Friday, September 04, 2015

Exploring photo-a-day apps


One of my favourite things to do is to look at apps and find ways they can be used in the classroom which could possibly go beyond what they were originally designed for.

There are many apps which allow you to take a photo a day and have it display as a calendar.  The apps often provide the ability to add details to the image. These apps can have many uses in the classroom.

·        Document change: students can make observations of change by taking a photo each day of the month to compare with other days such as clouds in the sky, plants growing, construction of a garden or building, etc.

·        Personal reflection: Students can take selfies and do personal reflections each day, this will also document of they change during the year.

·        Reading log: Students can take a photo of the cover of the book they are reading and type the page numbers read and include comments.

·        Record student work: Students can take an image of work they have done each day and type in reflections.

·        Document a process: if students are working on a unit of work, students can document events through the duration.

·        Learning goals: students can set learning goals and take images to reflect and track their goals.

·        Art record: This is a great way to encourage art students to draw each day to improve their drawing skills.

·        Spelling words: Students can display their spelling words and take an image of a different word each day, they can then type in the definition of the word.

·        Themes and concepts: Students could take photos of using a particular theme or concept each month, eg. Shapes, colours, angles, etc.

·        Camp diary: students can take images during a camp.

·        Travel diary: images can be taken of different destinations. Could incorporate maps or apps such as Photo Mapo - Add a map to your photo.

·        Gratitude journal: Students can reflect each day of what they are grateful for.

·        Daily challenge: Each day students can be given a word or theme for a photo each day.
 

Some apps to choose from:







Android: