Tag Archives: Recommended App

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Recommended App: Duolingo

DuoLingoRecently, the 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.

Duolingo is one such app.  The app encourages students to learn another language by rewarding points for correct translations.  The app starts off easy and is simple to use.  AASL provides a tip: use the app along with geography lessons to get students interested in learning another language!

The app is free and is available on iOS and Google Play.  It is recommended for 3rd through 12th graders.  Check out the promotional video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyzJ2Qq9Abs

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

General, Public, School Media Specialist

Recommended App: Monster Physics

moster_physicsRecently, the 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 those apps, Monster Physics, is a building app that lets students play with monsters to learn physics! By using 68 different parts including wheels, rockets, magnets and more, students learn physics through solving missions and building their own inventions. AASL recommends that Monster Physics can be used to explain basic concepts such as mass, force, friction, acceleration and more.

At .99 the app is only available on iOS and recommended for 3rd through 12th graders. Check out the promotional video:

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

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

23 Mobile Things Spotlight – Thing 21: Free-for-all

icon_23_100px1This week the CMLE office shines the 23 Mobile Things spotlight on Thing 21, Free-for-all.

With this Thing, participants were tasked with blogging about an app they love but wasn’t included in the 23 Mobile Things program. There were many good posts by CMLE bloggers and many were passionate about the apps they love.

One blogger, Carolyn Avaire, in her 23 in ’14 blog, shared a great quote app. We can all use some great inspiration in our lives! “It was tough finding an app that also included info on the quoter,” she said. “I like to read about the people behind the quotes almost as much as the quotes.” The Android app was called Brilliant Quotes and is worth its addition to your mobile device.

For other ideas check out the other CMLE participant’s blogs from this page: http://23mobilethingsmn.org/cmle/

For those that are in the program, we encourage you to continue blogging, tweeting, and posting about your experiences. If you’re struggling for motivation, feel free to skip around. Find that mobile thing that motivates you.

Remember the end date to complete all 23 Mobile Things is June 15th. If learning more about mobile devices isn’t enough, we remind you that registered Minnesota participants are eligible for prizes! Keep up the great work and make sure to collect your badges.

Tip: See what people are saying on Twitter about 23 Mobile Things by following the hashtag #23ThingsMN and join the conversation!

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Recommended Apps: Shazam and SoundHound

Image by Berlin Career College. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Berlin Career College. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Have you ever been listening to the radio, heard a great song, and wondered about the title and/or artist? CMLE recommends using Shazam or SoundHound. Both of these apps identify songs and other media utilizing special sound recognition software. Results can be made available  in under a minute, allowing the user to view lyrics with an option to purchase the song. Interested in learning more about a song that you can’t seem to stop singing? SoundHound has an added feature in which the user is able to hum or sing the lyrics to initiate a search.

Note: Both of these products have a free version compatible with Apple, Android and Windows operating systems.

Tip: If you receive a device for the holidays, this is a quick and fun app to kick-start your learning.  Incorporate this technology into a mini research/trivia activity to engage your library users.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Special

Recommended EdTech Tool & Apps For Academics From MIT

This week, CMLE’s Recommended EdTech Tool and Recommended App(s) have been combined.  MIT Libraries has created an online site with a collection of apps hand selected for academic librarians.  This link will direct you to a page titled Apps for Academics: Mobile Websites and Apps.  The tabs long the top or the column on the left hand side can be used to navigate the site content. The information is categorized by the following areas of interest;

  • Productivity
  • Reading
  • Library Research
  • Taking Notes

    Apps DougBelshaw
    Some rights reserved by DougBelshaw
  • Writing
  • Presenting
  • Music