Canva: Amazingly simple graphic design

Canva is a great free graphic design app for iPad.  Canva allows users to easily design a plethora of graphics including flyers, posters, invitations, business cards, facebook covers, blog graphics, presentations, etc.  For users who prefer their laptops, there is also a website.

Why Canva?

• A simple new way to design
• Search and drag simplicity
• It's online and free to use
• Choose from one million images and hundreds of fonts
• Easy photo editing
• Collaborate with anyone, anywhere

Canva also has a Design School with great ideas for making user friendly graphics and presentations.  If your students can benefit from "How to Design a Powerful Presentation" or "How to Marry Text and Images," then Canva's Design School is for you.  

Making the Case for Database

Top reasons to use databases from Joyce Valenza

Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne

Richard Byrne is a History Teacher and Technology Guru who started a blog several years ago to highlight free technology for teachers to use in the classroom, along with ideas on how to use that technology.  Specific for Graland teachers, Byrne includes a section on iPad Apps for School, as well as Google Tutorials, etc.  It's a great place to go for teachers looking to spice up their curriculum, and a great blog to subscribe to to keep up to date with emerging technologies in education.  The best part - it's all free!

AASL Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2014

The American Association of School Librarians publishes a list of the Best Apps for Teaching Annually.  Check out the websites on this year's list, or look at those from previous years.  AASL chooses its best websites based on those that teachers recommend.  Websites are organized into categories to make them easier to navigate, this year's categories include:

• Books
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
• Organization & Management
• Social Sciences
• Content Creation

Some apps on the 2014 list include:

Kodable Pro by SurfScore

Level: Early elementary (K-2)

The fuzzFamily crashed their spaceship on Smeeborg and need your help to explore the planet's Technomazes. Use your finger to drag and drop instructions for your fuzzes to follow. Then hit Play to watch them roll through the maze with curiosity. BEWARE: Fuzzes are very LOGICAL and will follow every command exactly as you tell them! Get rewarded with stars, coins, and even EXTRA members of the fuzzFamily as you successfully complete mazes.

Tip: Use step by step sequencing to help young students master programming logic.

Easy Portfolio by The PE Geek Apps

Level: Early elementary (K-2), Upper elementary (3-5), Middle school (6-8), High school (9-12)

Capture learning in a e-portfolio using Easy Portfolio. A variety of artifacts including videos, pictures, audio files, links to external sites, and documents can be saved to a student's portfolio.

Tip: Students can save examples of their work in order to participate in student-led conferences.

Tellagami by Tellagami Labs, Inc.

Level: Early elementary (K-2), Upper elementary (3-5), Middle school (6-8), High school (9-12)

Tellagami is a mobile app that lets you create and share a quick animated video called a Gami. To create a Gami, customize your character and background, then record or type a message for your character to say.

Tip: Students can customize their own avatar, upload images for backgrounds, and record their own voice to create their Gami. No account or login information required.

And many, many more.  Check them out yourself on the AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2014 blog: http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards-guidelines/best-apps/2014

AASL 2014 Best Websites for Teaching & Learning

The American Association of School Librarians publishes a list of the Best Websites for Teaching Annually.  Check out the websites on this year's list, or look at those from previous years.  AASL chooses its best websites based on those that teachers recommend.  Websites are organized into categories to make them easier to navigate, this year's categories include:

• Media Sharing
• Digital Storytelling
• Manage & Organize
• Social Networking & Communication
• Content Resources
• Curriculum Collaboration

Some sites from this year's list include: 

• EduCanon:This site supports flipped instruction by allowing teachers to embed multiple-choice questions into YouTube, TeacherTube, or Vimeo videos. Videos can also be chopped so students view a portion of a film. Student viewing mode also prevents students from fast-forwarding, to assure they watch the entire assignment. These videos can then be assigned to student classes and given due dates which the teacher monitors for accuracy and completion, or simply linked to or embedded in a website for public viewing. Premium accounts also offer a gradebook export, free response question types, and the ability to search for and use lessons created by other users. Grades 3-12.
  Tip: Use this for flipped classroom assignments or independent work during class, having students respond to questions as they watch.

• Meograph: Meograph, a multimedia storytelling tool, allows users to pull video and photos from the web, from social media, cloud-based storage, the computer's hard drive or webcam. Easily add narration and music then embed or share. A powerful tool for creating pathfinders that include a variety of resources, both print and non-print. Grades K-12.
  Tip: Consider having students use Meograph to collect and share family histories or cultural stories.

• PowToon: This site allows for the creation of web-based presentations that include animated videos and amazing content. Powtoon is ideal for those seeking a nice alternative to more traditional presentation tools. Simple to use, it makes creating engaging, interesting, and exciting animated videos extremely easy. Users can create and show presentations straight from the Powtoon site, or opt for the export to Youtube option, or even download a MP4 video format for use offline. Grades: K-12
  
  Tip: Have students create a Powtoon video demonstrating one of Graland's core values.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And many, many more.  Visit: http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards-guidelines/best-websites/2014 to check them out!  

Tagxedo - Not your average word cloud

Tagxedo is a great tool for creating "word clouds, with styles." Wordle is great tool for creating a simple word cloud.  Taxedo does the same thing, but allows users to generate word clouds in the form of a basic image.  For example, students could paste the text from Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's "I Have a Dream" speech in to Tagxedo over a bust of Dr. King himself.  Words and phrases that appear more frequently will appear larger than those used less frequently, and the cloud will appear in the image of Dr. King.  Here's an example:

Tagxedo also allows users to change font styles, colors, etc.  Another example: