Module 3

iLe@rn App framework

Each week in reading groups this term I have given the students a new task to do on the iPads.  I have tried to link these tasks to the iLe@rn framework

Questioning Skills

Skitch and Jigzo

Students created their own puzzle for another group.   Students downloaded a picture of a clock into skitch.  They then annotated the clock with 24 hour time.  Next students inserted the picture into jigzo and gave it to another partner to put back together using their knowledge of 24 hour time.

Communication and Collaboration

Popplet

Students had to work together to create a equivalent fraction numberline from 0 to 1 using popplet.  They were able to identify equivalent fractions eg ½ = 2/4= 3/6 etc

Auto Rap

Students collaborated together to create a rap of the 11 times tables.  This was then shown to the class

Creative thinking Skills

Toontastic

Students created a narrative using toontastic.  They enjoyed adding animations and sound effects to the story

Reflective Skills

Photomess

Students thought of an important value and used photomess to create a collage of how they see this value in action.

Critical thinking and problem solving

Corkulous

Students were given the task to find replacement words for the dead/ boring words in our everyday language eg said.  Students had to research other words and use the corkulous board to arrange them.

Multimodal Literacy

Photocard

Students created a photocard of their experiences on our excursion to Bathurst.  They were able to add text, voice and images in this photocard.

Animator                                                            

Students used the animator app to create a flipbook of a verb eg throwing.   They then used this to create descriptive sentences eg The old and creaky boat sank slowly after hitting the large iceberg.

Evaluation of an app

Five Fingers Evaluation of Skitch

Intuitive

a Minimal instruction was required for students.  I gave students a quick overview of the app at the beginning of the week by connecting it to the smartboard and walking through the activity.  Students were also given a basic instruction sheet so they remained on task and new what the goals of the lesson were.

a Minimal user competency required at the outset.  None of the students had used the app before but all were able to use the app

a User feels powerful quickly.  All students were able to feel confident with using the app by the end of their session with it.

Curriculum Connection

a Skill reinforced where connected to the syllabus.  This is all about how the teacher integrates the app into the classroom activity.  We used skitch to annotate a 12 hour clock into a 24 hour clock but we could have used it for a number of different activities all related to the syllabus

Features

a Can you easily export work.  It was very easy for students to export their work as an image and then use that image in jigzo

Appeal

a Are the students appropriately challenged?  The benefit of skitch is that students all students can end up with the basic required output.  The higher their skills are the more effects they can add to the output.  Eg cropping, adding photo effects etc

a Are the students motivated to use the app? Yes, they really enjoyed using the app and showing the work to the class

Value

a Free app

a Can it be used for multiple curriculum areas?  Yes it could be used for just about all KLAs