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I was introduced to a youtube podcast in class this week titled Tech EDGE, Mobile Learning in the Classroom. This specific podcast was hosted by Guy Trainin, an associate professor and graduate chair at the University of Nebraska. Tech EDGE has many different podcasts posted on Youtube, many of which review different apps.
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While I was finding one to do my review on, I ended up watching many of their other videos and thoroughly enjoyed them. Some of the apps that they mentioned I had already heard about, but it was very interesting to learn things about them that I had never known before. The podcast that I chose to watch is about the four apps that Guy uses in his own classroom every day. He mentioned Google Chrome, a Timer, the camera that comes on all of his technology devices, and Padlet as the four apps that he can't go without. I loved these podcasts, because of how informational they were. He always mentions why he likes the apps, some of the features that are great about them, and how this would be helpful to use in a classroom. It targets all grades too, from elementary to college level. I would strongly suggest that other teachers watch these podcast as well, to gain some information on how to incorporate even more technology into their classroom.
Google Chrome is something that I was already familiar with on a computer, but I had never had experience with the app before. Guy Trainin mentioned in his review that he loves Google Chrome because you can sign in as yourself on any of your other devices through Google. Anything you are able to do through Chrome, follows you to all of your other devices as well, that way it's all easily accessible. Guy mentioned how it is a very basic app, but he loves the things you can do with it and how it allows you to connect everything that you do. The app itself is free, and pretty self explanatory. When you open the app, it asks you to sign in with your gmail account so you are able to access all of your information. It's great for teachers, because of the easily accessible information and how fast it is. I would definitely use this in my class to stay organized, and use it as my primary search engine when teaching. Any grade level would be able to use this app, but I would suggest starting to use it with upper elementary kiddos when they are starting to realize how to keep usernames and passwords for things. It also requires you to have an gmail account, and I know that most parents don't want their young children to have emails at first. My only complaint is that I personally think safari is an easier app to open since it already comes on an iPad, but that's just me being nit picky. On a computer however, Chrome is great and I would recommend it to anyone.
Padlet is an app that I was actually just introduced to a couple of weeks ago in one of my classes. Padlet is an app and a website, so it's great to have both of those features to use for personal preference. Padlet is great both for teachers and students, and is a way to visually display things and keep them all in one place. It kind of reminds me of Dropbox, where all of your files are in one place and it's an easy way for students to turn assignments in. Guy loves Padlet because you can have multiple accounts, and can even log in with your Google account. The app is free, and allows for as much creativity as possible. There are lots of different options of Padlets you can create- texts, images, web, etc. In a classroom, the teacher sends out the Padlet link to all of their students and all of them can post their assignments to the board. This app would be great to use for any grade, you just have to be creative and think of different lesson plans that would work with Padlet. It's a great tool, and is also another way for students to comment and expand on their work, and collaborate with each other. I personally love Padlet because of how visual it is, how everything is in one place, and how interactive it is.