Module 4 - The Khan Academy

     The app that I chose for my final technology in education blog post is the "Khan Academy".  Overall, this may have been my favorite of all the apps that I researched over the last few months. The Khan Academy allows users to learn almost any topic for free.  I was able to use this app on both my computer and my IPhone.

     When I began using this app, the first thing I did was set up my personalized account and profile. You can add a username, biographical information, as well as a picture.  Your profile will also track your progress and "badges" as you advance through the different types of learning activities. It will also keep track of your recent activities and discussions with other users about education or the various topics. After you have completed your profile, you can begin your journey by opening up your "Learning Dashboard". This will give the user their first challenge (Mine was Math).  After completing the Math pretest, it opened up more math topics for me to work on.  The Khan Academy is set up so that the topics are released to the user in an order of increasing difficulty. The Khan Academy not only offers a variety of topics in Math, but also in Science, Economics, Humanities, Computing, Test Prep, and Partner Work.  This app breaks down subjects into grade levels for 1st - 8th grade and then divides subjects into topics for the more advance types of topics (For example, Math is broken into algebra, geometry, trigonometry, etc).

  

     I think the section for Test Prep is particularly useful for students. It has special sections for the SAT, the MCAT, and the GMAT, along with a few others. Many students who have to take these stressful exams, would be happy to have the easily accessible content to assist them in their test preparation.

    I would recommend the Khan Academy for both teachers and students.  Teachers can use the app as a fun way to engage students in certain topics.  I feel like students would enjoy being able to track their progress and earn badges for their learning achievements.  Students of all ages and grades levels can benefit from using the Khan Academy.  It not only covers a wide variety of topics, but it also does an effective job and making sure students gain mastery in subject areas.  The whole progress tracking feature of the app is designed around topic and subject mastery. Many students would find the Khan Academy to be a great supplemental tool to their textbooks and other learning materials for almost any course.

For more information visit: The Khan Academy

Module 3 - Mathway

       The education app that I chose for my third blog post was "Mathway".  Mathway is a app designed to assist students with various types of mathematics. It has sections for basic math, trigonometry, calculus, pre-algebra, algebra, statistics, and pre-calculus. Mathway provides a wide variety of math functions for its users. At its most basic form, Mathway functions as sort of math tutor.  It allows the user to enter any math equation into its box and it will not only compute the equation for you, but it will also provide you with the step by step process of how it arrived at the solution. Mathway also provides a mathematics glossary.  This way if the user has any questions about terms or math phrases, they can simply look up the terms in the glossary. 

      The most useful feature of Mathway was that it provides a multitude of examples for a wide range of math topics.  For instance, within the "Algebra section", there are 21 separate topics on algebra that the student can click on and see examples and descriptions on how to solve that particular type of equation.  This feature would be a great use for students of any math class. This app would be most useful for high school and college level math courses.  However, its "Basic Math" section could be applicable for middle school and junior high students.

      Its wide range of topics can appeal to a variety of math users. Mathway doesn't simply just give the user the answer, like a calculator would, but it provides the important step-by-step breakdown of how the solution was achieved. This process is also a great way for students to check their work when they are done.  That way, if the solution the student originally got was wrong, they can go back and look through the step-by-step process on Mathway and they can see where they went wrong.

I downloaded Mathway on my IPhone.  The only improvement that I would make to this app is that it needs to have larger buttons for its calculating functions.  With so many keys, the buttons appeared very small on the phone and it was a little tough to consistently enter the proper keys. Overall,  I think Mathway is great for students of all ages and I would certainly recommend it to others.

For more information visit: Mathway

Module 2 - Study Almost Any Topic with "Quizlet"

The technology app that I chose to investigate for my second post is called "Quizlet".  Quizlet allows the user to search almost any academic topic and then provides the user with a variety of activities to study that topic.  For instance, I typed in "health" and then received a list of health related topics.  When I clicked on one I was taken to the "Terms" list where the concepts of the topic are introduced.  After reviewing the key terms for the topic, the user can play three different games to review the terms.  It offers "Flash Cards", "Learn", and "Scatter.  Flash cards are just what you would think, term on one side and definition on the other.  The "Learn" activity presents the user with a definition and they must type in the term.  The "Scatter" activity provides a list of terms and definitions mixed together and the user must match the definition with the term.  All the activities seem to be really useful study techniques for students to use.

Quizlet is already being used in classrooms.  Teachers are posting their reviews on Quizlet and letting their students use them on their own.  For example, when you click on the "Info" section of each quizlet, it will tell you who supplied it.  Some are very specific like, "Ms. Jones Sophomore Health Final".  I think Quizlet is very practical for classrooms.  Teachers and students alike will enjoy using this app.  I know that I would like to try using it in my classrooms. 

The only improvement that I would make to this app is to have some kind of review or editing process for the quizlets that are posted.  Because some quizlets are submitted by teachers, the formatting does not always match up.  Sometimes the information doesn't translate as well to the activities as it should.

Overall, this was a great app and I would recommend it to teachers and students.  It promotes good study skills and provides a variety of ways to review the same topic.  That way the material is really engrained in the students' minds.

For more information visit: http://quizlet.com/

Module 1 - Tech in Ed - Doulingo

    The technology tool that I chose for our first blog post was the iPhone app "Duolingo". This app is designed to help a student or anyone who is learning a new language. I personally chose this app because I work in a largely Hispanic high school and there is tremendous benefit to me knowing my Spanish. This app would be perfect to supplement any high school language course.  This would be a great way for students to get out of class reviews and to be sure they are proficient in the previously covered area. After just learning about "Differentiated Instruction" in one of my classes, the first thing I noticed, after using Duolingo for only a short time is that it uses a variety of methods to teach the user. It keys on audio, textual, visual, and even voice recognition activities to help increase the users learning.

   The way Duolingo works is each language is divided into units based on difficulty and then each unit is divided into sub-sections that address specific areas of each unit. The user has 4 "Lives" or mistakes that they can make in each lesson, but any more than 4, and the user will not pass the lesson. With a little previous experience in Spanish, I found myself having a nice review in the first lesson with some key words and phrases.

It has several nice features that make learning easy, fun, and productive. Duolingo allows the user to set daily and weekly goals to help tract your progress throughout each language course. Goal setting is an integral part of successful education. Another nice feature is that it is easy to learn new material. If the user simply clicks on a word that they don't know, Duolingo will display a drop down menu from the word with the English equivalences. Duolingo also does a good job of presenting material in both languages to give the user a good mix of English and the new language they are studying.

    I would recommend Duolingo to anyone trying to study and learn a new language. Duolingo gives me the confidence to even try learning a new language that I don't have any experience with. With its fairly simplistic form, even the most novice of learners can begin to expand their language learning with Duolingo.  It is easy to use, it's fun, and you can learn almost anywhere since the app will be on your phone or tablet.


More information can be found at: www.duolingo.com