Using ipads in teaching and learning - A second Introduction

Earlier this week I delivered my second session about ipads using ipads.  For this session I built on the same idea from the first one (see Using ipads in teaching and learning - an introduction) - presenting a pot pourri of free apps to give participants a taste of the types of activities that can be performed using such devices.  Again it worked well although the group was a small one.  Below are the apps that presented and had them practice using:

Paperport notes

A good, solid example of note taking app. Good usability allowing for text, drawn or narrated notation. You can also import pdfs to annotate. The sharing options are extensive..

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Mind mash

Simple note taking app organised in sheets allowing for text, drawing and photos.

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Inspiration lite

A good mindmapping tool with lots of template to work from and lots of display options. Can do 5 maps in this free version.

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Popplet lite

Mindmapping with the bonus of using images and drawing. Colourfully displayed this is worth exploring. You can only create one popplet in this free version. However, the pay version isn't too expensive at £2.99.

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Creative pad

Digitial storytelling tool with more background, character, object options than most. Music background is a bonus and you can share by pdf/email.

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Flip boom

Create your own animations with a series of images. There are many such apps and this is good starting point as it only takes a few minutes to master. As with many of the above the free version doesn't allow you to build up a library. However, you can play with its full functionality.

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Mental class

A flashcard creation and storage app. The core purpose would be for students to create revision notes but there is scope for teacher use too. Notes can be combination of text, images and audio and organised into subject cases. To share you need to pay but you can use it effectively for yourself for free. Note: search for MENTAL CASE to find it in the app store.

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Start lite - Web to pdf

There are many ways to convert a web page to a pdf. Unsurprisingly, there are many ipad apps fro this too. Start lite is a free example allowing for 3 such conversions per day.