Thursday, 2 May 2013

 


Table of Contents: Applications in Education
Introduction: Apps in Education
ClassDojo by Nahaboo Solim Shuaib
iStudiez Pro by Adam Picker
Dropbox by Ilan Carno
iTunes U by Levi Suttner
WhatsApp by Kyle McGill
Skype by Dean Mendes
Adobe Reader by Meira Friedland
You Tube by Natalie Tranchina
Penultimate By Ariella Blumenthal
Background to Survey
Survey Results
Survey Recommendations

 

Introduction: Applications in Education

This multi-author blog contains research regarding applications that are useful in education. The blog contains contributions and research done by a wide range of authors that have investigated and explored the different uses for apps and how they can be useful to university and school students as well as educators. The blog also includes an analysis done on a survey sent out to students. The information contained in this blog is useful to students as they can explore and decide what apps might or might not be useful to them in student life. The blog can also be useful to educators as they can begin to understand the mind-set and working ways of their students. This will allow teacher to allocate types of assignments and work-loads more accurately.

ClassDojo

ClassDojo educational application software was launched in 2010 to help teachers in improving students’ behaviour. 10 months later, there were already 3.5 million teachers and students across 30 countries using the service. The app also won the top prize at the ‘Innovation Challenge at Education Help’ in September 2011. It is free and can be accessed by using a Smartphone, laptop, or tablet.

Through the app, teachers create a free account, add their students’ names and customize the behaviors they want to encourage.  During class, positive behavior is reinforced by dishing out feedback points to students; these feedback points are displayed in real-time in the classroom with audio-visual cues allowing students to see how they are progressing, both individually and as a class. The software is also made in a way that it promotes good behavior while the students have fun. For example, to start off, the entire class with the same avatar monster image and then allow students to personalize or choose their favourite monster avatar once they've met a goal.
The underlying platform automatically compiles this data into reports, letting teachers monitor progress, trends and share information with parents and administrators.

There’s this whole other half of education that is currently unaddressed by education technology; the half that goes beyond just building good test scores to building character strengths that are essential for lifetime success. Academic research, as well as practical evidence from some of the best-performing schools in the country, that  show while building character and behavioral skills, it leads to two to four times the improvement in academic results, graduation rates, health outcomes and other socioeconomic measures.

Website
Author
Date Accessed
Sam Chaudhary and Liam Don
16 March 2013
Paul Sawers
16 March 2013

 Student Name: Nahaboo Solim Muhammad Shuaib (569763)

 

  iStudiez Pro

iStudiez Pro is an app exclusively for Apple products that allows high school and university students to organise and plan all of their work and assignments in just one app. Many students are unable to achieve their potential at school or university as they are unable to gather their information successfully and cannot keep up with the enormous workload despite having the raw knowledge to succeed. The Schedule Planner feature allows students to keep detailed schedules of all classes, lectures, venues and holidays while the Notification and Badges notifies students when a class begins or when an assignment is due. The Cloud Sync feature allows users to sync their information with other Mac or iOS devices and can thus access their work on a number of different devices.

 

Students can keep track of their progress in a certain subject with the Grades and GPA feature while the Assignments Review feature allows users to manage their homework and assignments by the date they are due making it easier for students to stay up to date with the work that is required of them. In conclusion, iStudiez Pro plays a major role in assisting the student with keeping up to date and ultimately, achieving higher results due to being organised and informed at all times. Furthermore, the app will ease the burden of teachers who constantly have to remind their students of upcoming tests and assignments.

 

Users of iStudiez Pro acknowledge that the use of the app has allowed them to become more productive and organised. Rather than having scattered sources of work such as notes and books which are easily lost, this app allows users to store important information on a single app. The Calendar feature helps users stay up to date with their schedule and store information about their classes, lecturers or teachers, assignments and tests. The iStudiez Pro app also allows users to track their progress as they are able to add the grades that they received for tests or assignments onto the app. conclusively, this app is able to assist students to the extent that their marks and productivity improve and their schedules become easier to manage.

Website
Author
Date Accessed
iStudiez Team
21 April 2013
Nathan Snelgrove
21 April 2013

Student Name: Adam Picker (740039)

   Dropbox


Dropbox is a free application that allows you to bring all your work, files, movies and music to the same place. This is what is now commonly referred to as syncing data.
Any file saved in Dropbox will now automatically be saved in your computer, smartphone, and other forms of technology, which means the information, cannot get lost or accidentally deleted. Dropbox is useful in education in that it is very easy to share your files with others and they are always readily available, making student life much easier. Teachers and educators can also make use of Dropbox by sharing files with their students, this ensures the students receive the information and it is now backed up and cannot get lost. Teachers can also plan lectures on Dropbox, which makes lecturing easier for them, and these lectures can be shared with students over Dropbox. Dropbox can also do some really amazing things that were unthought-of in the past such as scanning important personal documents, for example your driver’s license birth certificate, marriage certificate, Identity document, and any other relevant documents. All these documents will be permanently saved into your Dropbox account and can be accessed whenever you need them. It also allows you to download in PDF form the manuals of certain products, and they will be permanently saved into your Dropbox. Dropbox is proving to be the future technology for storing, saving and retrieving information both quickly and easily and over time its storage space will surely increase and the demand for Dropbox will too.

 

 

 

Website
Author
Date Accessed
The Macworld Staff Team
22 April 2013
My Android Apps
21 April 2103

Student Name: Ilan Carno (681284)

 

  iTunes U

iTunes U is the world’s largest online catalogue of free education content. It contains more than 500,000 free lectures, videos, books, and other resources on thousands of subjects. It also allows you to listen to the most recent lecture or review the latest presentation as well as to stay on top of your assignments and check them off as you complete them. When an instructor sends a message or creates a new assignment, you’ll receive a push notification with the new information. From the iTunes U app, you can play video or audio lectures and take notes that are synchronized with the lecture. You can read books, view presentations and see lists of all the assignments for the course and check them off as they’re completed.  iTunes U integrates with iBooks and other apps to make it easy to keep up with your coursework. It keeps your documents, notes, highlights, and bookmarks up to date on all your devices. With iTunes U, it’s easy to create your own custom courses for iPad and teach or learn from them in the classroom. It puts all the materials you create for your course—syllabus, videos, apps, books, class assignments, and more—all in one place. Anyone can create courses using iTunes U Course Manager, an easy-to-use web-based tool. This app has the ability to enhance education greatly. It makes information easy to access and provides all the necessary functions to keep work neat and orderly.

Website
Author
Date Accessed
 
Jeffrey Selingo
15 April 2013
 
Apple Inc
15 April 2013

Student Name: Levi Suttner (720113)