New Free Apps from ISTE 2015

Well I made it to day 3 of ISTE 2015.  Yes, I am already trying to figure out how to get to Denver next year for this conference again.  Since this is the first time I have attended ISTE, I can say it has been amazing as well as overwhelming.  The parts of the conference I have enjoyed the most are the playground areas, poster areas and the sessions that share free, yes FREE apps that I can use in my classroom.  I am going to tell you about two that you might have heard of before or not but I definitely think they are worth sharing.

1.  Aurasma:  

This is an amazing augmented reality app that brings kids work and ideas to life.  I have linked the website to this post, but it is used with and iPad device or on Google Play. One of the ideas that was shared during the session for this app was when you have students work hanging in the hall, record a short video of the student telling about the work and put the students picture under their project.  Create a sign that says "Best viewed in Aurasma" and tell the parents/adults to download the free app to their phone/device.  This will enable them to hear the students explain the work that is posted outside your classroom.  Please go to the website for a better explanation of how to create Aura and what all this wonderful app can do for you and your kids.

2.  Seesaw:  

This is a wonderful app that works like a "Learning Journal" for your kids.  Yes it is another FREE app.  What happens is the kids have six options to record/create their work on the iPad.  They then can submit it to the teacher for review and the teacher can write or record comments to the student about their work.  Alright for what I think is the best part is that it is SUPER kindergarten and first grade friendly.  You know those kids that aren't writing complete sentences yet or have a learning issue that makes writing words more challenging.  Well this wonderful app allows them to record their work with audio.  They can just talk about what they are turning into you instead of writing the words.  No worries when they are able to do the writing they are able to do this as well.  I just like the fact that we can give them options.  Okay here is the best for last:  The parents can create an account and view their students work.  How WONDERFUL is this feature?  So not only are you giving kids options for turning in their work you are also enabling parent communication on what the children are doing in class.  Go check it out.  I am already super excited to use this wonderful app next year in my classroom.  

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  So far so good with one of my goals of blogging more.  Yea me!!!!

I hope that you are able to use these apps and that maybe at least one of them was some new information for you.

Chat soon,

Leslie