Tag Archives: AASL

General

Recommended App: Umano

UmanoRecently, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) came out with their 25 Best Apps for Teaching & Learning for 2014.  The apps were chosen because they foster innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration.

One of the featured apps is Umano.  This app presents the news verbally – news stories are read out loud (multiple languages are available), but users can look at the full text of the article as well.  Users can also change the narration speed!  AASL says, “there are also social media tools built in, allowing readers to share stories they have listened to, comment, and read reviews and opinions.”

Umano is recommended for grades 6-12 and is available for free on iOS and Android.  Check out the promotional video:

General, School Media Specialist

Recommended App: Kodable

Kodable ProRecently, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) came out with their 25 Best Apps for Teaching & Learning for 2014.  The apps were chosen because they foster innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration.

Kodable is one such app.  The app teaches coding to kids in a gaming environment.  Fuzzes – the characters users play with – “are very logical and will follow every command exactly as you tell them,” says the AASL.  Rewards of stars and coins encourage users to keep playing.

The free app is available on iOS and is recommended for grades K-2.  See Kodable in action:

General, School Media Specialist

Recommended App: Shadow Puppet

Shadow PuppetRecently, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) came out with their 25 Best Apps for Teaching & Learning for 2014.  The apps were chosen because they foster innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration.

One app on the list is Shadow Puppet.  This app fosters the student work creation and sharing, especially with presentations – users can upload images and record their voices, no account necessary.  Besides presentations, Shadow Puppet can be easily used for storytelling.

The iOS-only app is free and is recommended for all grades K-12.  Here you can see the finished product of using Shadow Puppet to make a birthday card presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp1_0PVE080

General

Recommended App: GoodReader

GoodreaderRecently, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) came out with their 25 Best Apps for Teaching & Learning for 2014.  The apps were chosen because they foster innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration.

GoodReader is one of these apps.  Users can manage content from various sources – Excel, Word, and iWork documents; PowerPoint presentations; PDFs and more.  Then, users can read, organize, and even annotate these files, either online or locally through the app.  The app has built in annotation tools that are great for students – highlighters, bookmarks, and stickies.

The app is available on iOS for $4.99 and is recommended for all grades K-12.  Most GoodReader tutorials are long, but here is a short intro into annotating documents and sharing them:

For more apps, check out our 2014 Recommended App archive!

School Media Specialist

Tips for Using Pinterest at Your Library

Interested in Pinterest, but unsure of how to apply it at work?  Look no further! Elissa Malespina, a blogger for the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), has compiled a great post about using Pinterest in a library setting.  While the post is targeted to school librarians, the tips can easily be adapted for other libraries.  From sharing book trailers to showing off your library’s own collection, there is something here for every librarian!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/infographics/How-Educators-Use-Pinterest-800.png