Virtual Learning Network

Ideas shared during the BYOD forum at the NZAMT-13 Conference, Friday 4th October 2013. Add your own suggestions in the comments below, and tell us about your experiences with the tools already listed.

• Scanning apps: CamScan/ScanCam, JotNot, Genius
• uBoard or Mimeo: portable interactive whiteboard
• MyScript calculator app (Apple or Android): freehand calculator (as opposed to buttons)
• Teamviewer, Reflector or Splashtop: allows you to show your tablet or phone on the projector, or control your computer from your tablet or phone.
• Dragonbox: "Secretly teaches algebra to your children!" - game app
• myimaths: tutorials, lessons and games
• Puffin and Flashfox: allows you to play flash videos on mobile devices
• fluidmaths: handwritten maths. Similar to MyScript calculator app in principle, but much more functional - algebra and graphing etc as well as simple calculations.
• Socrative and Poll Anywhere / Poll Everywhere: Running a quiz in class without a class set of clickers. Also check out these links: Embedding into Moodle / Embedding into Prezi
• Desmos (Browser): Graph functions, plot tables of data, evaluate equations, explore transformations. You can add sliders to graphs to change coefficients. Similar in functionality to Geogebra, but prettier
• Inspiration Maps: mind mapping. Useful for unit planning, or for students to do brainstorms etc, mindmaps to summarise a topic for revision
• Fraser Speirs: follow his blog for technology in education
• List Selector: select from a list. Useful for choosing student groupings etc. Please add your suggestions below for this one, the tool suggestions were flying thick and fast at this point of the discussion and I missed the other suggestions for how to use List Selector!
• thatquiz and quizlet: online quizzes. Create your own or use a pre-existing one.
• educreations (cross-platform browser, or iPad app) and showme (iPad only): collaborative whiteboard apps that allow you to record audio while writing/drawing. Useful for teaching students OR for students to create their own to share with fellow students.
• voicethread: recording voices to show working - particularly useful for collecting evidence for Numeracy portfolios, or for bridging the gap between students making observations and students writing observations (eg in Multivariate Statistics)
• quickkey: formative assessment tool - saves you hours of exit tests and populating rollbook spreadsheets!
• elevated maths: app for teaching maths. Free to download, $2.59 per topic as in-app purchases
• starter of the day: different starter for every day of the calendar year, or you can search for a starter on a particular topic
• btwaters.com - probability games
• Using clinometer apps in practical activities
• WolframAlpha app (Apple, Android, Kindle, Nook): Amazing. It knows everything and can calculate everything. Requires network connection.
• PocketCAS app (Apple only): CAS calculator. less powerful than WolframAlpha but works offline. Also good for a quick BEDMAS calculation that needs more than the built-in calculator
• Quick Graph app (Apple only): powerful graphing app. Does 2-D curves or 3-D surfaces.