Quizizz: Game-Based Student Response System

Quizizz is a new multiplayer, game-based student assessment tool that can be used on any device with a web browser. One of the things that sets Quizizz apart is that it is self-paced and quiz questions, answers, and leaderboard all show on the student device.

Getting Started

• To get started, create your FREE account at Quizizz.com. 
• As a teacher, you have the option of choosing a quiz from the online community, or you can create your own quiz. I especially like that hovering over a quiz gives you an at-a-glance preview of the questions, so you can quickly determine if it fits your needs. If you select the quiz, you get a preview list that shows all questions and answer choices.
• If you choose to create your own quiz, the process is simple and fast. Quiz creation happens in split screen. Meaning, as you type your question items (multiple choice or true/false, with or without an attached image), you are also seeing what the question item will look like for students. You also have the option to set the response time limit anywhere from 5 seconds to 5 minutes for each question.

Playing the Game

• Much like Kahoot, students use a code to join your quiz, so there is no need to create student accounts, and there is no app to download. 
• Choose the quiz you want to administer, and select your options such as jumbling question order for students, showing/hiding the leaderboard, show memes after each question, etc. 
• Once you proceed, students navigate to join.quizizz.com and enter the quiz code projected on the screen. Once everyone is in, you’re ready to start the quiz. 
• Quizzes are self-paced. When participants finish the quiz, they have the option to review their answers while they wait on others to finish.
• As a teacher, you can download the student responses in to an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet provides data not only on the class as a whole, but also for individual students. 

(click here for video)

Tips:

• Do you plan certain subjects or lessons for your team? 
• After you create your quiz, share the link with your team members. 
• Want to challenge another class? 
• Share the join code with the other class. Since all questions, answer choices, and leaderboard rankings appear on the student devices, players don't need to be in the same room. 
• Want students to get to the join page faster? 
• When they visit the join page for the first time (on an iOS device), have them add the link to their home screen for easy access next time. 
• Have a feature suggestion for Quizizz? 
• Tweet them @quizizz and let them know! They welcome teacher feedback.

Collaborate Using Padlet

Padlet (formerly Wallwisher) is a web based collaborative tool that can be used in any classroom from elementary to high school. Posts to this virtual bulletin board appear in real time, offering the opportunity for collaboration and discussion. Once you create a free account, you are ready to create your first wall.

How can Padlet be used in the classroom?

• Embed a picture or video and have students respond.
• Post to the wall for brainstorming or create a KWL chart.
• Group discussions or research, book talks, exit tickets
• Click here and here for more ideas and examples.

What you need to know to get started:

• Click the wheel to access settings for your board. You can add a title and description for your wall, and change the board's background. 
• Layouts: Streaming looks much like a Twitter feed with posts placed one below the other. Freeform allows posts to be placed and manipulated anywhere on the wall.
• Your wall is accessed through a unique URL. Students do not need an account to access or post.
• Privacy Options: Walls can be public or private and could require a password to access if you choose. You can also adjust the rights for users depending on your needs. Users can be set to read only or you can allow them to post to the wall. 
• Walls can be shared or saved in a variety of ways (social media, export as a PDF or image, embed in a blog or website).

What can be posted to the boards?

• Double clicking anywhere on the wall will create a post.
• You can type text, use a webcam to take a picture, insert web links, images, documents, or video. You can also drag and drop files to the wall. 
• Posts can be easily deleted by clicking the trash can.
• Moderation: If you choose to moderate posts you will need to approve each post before they can go live on the page. 

Are you a Google Chrome user? Get Padlet's Chrome App!

Share Images over WiFi with Image Transfer

Image Transfer (free)
Photo and Video Transfer ($1.99)

Have you ever wanted to transfer photos and videos from a computer to one or more iOS devices or vice versa? Do you want your students to have a quick and easy way to send you screen shots of their work or share images with each other for a project? Emailing images isn't always a viable option considering limitations on file size and the number of images you can send. Transferring images and videos over wifi is the answer.

Image Transfer and the paid version, Photo and Video Transfer are probably the easiest apps I have found for transferring photos and videos between multiple devices or between devices and computers. The only requirement is that the iOS devices must be on the same wireless network and the computers need access to the internet. A username and password are not needed.   While the free version does limit you to 5 photos at a time, it would be a great way to try the app out for yourself. You can upgrade from within the app if you decide you need to transfer more than 5 photos at a time or you want to transfer videos. You can even transfer between devices that have both free and paid versions.

Transferring images between iOS devices over WiFi using Image Transfer:

1. Each device that you will be transferring images to/from needs to have the app installed and open.
2. Make sure all mobile devices are on the same wireless network.
3. Click the "Send" section of the app to choose photos to send.
4. When the photos have been selected, click the Send button in the upper right hand corner and choose "Send to iPhone or iPad". The app will look for devices on the same network.
5. Click on the name of the device you want to send images to.  A transfer progress window will appear and let you know when the transfer is complete. The receiving device will show a message that the photos were saved to the Camera Roll.
6. Click "Done".

Transferring between iOS devices and a computer 

This process is very similar.  Choose "Send to a Computer" instead of an iOS device.  The app will provide a permalink address for you to enter into a browser on the computer. Images are then downloaded from the iOS devices or uploaded to them through this URL.

Classroom Uses for Image Transfer

1. With the free app, students can transfer up to 5 images to each other for sharing in a project or to the teacher for grading. 
2. With the paid app, students can transfer more than 5 images as well as video projects, recorded book reports and video captures of work done in whiteboard apps that allow saving to the device's photo album (ex. DoodleCast Pro and Sago Mini Doodlecast)
3. Students and teachers can share their field trip photos for slide shows, how-to demonstrations and much more. 

What ideas can you come up with?  Please share in the comment section.

If you are looking for a similar app for your Android device, check out Image Transfer App available on Google Play.

Top 10 Apps You Should Know About in 2013

Mobile Learning. Tablets in Education. Project-based Learning. The trend for mobile technology in 2012 started a movement for 2013. Below is a list of ten apps educators, teachers, administrators should consider trying in the year 2013. Each app is labeled with the platform, audience, cost, along with a brief description. Be sure to click on the app icon for more information.

Spin
Platform: iOS (requires iOS 5.0 or later)
Audience: Anyone who wants to learn collaboratively
Price: FREE
Together Learn app allows online learners to create an online class, pause or fast-forward lectures, skip to another video, write on a digital chalkboard and debate with other users.

Socrative Student Clicker
Platform: Android (requires 2.1 or later); iOS (requires iOS 4.3 or later)
Audience: Students, faculty (6-12; Higher Ed)
Price: FREE
Socrative is a response system that allows teachers to gather student feedback with activities, short answer and mulitple choice quizzes and games.

Nearpod
Platform: iOS (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad – requires iOS 4.3 or later)
Audience: Teachers and Students
Price: FREE
With Nearpod, teachers can bring the classroom to life with interactive mobile presentations that they create and customize themselves.

Educreations
Platform: iOS (iPad – requires iOS 4.3 or later)
Audience: Teachers and Students
Price: FREE
Educreations enables users to create presentations with interactive text, diagrams, audio and video on the iPad or web.

Explain Everything
Platform: iOS (iPad - requires iOS 4.3 or later) 
Audience: Teachers/Students/Administrators
Price: FREE
Explain Everything is a design tool that lets you annotate, animate, and narrate explanations and presentations. Click here for quick overview guide.


ezPDF Reader
Platform: Android (requires 2.1 or later); iOS (requires iOS 4.3 or later)
Audience: Anyone who needs an interactive PDF player
Price: Android ($3.99); Apple  ($1.99-on sale at this time)
ezPDF Reader is the only PDF viewer with the embedded multimedia file playing capability feature. It also supports annotations and PDF form filling.


Remind 101
Platform: Android (requires 2.2 or later); iOS (requires iOS 4.3 or later)
Audience: Teachers/Administrators
Price: FREE
Remind101 is a safe way for teachers to text message students and keep in touch with parents and for administrators to send bulletins to staff. Remind 101 HelpDesk - click here.

VoiceThread
Platform: iOS (requires iOS 4.2 or later)
Audience: Students/Teachers/Administrators
Price: FREE
A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice, text, audio file, or video (via a webcam).

Ask3
Platform: iOS (requires iOS 5.1 or later)
Audience: Teachers and Students
Price: FREE
By recording your voice, drawings, and images, Ask3 helps you create videos that can be shared directly to your class. Students can watch the videos you create using Ask3 and can quickly ask and answer each other's questions.

Genius Scan
Platform: Android (requires 2.3 or later); iOS (requires iOS 5.1 or later)
Audience: Anyone
Price: Android ($1.09) Apple (free)
Genius Scan turns your mobile device into a pocket scanner and then share that document as a PDF or JPEG via email. Documents can also be exported to Box, Google Docs, Evernote, or Dropbox.

Credits:  Some information for this post came from an article featured on Edudemic: 20 Apps to Know about in 2013. Click here to read that article.

“Tis the season to shop for High-Tech Toys!

We have smartphones, iPads and iPod touches, 3D TV’s, tablets, and iPad minis, as well as Archos GamePad, PS3, xBox, Oakley Airwave Goggles with GPS, and so much more.  From the silly to the brilliant here are a few ideas.


The JOYSTICK-IT ($14.99) works with any device which features a capacitive touchscreen. This includes the iPad and many Android tablets.







The Olloclip for the iPhone is a 3-1 quick-connect lens solution for the iPhone that includes fisheye, wide-angle, and macro lenses in one small, convenient package that easily fits in your pocket.

Foosball for the iPad (around $100.00) Free app comes with it.  However, if I remember my college days, many many years ago, it could be dangerous for that iPad!

Helix Bendable Bluetooth Speakers ($50.00)  bluetooth speakers with a flexible inner core, that let the user wrap them like a bracelet. From the user’s wrist to their shower head, Helix’s flexible body helps it wrap around what they want, while its water resistant exterior keeps its inner electronics safe, as long as it's not submerged. The Quirky logo serves as an on/off tab, while the user controls it with their bluetooth device.

 

 
Polaroid Z2300 ($167.00) is the newest addition to Polaroid’s instant camera.  It allows users to print snaps instantly.  It produces a 10 megapixel 2 x 3 inch image in full color in under a minute.



 Put the future at your fingertips with a Virtual Laser Keyboard ($99.99 - $200.00). Revolutionary laser technology projects a virtual keyboard on any flat surface.  There are several out there. This one pictured is from Brookstone.

Digits - Conductive Glove Pins ($14.99) Don't let your gloves keep you away from your smartphone! Digits are mini conductive pins that convert the gloves you already own and love into smartphone-compatible gloves.





Tip of the Week:  Shopping Online Safety

1. Keep your computer, browser, and anti-virus software updated.
2. Pay attention to web addresses.  Many malicious websites may look like a legitimate site but may use a variation in spelling or a different domain.  Also look in the address box for the “s” in https:// before any transaction.
   Use a credit card, not a debit card.  With credit cards, laws limit your liability for fraudulent charges.
3. Keep a record of your order and compare when you receive your credit card bill.
4. Don’t use public computers and unsecured wireless connections.