Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Organization by Objective

I'm trying to catching up (somewhat) on my RSS, Twitter, e-newsletters, and other feeds to inform me on everything I need to know concerning edtech, iPad apps, Common Core--you name it.

I just came across a site that that featured iPad apps organized by objective called "EdTechTeacher's iPads As . . ." that I must share!

First the apps are organized by what you what the student to do.  These titles range from "Create Screencasts" to "Improve their organization" and "Respond to questions, polls, and assessments." 



This is very helpful but there is more!!

After selecting the objective, the selected tab provides a list of applications with a description plus the cost, ease of use, and a Usefulness rating as well as a tip to use the application.

I found this resource from a Facebook page called "PowerUp What Works" that I follow.  It has provided several interesting resources, especially in recommending iPad apps.  You can also subscribe to the website for free at http://powerupwhatworks.org/  

The number of websites and apps to use in classrooms seems to grow and multiply and it becomes difficult to stay on top of all of them!  This "iPads As . . ." site will be a great time-saving resource to help with lesson planning and technology integration in the classroom.  Be sure to add it to your preferred curation tool site!

Reviewing This Blog

I don't know what I thought I would accomplish by creating a blog.  A friend had started one and I gradually warmed to the idea that I should also have one.

My original thought was to share websites that I encountered in my position as a school librarian.  Generally there are several sites that offer similar services and I thought I could share my experiences with each to generate an overview of them.  Well, it takes time to use and compare these sites and it became a struggle to find time to write up my summary.

That is not to say that I do not still find and recommend sites and apps to the staff of my three schools--in the form of emails.  So my thought now is to sift through some of those email posts to share highlights on this blog.  If nothing else, it would curate my findings and my comments for future reference.

So check back.  I hope to actually do some of this during the school year so that this is not just a summer activity for me.  And I may update the blog to include a surprising honor that I received this past fall.

In review:  make it shorter and more frequent.  In other words: make it happen!