2022 introduced to one of our favorite new education apps, new ways to collaborate, news ways to create, and so much more. We’re sharing 10 different education apps and how you can use them in 2023. Check them out below!
(click on any subheading to jump to that section)
Osmo’s Reading Adventure
This past summer, we were introduced to Osmo’s latest addition: “Reading Adventure.” Reading Adventure is an interactive program that helps students learn to read. Reading Adventure uses speech recognition to create a personalized reading experience for your students, complete with actual books and a crystal wand. Developed with educators, Reading Adventure interacts with your child to give personalized feedback, increasing reading proficiency. The game features the characters Oliver and Nebula, who join your child on a quest to catch "Dreams" and return them to the Kingdom of Slumber. Check out how it works in our video below!
Book Creator
Book Creator announced some key updates this past fall. In addition to its integration with Canva, remixable books and comments, now users can crop images and import PDF’s. We’re HUGE fans of the Canva integration, which allows students to design using Canva without ever having to leave Book Creator (you read that right)! Learn more about this update by clicking here and checking out our blog post! our next favorite update has to be the ability to “remix” books. Think of these as templates that can be shared and edited / altered. We’re loving the designs being shared, and there are more appearing every day! To see some of our remixable books, click here or the images below. Let us know how you are using them!
Gimkit
GimKit is a great way to take those boring formative assessments and turn them into engaging experiences for your students. There is a free and paid version, but we highly recommend the paid version as it unlocks all of the modes (and won’t break your bank at only $59.88 a year or $9.99 per month). The Pro (or paid) version will give you access to new modes like “Frostbite,” “This or That,” and “Farmchain.” We love these modes because it adds a new element of excitement into the games. For example, in “Frostbite,” the focus isn’t necessarily on money, but rather “knockouts” with snowballs. The only way you can earn snowballs is to answer questions! Learn more about the other modes below and give GimKit a shot!
Seesaw
Seesaw has always been a top five app for us. Its ability to communicate with families in a quick and efficient manner is a must for any classroom. Then, add on it’s creation tools, and it’s a must have. But, this past summer Seesaw took parent engagement to the next level by adding a messaging option. Now, educators can communicate with families via messages. A lot of attention went into the details of this feature. Educators can start 1:1 messages, group conversations, or whole-group announcements. They can choose if a message is one-way or two-way, and even use the search bar to quickly find recipients. There are also options for specialist teachers to message multiple classes at once, or give students the ability to reach out to the teacher for help. Learn more about messaging on Seesaw by clicking right here or check out the tutorial below!
Wakelet
Wakelet is one of our favorite ed tech apps and it just keep getting better. What started out as a way to curate information, has now turned into a creative outlet for your students. Our favorite new Wakelet feature introduces its integration with Canva. Now, users can design with Canva without ever having to leave Wakelet (yes, you read that right!). For example, when adding an image to a collection, the option to design with Canva appears. Clicking it will launch Canva as a pop up right within the same browser window. If you’re on the educator side, you can use Canva to design differentiated Wakelet collections. Canva has a ton of header template images available. to view them, click the image to the right or here!
Canva
Canva announced a slew of updates this past year, some more hidden than others. This past year brought us tables, whiteboards and docs into Canva. But, some of the more well hidden features caught our attention. For example, check out the all-new magic design tool called “Text to Generate Images.” With “Text to Generate Images,” users type of the specifics of what they are looking for. Then, Canva does all the work - looking for a design that best suits what was described. Check out out video to the right to learn how it all works! Another feature added (to premium accounts only) was “Magic Write,” which is an AI-enabled writing assistant that empowers anyone to effortlessly and quickly create written content. You can use it for social posts, business plans, websites, blogs, poems, journaling, creative writing, and so much more. It can generate sentences, paragraphs, lists, outlines, and more based on the text prompt you enter. This was intended for creators, so Canva has not (yet) included it in their Education accounts. However, educators should familiarize themselves with this tool and educate students accordingly. It’s an incredible resource, but could be used in the wrong way if it isn’t taught properly. Learn more about “Magic Write” by clicking on the image below or right here!
Novel Effect
Novel Effect has exploded over the past year. This app uses the microphone built into your smart phone (or iPad) to listen to you read. As you read a story, Novel Effect will play music and / or soundscapes that go along with the book. It’s important to note that while Novel Effect uses your devices microphone, it’s not actually recording and saving you read. New books are being added every day, and now the entire library is full of books that you most likely already own in your own personal classroom library. But, what really got us thinking this past year was Novel Effect’s ability to impact our student’s reading. For example, give students the chance to be the readers while using Novel Effect. This will encourage them to slow down so that the sound effects can keep up with what they are reading. Novel Effect has also started a learning resource page on their website. Here you can find FREE content that goes along with the books you are reading. Check it out by clicking the image to the right or here!
Classkick
Classkick is a website / app that allows you to see all your students work and give high-quality feedback–from anywhere, anytime. The key word being “anywhere,” and they mean it! Even if a student is home working on an assignment, you can see them working in real time. You can also provide feedback to them in real time. The educator dashboard gives you a class-wide view of everything that the students are doing, so you can tell what the pace of the class is. As amazing as all of this sounds, what we really love about Classkick is the accessibility features. Educators and students can add audio recordings to explain directions or how they were thinking. There’s also options to allow collaboration. Students can help out others once they have completed tasks - all of which can be easily monitored on the educator side. To learn more, click on the image to the right or here!
Microsoft Flip (Formally Flipgrid)
Microsoft Flip is always listening to educators and updating based on their preferences. The major take away from Flip this year is it’s all-new educator dashboard, which mirrors what students see on their side. This makes it easier to get a student-view of what is being asked. Hidden amongst the platform comes another slew of valuable updates. The key takeaway here: don’t be afraid to push some buttons! You may find hidden features! For example, with the camera launched - click the three dots. A drop down will appear giving you the option to mirror your camera. Dig a little deeper and you’ll quickly find that you are able to toggle between both front and rear facing cameras without having to pause! Check out our video to the right for a full walk through! Another hack / tip our students came up with this year was using Flip for writing. When working on a “How To” writing assignment, the kids began by recording a video of the steps required to accomplish the task. Then, they enabled the captions to make sure that they were able to spell difficult words that they normally may not be able to spell. This helped them as they went on to write. Normally, we think of Flip as being the final place for content - but in this case, it ignite learning! (Note - we actually circled back around and created final videos for each writing piece!) To learn more about this writing process, click here or the image below!
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams acts like a house for content. Some of the more stand-out updates come from built-in apps like Reflect, Reading Progress and Whiteboard. In Reading Progress, educators can gain valuable insights and data on student progress. The program will intelligently identify “challenge” or frequently mis-read words. On the educator side, you can now create an assignment to help your readers master the missed terms. Check out the video from Mike Tholfsen to learn more. Also new in Teams is an updated student view in the app “Reflect.” Students can privately answer questions that educators can use to monitor the social and emotional well being of their students. To learn more, click here! Lastly, Whiteboard lands with more features than ever. We love differentiating our instruction into groups on Teams, and then letting the small groups use Whiteboard to collaborate. Students can now add images, videos and links - all collaboratively!
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For more tips, tricks and lesson ideas for making learning more interACTIVE, check out our books The InterACTIVE Class and Flipgrid in the InterACTIVE Class on Amazon!
