Review of Evernote Peek by Kathy Burdick

Name of App: Evernote Peek

Free or Fee: Free!

Rating: 5/5 stars

Why I like it: Evernote Peek is a fun alternative to flashcards if you have an iPad 2 with a Smart Cover. The app has a few existing notebooks (Sushi Quiz, French Words, and a How To Manual). So, if you are teaching a class on sushi your students can open the existing notebook to begin studying but, for the rest of us teachers we can create a new notebook for any topic or lesson. Students can even create their own notebook to better suit their needs. Students can also use Evernote Peek to study simultaneously with a partner since the answer is covered (challenge partners to see who can answer correctly the quickest!) In addition to the existing notebooks in Peek, Evernote has several other notebooks that can be downloaded by logging onto Evernote from your iPad. These include, Nouns, Music Terms, Periodic Table, Economy 101 and World Capitals. Digital studying is much more fun than the  ‘ol index cards!

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Review of Flashcards Deluxe by Kathy Burdick

Name of App: Flashcards Deluxe

Free or Fee: $3.99

Rating: 5/5

Developer: OrangeOrApple.com

Why I like it: Flashcards Deluxe is a flashcard app with many great features. It makes the index card obsolete in terms of flashcards. With Flashcards Deluxe students can:

• o   Add sound, pictures and turn text to speech
• o   Flag or exclude cards
• o   Add notes to individual cards
• o   Read stats regarding study results for each card
• o   Create personal study decks that can be shared with others
• o   Download decks made by other users (over 4 million decks in library)

The responses are different from other flashcard apps I have seen. The user can answer in 3 ways, wrong, kind of know or know really well. Students can then look at the card stats to see what they need to study more intently. The app automatically removes cards from the deck that were answered correct after a certain number of reviews. Nice feature, but I think it should be optional. I find the share option of great value. Students can create decks and share them with others and teachers can create decks to share with students or other teachers. Students can even work together in the creation of a deck (adding info, pictures, sound, etc) and then share it. Flashcards Deluxe truly is a deluxe with features that beat the rest. 

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Review of Flashcard+ by Kathy Burdick

Name of App: Flashcard+

Fee or Free: Free!

Rating: 4/5

Seller: Connor Zwick

Why I like it: There are many flashcard apps. Some are paid and some are free. Others offer a free version, but add restrictions to the number of decks and/or cards per deck. If you like a free app without restrictions and are in search for a flashcard app, download Flashcard+. This app allows the user to create personal flashcard decks (with as many cards as you’d like!), but also has preprogrammed decks from Quizlet ranging from state capitals to parts of speech to basic math facts. Quizlet allows users to create an account and create flashcard decks to share. Since flashcards are a great way for students to review recently learned lessons, Flashcard+ makes it easy for teachers and/or students to create a deck of flashcards for the whole class! The only downfall to Flashcard+ is that it takes some practice to get the hang of flipping over the card and moving to the next card using the touch screen. Bravo to Flashcard+ for offering a great free app without restrictions!

Reviewer's Website

Teacher - IPhone App - Interesting Possibility

Check this app out that is coming soon... This might be very interesting for all of you Teacher IPhone users.

In the coming few months Siri will be born.

We are delighted to introduce a simpler, more intelligent, and more personal paradigm for interacting with the internet. Your virtual “personal assistant.” We believe that in the next 5 years almost everyone who lives a connected lifestyle will delegate the details of their everyday tasks to intelligent assistants to coordinate, execute and simplify the details of their life. I believe we will look back on these days and ask ourselves how we ever got by without our trusted assistant in the same way my kids ask in amazement about how I ever got by without laptops and the Internet.

Simple Mind Express - mindmapping - Show #34

Grade Level: Late Elementary

Program Functionality: B / Pretty easy to use but the export to their website didn't work. You can take a screen shot but it doesn't take the entire map as your map might be bigger than the screen.

Purpose: B / Exporting is an issue but we can see some interesting potential with this application.

Overall Educational Value: C / This can have some nice value in a classroom if it gets improved.

Cost: $ Free

Recommendation: We are recommending this app for personal use and within a school setting at this time. Hopefully they can fix the bugs and get this app to be more functional.

Creators Website: http://www.simpleapps.eu/simplemind

ITunes Link: Click Here

Hey, check out our Ning (Online Community) devoted to helping teachers utilize these devices to the their fullest.