ClassBadges is a free, online tool that allows teachers to reward/award students with virtual and customizable badges for their accomplishments. Badges can be customized for behavior, academic success, mastery of content, etc. Currently you need to request an invite to use the service. This invite provides a Class Code that you use to create accounts for students so that they can track the badges that they have received.
ClassBadges has over 100 designed badges to choose from, thus allowing teachers to create a unique opportunity for their students. The badges provide a great way for students to track and motivate students as the work on large projects or study for exams. I can see this working successfully in elementary and middle school. I am not sure about the impacts in the high school classroom. For more information, see the video below.
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day One - Edcanvas
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Two - Cubby
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Three - NextUp
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Four - Otixo
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Five - Quiklinkr and Listango
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Six - Educlipper
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Seven - Share My Lesson
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Eight - Podbay
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Nine - Quotebook
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Ten - Slide.ly Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Eleven - Themeefy
Themeefy allows users to add content and create a digital flip-book/magazine of the content of their choice. The website also allows users to search and view previously created magazines which can be browsed by category or searched for through key words. When users have completed a magazine, they can share it in several different ways and the site also allows users to provide information about themselves.
To get started, users don't need to sign up; however if they want to save a magazine it will be necessary to sign up. Users provide each magazine a title and a brief description. Themeefy at this point does a Google search on the title of the magazine for users and allows users to read more or add the information from the search to the magazine.
As you want to add more pages to the magazine, you conduct more Google searches, look for information on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, or create a page with your own content. Adding your own content allows for a URL, Title, and Description. You can also add notes and an image as well.
Themeefy automatically adds an image and text from the website. Users can edit that information. It also automatically provides the source of the information as well. Students have a hard time remembering to do that, so it is a necessary aspect of the software.
I am not sure about my complete thoughts on this application yet because it allows for a lot of "copying and pasting" if done for students use. I could envision teachers using this as a way of providing links to information about topics covered in the class. Themeefy definitely has some aspects that are worth examining for implementation in the classroom. Here is a video that explains adding your own content and lets you see the layout of the site.
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day One - Edcanvas
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Two - Cubby
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Three - NextUp
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Four - Otixo
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Five - Quiklinkr and Listango
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Six - Educlipper
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Seven - Share My Lesson
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Eight - Podbay
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Nine - Quotebook
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Ten - Slide.ly
Slide.ly reminds me a lot of Animoto and the application allows users to create a digital photo story using images from Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Picasa, etc. Users can then take music from SoundCloud or other audio sites and then add various effects to create a video slideshow of all the images. Sharing of the slideshows is simple with all the usual sharing options provided.
On the front page there is the ability to browse through shows already created and there is no way to ensure that they are appropriate, so do be mindful of that. Those previously made can also be navigated through and searched, so there possibly could be one already created that a teacher could use. You can sign up by connecting to Facebook or creating an account.
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day One - Edcanvas
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Two - Cubby
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Three - NextUp
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Four - Otixo
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Five - Quiklinkr and Listango
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Six - Educlipper
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Seven - Share My Lesson
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Eight - Podbay
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Nine - Quotebook
Quotebook is an App for iDevices that allows users to easily track, capture, copy and paste quotes into a central location (app). Each quote can be categorized and tagged with keywords. I could see teachers using this to track quotes that they want students to use in the classroom and I could see students using this app to track quotes and parts of a book they are doing for research. I could also see this being used by students who are avid readers as a way to save their favorite parts of a book.Quotebook is available in the App Store at a cost of $2.99.
Quotebook is synced to iCloud and Instapaper. You can also link to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts as well. The service allows users to also mark the author and source of the quote making it easier for students to document where they get the quote from and also so they can look up other quotes by the same author. For a quick glimpse at how it is used, see the video below.
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day One - Edcanvas
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Two - Cubby
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Three - NextUp
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Four - Otixo
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Five - Quiklinkr and Listango
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Six - Educlipper
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Seven - Share My Lesson
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Eight - Podbay
Podbay.fm, an open culture of podcasting, is a website dedicated to providing the best way to search, play, and listen to podcasts. Through the site you can do a search, or browse through various categories as well.. Once you find a podcast that you are interested in, you can listen to them directly through the website.
Each Podcast Channel comes with a description reviews, stats, an option to open in iTunes, open an RSS Feed, and visit the website for the publishers of the Podcast. All that has to be applicable to each podcast however. I do warn you that each podcast episode has a comment section, so preview them before showing to ensure that there are not inappropriate comments. There is an option to "Popout" the podcast, thus removing the comments. I highly recommend taking advantage of that.
By hovering over the title of the podcast, you can get a short description of what you will be listening too. The only aspect missing is a way to see how long the podcast is prior to clicking on it. After you listen to a show, there is a drop down menu at the top of "Recent Shows" that highlights what you recently listened too. You can clear that list at any time as well.
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day One - Edcanvas
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Two - Cubby
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Three - NextUp
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Four - Otixo
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Five - Quiklinkr and Listango
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Six - Educlipper
Apps for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Seven - Share My Lesson
