LBS 850 WEEK 3 BLOG POST

This week in learning.....

Apps

August issue of neaToday magazine, an article called "How to Evaluate Apps You've Never Used in Less than Seven Minutes, " by Jacqui Murray had information about deciding on if and when to use certain apps in the classroom that I found helpful.

1. Qualify (2 minutes) is it free? will it work with my learning management system? Is is easy to install/set up?

2. Playtime (5 minutes) its easy to use, It supports the "4 C's" (creativity, critical thinking, communication & collaboration) it isn't distracting, offers levels, will stand test of time, has no or few ads, easily applied, doesn't collect personal information, is rated "e" for everyone and has no in-app purchases.

Murray ends with... "in a nutshell: if it's not easy to set up, I might walk. If it's not intuitive to use, I do walk.  

LiveBinders.

I also played around with LiveBinders.  I am somewhat unsure how these differ or are better than say Pinterest or Google Docs.  It seemed like the information could quickly become outdated and overwhelming to look at... Maybe I will hold off on that for now, spend too much time reading articles and playing around with it.

Padlet

I loved the ease and look of Padlet.  Many classmates have shared ideas on how to use this in the classroom that I intend to try out.  I like a tool that I can use immediately with very little prior experience.  I did watch two short YouTube video tutorials first but other than that it was user-friendly. The videos were this and this.  I also created my own Padlet so I could gain some experience and it can be viewed here.