Arts Education

In January  I wrote  about  Osmo : "I can't wait to see what Osmo apps they develop next."  An Osmo is a plastic base that an iPad sits in and a little mirror that sits over the front camera on the iPad. This setup allows the user to do things on a tabletop in front of the iPad and simultaneously interact with the iPad. Osmo already had 5 apps available, but  Coding  is the latest in their line.  Today I tried out the latest Osmo app,  Coding , and it was terrific! The kit that you need for the game includes plastic blocks that are magnetic. The blocks show different movements (run, jump) or numbers (1-5) and a play button. The object of the app is to move a cute guy called Awbie through a forest maze to collect strawberries. The way you move Awbie through the maze is to arrange the coding blocks and press play. Then he moves in whatever way you have coded. Like many other games, the player can see tutorial-type hints, clear levels and move on to ...

Do you have a favorite tool, one that you're sure couldn't possibly get any better? But then it does! That's how I am feeling about The Answer Pad today!  Yesterday this already fantastic tool got a little bit better with the addition of written feedback comments. If you haven't used The Answer Pad , let me give you a quick summary. There is a (very generous) free service and a (so reasonably priced) premium service. No matter which you have, you can use the Quick Interactive mode to start an interactive session with students. They sign in using a 5 letter code. No need for accounts if you don't want to use accounts. Then, while you teach, you send out screens for students to input answers. You don't need to do anything before the lesson except create your account and think of your questions. Now for the good part. Kids submit answers and you can provide feedback. I wrote about the feedback loop last fall. You can give colored feedback with three colored dots a...

As I get ready for coding camp later this month, I am previewing coding apps and tools to curate the list of things we will use. The kind folks at Her Interactive gifted me a copy of the iOS app Nancy Drew Codes and Clues so I could check out the latest chapter of our favorite sleuth.  Aimed at girls 6-8, Codes and Clues is really three different games in one that wrap around the mystery of who is sabotaging the projects at the tech fair. First, the girls need disguises to fit in the different areas they investigate. That means that the player gets to choose outfits for Nancy and BFFs Bess and George. Girls in the targeted age range would get a kick out of choosing the disguises. Then the girls interview people and search for clues in a hidden object game. In early levels, the player sees the exact image she is looking for. In later levels, we see only shadow images and have to match the real image to the shadow. Here are pictures of both types of levels. At the end of each chapt...

This morning I participated in a preview of TechSmith's Snagit 13. Last month TechSmith announced that they were closing down the Snagit Chrome extension and apps Knomia and ScreenChomp to keep the focus on Snagit and Camtasia for desktops, so I was excited to see what this heightened focus will bring. The results are pretty cool. Snagit 13 will still have many of the features that users already love - the ability to capture still images and video, the ability to make animated GIFs, the ability to annotate images with robust tools. These features are complemented by some new ones like the ability to capture panoramically. In Snagit 13, users will be able to use panoramic capture to grab a screenshot by scrolling around on the screen, even in an unusual shape.  Making a GIF will never be easier. Once you have a video captured (screencast or from webcam), just highlight the section you want to loop and click a GIF button. Instant GIF! Another feature I liked a lot was the ability to...

Did you ever want to take the content you find on a website and turn it into a PDF? Or eliminate the clutter on a website for an easier read? Or to print it? Or maybe you want to save content from a website for a favorite school project? Today I tried an iOS app called InstaWeb  to make a PDF and loved the results. Let's say I want to take a blog post I wrote, like this one , and turn it into a handout that I can use for PD. Open InstaWeb and paste in the URL of the website. There's a button in the lower left that gives you a reader view, with no distractions.  This cleans up a blog post so you just see the text and images of the post without the sidebars. It makes it easier to read, like this: Tap the button in the lower right and you make a PDF. Give it a quick title and save it to Drive or Dropbox or your favorite reader app. Then you can print it or email it. InstaWeb is an iOS app that usually costs $2.99 but is available for FREE right now. If you like the idea of maki...

I first wrote about Classkick almost two years ago. This powerful iOS app allows teachers to make slides to share with students as assignments. Students work on them a page at a time and teachers can watch in real time. Students can ask for feedback and teachers, or other students, can provide it. Classkick is one part presentation slides, one part student response system, one part collaboration tool, but, until recently, only for iOS devices. Early this year Classkick added a web-based viewer so students, or parents, could go back and review assignments that were already completed. I really liked that addition  but recently I received even better news that soon Classkick will be available as a web app for students using laptops, desktops, or chromebooks! When asked if I wanted to take a sneak peak at what the web app would look like, I jumped at the chance. Here's what I found out: Joining an assignment is about the same as in the app. The teacher provides a code. The stude...

I have been so excited this week to try out the new Slides Q&A feature in Google Slides. I saw lots of posts that announced this new feature, but haven't seen one that shows how to access it. So, since I was finally able to access today, here are step-by-step directions: 1. Open your presentation in Google Slides. In the upper right hand corner is the present button, now with a drop down arrow. Click the arrow to reveal two options: Presenter View and Present from Beginning. Choose Presenter View . You'll see a pop-up window like this one.  2. Click the Start new button. This creates, and provides, a link that the audience can use to submit the questions. The link shows in the pop-up window (with a toggle switch to turn questions off) and at the top of your projected slides, like this: Meanwhile, in the audience, people follow the URL to the link. Here they will find a simple window where they can type a question, choose to ask anonymously or not, and submit the question: ...