Got a Minute, Literally? Watch the Stick Pick Demo Video

This one-minute video succinctly demonstrates the core features of Stick Pick: the first app of its kind to let teachers (or students) tie Bloom's-style or ESL-style questions to each individual learner's cognitive or linguistic level.

Teachers: if you're hoping to use your summer to gear up for the next school year, take one minute to familiarize yourself with Stick Pick. Watch how easy it is to ask the right student the right question at the right time.

Stick Pick is available in the iTunes app store for $2.99 (iTunes Link)

Stick Pick Now Available in the App Store

June 2, 2011, Corona, California -- Noteworthy Education teacher-tool app for iPhone called Stick Pick, created by sixth grade teacher, Buzz Garwood, is now available in the App Store worldwide.

Stick Pick is the first app of its kind to allow teachers to tie leveled question stems to the cognitive or linguistic needs of each individual learner. It all starts when a teacher names an on-screen soup can (class) and then fills it with popsicle sticks (students). During setup, teachers choose a category of question stems they wish to target for each learner: either "higher order thinking" (based on Bloom's Taxonomy) or "English as a Second Language" skills. Teachers can then set the degree of difficulty for each learner.

Once a class is set up, teachers can randomly (or intentionally) draw a student's stick from the soup can with either a "swipe," "tap," or a "shake." Subsequently, a customized set of appropriate question stems appears on the screen. Teachers can then scroll through these question stems until they find one they would like to form into a complete question. After a student answers a question, teachers can either mark the student's stick as "used" (which sends it to a used soup can) or reset the stick (which places it back in the new can).

The app goes one step further by giving teachers a third option: to assess each student's response. This is accomplished by touching the "assess" icon (in the form of a check mark) and then tappping the corresponding "correct," "incorrect," or "opinion" button. Teachers can then rate each student's answer by selecting 0-5 on a Critical Thinking rubric (for the higher order thinking question stems) or an Elaboration rubric (for the English as a Second Language question stems). Student data is automatically saved within the app and can be conveniently e-mailed to the student's parents or the principal by pressing "Send."

“Wow!!!  I was blown away with the unique combination of stimulating technology, and with the level of understanding, application, and assessment of Bloom’s Taxonomy. This app goes far beyond the concept of using technology for the sake of technology…it is truly using technology to enhance instruction and student engagement.”

-Dr. Robert Taylor, Administrative Director of Educational Services, Corona-Norco Unified School District, Corona, CA

Students in small groups can run the app, too. Imagine a table group of young learners with iPod touches or iPads asking one another deep, targeted questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy, all with the swipe of a finger!

Stick Pick is a handy tool for any teacher device. Stick Pick can guide classroom discussion and formative assessment in really helpful ways.  Teachers can mark sticks so that they aren’t constantly calling on the same students or asking students the same questions over and over again.

-iPad Curriculum, June 6, 2011

Stick Pick provides the right question for the right learner at the right time.

Device Requirements
* Compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
* iOS 3.2 or later
* 5.7 MB of space

Pricing and Availability
Stick Pick for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is only $2.99 (USD) and available exclusively through Apple's App Store.

Stick Pick: http://www.stickpickapp.com
Purchase and Download: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stick-pick/id436682059?mt=8&ls=1

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Math Drills

Instant Interactive | 4 1/2 Stars | Math

Summary

The good: Clever visual aids, rich graphics, big buttons, solve problems using number lines, wooden blocks, facts, and hints.

The bad: Full version only allows work with up to 10 students.

The bottom line: The best math drills app I've ever used. Straight forward, customizable, easy to configure, conveniently placed visual aids. The "lite" version is packed with features, and free.

Price: $1.99

Reviewed on an: iPhone 3G

Version reviewed: 2.0

This Week In Ed Tech’s Review

As the name implies, Math Drills does precisely what it says: namely, helps students learn their basic math facts. The "lite" version is so full-featured, you may not feel compelled to purchase the paid version. 

At Coronita Elementary School in Corona, CA, students who have not yet mastered their basic facts, receive a lunch-recess intervention we lovingly refer to as "Math Lab." In the math lab, students work with tutors on a variety of basic math-related activities, such as math hopscotch, flash cards, and math chants. One app I come back to in my own class, time and time again, is Math Drills. I wouldn't say the iPod touch offers the only way to learn basic math facts, but it's definitely another way for students to interact with their basic math facts, and sometimes, it's exactly what some students need. 

When you first launch the program, the welcome screen gives users the option to review or practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts - or a mixture of all of them. There are two key differences between review and practice modes. The practice mode is timed, while the review mode offers onscreen tips that are unique to each math problem. These "hints" are tiny animations, such as a number line that offers text clues and visual cues; counting cubes; and a number chart. There is even a 9-times "hand" icon that teaches students the "nines" finger multiplication trick. Each animation is triggered in increments of time and repeats until the student makes their selection. With a swipe of the finger, users can navigate back and forth from among these cleverly implemented visual aids.

Math Drills offers a generous settings menu. For example, the input method can be set for keypad or multiple choice. It's also possible to select how the number sentences are displayed: either vertically, horizontally, or a combination of both. For students who have mastered their math facts, a great enrichment activity is to set the questions from "numbers" to "operators" (found in the Answers setting). Here, instead of number fact questions, users are given the numbers, and they have to choose the appropriate operator. Practice mode offers a 10-question timed quiz.

Three compelling reasons to consider upgrading to the paid version are: 1) if you can't stand looking at the chalkboard theme; 2) if you need to work with multiple students with a limited number of iPods; or 3) you want to offer your students feedback on how long they tend to take with certain problems. Features found in the paid version are:
- Work with up to 10 students.
- Ability to take tests and earn high scores and awards.
- Select from up to 12 different themes (Drills Lite users only the Chalkboard theme)
- Set the number of problems for reviews, practices and tests.
- Smart Drills, which places emphasis on problems answered incorrectly and/or slowly.
- Visually track student progress with accuracy and speed graphs.

Introduction to iTunes U and Mobile Learning

What Is It?
There's a lot more to iTunes than music and movies. iTunes U is part of the iTunes store filled with educational audio and video content you can take anywhere on your iPod or iPhone. Everything in it comes from top universities, museums, PBS stations and other cultural institutions. It's all free--so you don't have to be a student to benefit from some of the world's brainiest people. There are over 175,000 educational audio and video files from all around the world and new tracks and new providers are added all the time.

A Little History
iTunes U was announced at Cupertino, California in 2007. The service was created to ultimately control access to educational audio and video content for college students. Member institutions are given their own iTunes U site that makes use of Apple’s iTunes Store. The online service is free to use for everyone in the pipeline. Content varies from course lectures to sports highlights with plenty of material in between.

How Do I Use It?
When you come to iTunes U, you'll find lots of ways to explore. You can check out popular downloads or other featured content or check out a category you're interested in, such as business or fine arts. You can also explore by visiting individual universities and other providers on iTunes U.

To start learning about a topic, just click on it. You'll land on a course page with all the related files, called tracks, down below (video or audio recordings of each class session). If you want to download all the tracks, click "get tracks." To get just one, click "get" or "get movie." iTunes creates a folder with the provider's name in your playlists so it's always easy to find your tracks.

Many courses or series are ongoing and you can subscribe so you can automatically receive each new episode whenever it's available. iTunes will download episodes to the Podcast section of your library. Tracks will be waiting for you when ever you're ready to learn something new. You can play your new downloads in iTunes, or sync to your iPod or iPhone and learn on the go.

If there's something in particular you want to learn about, you can use the iTunes store search field to find it fast. Filter the results by iTunes U. You'll see all the tracks that are relevant to your search. You can also view the courses, series, or programs the tracks come from.

To learn more about how Apple helps teachers connect with their students, click here.