native Russian speaker could set it to Russian and have the explanations and example sentences appear in that language to make sure they understand the equivalent of the phrasal verb in their language. The only downsides are that the app hasn't been updated in a couple of months, so it can run a bit slowly on the new iOS systems and that there is no way to create a profile and track your progess. I think this app is a great way to learn phrasal verbs, one of the most difficult parts of the English language. I look forward to using this in my classroom as is, perhaps as a station activity or as homework.
The app can be found here
GeoExpert
GeoExpert is available for both Android and Apple for free (Lite version) or for $4.50 (full version). This app is a quiz based game that teaches students the countries, capitals, and flags of all 7 continents. It can also quiz students on the major rivers of a region. Students select a region/continent and then choose whether they want to be quizzed on countries, and/or capitols and flags. Then they go through and select the appropriate area for each question.
Although this is a simple app, I think that it has a lot of value. Learning about the countries and flags of other areas in the world is important knowledge, especially for foreign language classrooms. In addition, the language of the app can be changed, allowing students to learn countries and capitols in the target language. I enjoyed how once you selected a country, there was a pop up of information about it. However, unless you buy the full version game play is limited and you can only progress so far. The biggest disappointment for me is how it is difficult to compete with other people unless you are on the same device. In my classroom, I would use it just as a small warm up quiz when we learn about all the countries of Latin America.
The app can be found here
Although this is a simple app, I think that it has a lot of value. Learning about the countries and flags of other areas in the world is important knowledge, especially for foreign language classrooms. In addition, the language of the app can be changed, allowing students to learn countries and capitols in the target language. I enjoyed how once you selected a country, there was a pop up of information about it. However, unless you buy the full version game play is limited and you can only progress so far. The biggest disappointment for me is how it is difficult to compete with other people unless you are on the same device. In my classroom, I would use it just as a small warm up quiz when we learn about all the countries of Latin America.
The app can be found here