Skype

Skype

By Microsoft Corporation

Free

Available for Android, Kindle Fire HD, Windows 8 mobile OS and iOS mobile platforms

Conference calling app, calls are free from mobile Skype app to mobile Skype app or mobile Skype app to desktop Skype app over a wireless network.   This app has enabled me to supervise students from a far on projects.   Whether students or myself who is away from the University enables us to discuss project progress, issues, ideas and documentation together in the same way as project meeting face to face.   Use the app on speaker oppose to with a headset, the project conversation can be recorded using recorder pro and email the conversation to the student.  Therefore ensuring the project supervision is similar to my usual face to face project supervision meetings, see previous blog entry.   A student’s reflection of the experience:

“After having to split my final year into two years, Skype enabled my project supervisor to help me to complete a successful dissertation despite me not being able to attend regularly at the University Campus.  It played a major part in the completion of my degree”

Also, added advantage of the app you can text message with one another is ready for the conference call.   The only niggle I found was Skyping at home on a throttled broadband connection, i.e. broadband connection throttled by broadband provider and household of teenagers with multiple devices connected to the household WiFi and internet would result in my conference call connection being dropped.   Best advice I can offer is Skype conference call when the kids are not at home or use work WiFi.

In terms of students using mobile apps innovatively for learning it was the use of Skype I recently reported an event I witnessed and was the recipient of being used most innovatively last year to support a student’s learning experience, (Nortcliffe and Middleton, 2013).   A student member of a group was unable to attend a group’s feedback session due to medical reasons, so one of his peers initiated a Skype video call connection using his HTC phone over the University Wi-Fi to the other student at home on his laptop.   The phone was held at head height in the group circled around myself.   During the feedback session all the students (physically or digitally present) actively participated in the group’s feedback discussion and reflections.   In an recent email the digitally attended student recommended the learning experience as seamless despite the sound quality issues:

“Being on Skype with everyone there was just as ordinary to myself as being there (albeit the bad sound quality). I did enjoy taking part in the call though and think it should be done more regularly for people who are physically unable to attend.”

Reference

Nortcliffe, A.  and Middlleton, A. (2013) The innovative use of personal smart devices by students to support their learning, In Increasing Student Engagement and Retention using Mobile Applications: Smartphones, Skype and Texting Technologies, (Eds) Wankel, L. and Blessinger, P. (eds), (Cutting Edge Technologies in Higher Education). 175-210, 2013, Emerald, Bingley, UK

Recorder Pro

Recorder Pro

By Dava Consulting

69p

Available for iOS platform

In my opinion this is the best audio recording app on the iOS platform.  I have used a number of the audio apps, this app in particularl for over four years.   The app provides you with the choice of audio quality settings low 8kHz, 22kHz to 44.1kHz, and audio formats non-compressed AIFF and WAV to compressed (IMA4 codec) AIFC and CAF.   I personally have my app permanently setup as low 8kHz and AIFC format, this means I can audio record 1/2hr of audio and the file is still small enough to be emailed, approximately 8Mb.  

The app provides the functionality to create folders and rename your recordings, enabling you to organise your recordings effectively.   The audio recording functionality provides record, pause, auto pause (sensitivity can be adjusted), play, rewrite and delete.   The app is fully integrated with mail app and provides access to all your contacts. 

The app fulfills my requirements as an academic in providing audio feedback in an efficient and timely fashion for students.   I use the app twofold:

1.     To provide feedback on student assessment submissions that require very short feedback turn around, (Nortcliffe and Middleton, 2011), the majority students found the audio a good enough quality, more useful and help them improve.   Students found audio more beneficial method of feedback than other methods of feedback, as shown by the following student comments;

“I preferred it, better than written feedback, more descriptive whereas written feedback is quite basic.”

“It just feels more so [interactive], you get written feedback doesn’t feel the same as someone speaking to you”

2.     To audio record feedback conversations with students, whether they take place in a formal, informal or semi formal setting, typically often these are project supervision sessions, (Nortcliffe, 2011).   All project students found the audio quality sufficient and the methodology extremely beneficial during the project supervision, as supported by the following students’ reflections:

“The benefit of audio recording is being able to rewind to pick up on details that you may have missed the first time of hearing. I typically listened to the audio files a few times.”

“It reminded me of the discussions that I had with my supervisor. It also helped me in taking down appropriate changes to the required documents.”

It should be noted at the institution I am employed the student email address is configured to their student number, thus making it very straight forward to email the audio file to the learner.  I always also provide instructions in the email message on how to play the file in QuickTime, iTunes, or RealPlayer.   However, for a small proportion of Linux using students (anti-apple and MS) the file format is a problem.  I have asked if the developers would develop MP3 codec format as would make the audio recordings more universally accessible.

References

Nortcliffe, A, and Middleton, A. (2011) Smartphone feedback: using an iPhone to improve the distribution of audio feedback, International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education Special Edition 48(3), 280-293, 2011

Nortcliffe, A. (2011) About using iPhones/iTouches for project supervision, in Media-enhanced feedback: case studies and methods. ASSET and MELSIG (Ed) A. Middleton, available on-line: http://ppp.chester.ac.uk/images/4/43/Middleton-Media-enhanced_feedback_proceedings-final.pdf, 2011, last viewed 6^th January 2013

Notability

Notability

By Ginger Labs

£1.49

Available for iPad

App enables you to digitalise signing and filling in forms quickly and efficiently.   Whether copyright form, to reference request, to banking documents.  Typically or not these documents are sent as hard copies or PDFs therefore require to be printed completed and sent back via the post.   Notability enables you to process the forms quickly and efficiently and email back the forms to the recipients.   However, also provides the user with the functionality to add photos from camera or photos, figures, web screen dump, “post-it-note” and audio recording to a document.

In terms for education Notability can really come into its own, educational work sheets can be filled in electronically by students.  The app supports variety of languages, answers can be typed or hand written onto the sheets, can make entries very neat with the zoom feature including you handwriting.   The sheets can be submitted back to the tutor via email or viewed in class, just as handwritten complete tutorial sheets assessed in class.  

However as an academic I find Notability a great assessment feedback tool.   I use Notability when I am feeding back using an assessment rubric.  I use the handwriting tool to ring the assessment criteria and grading, type feedback text in the text boxes, and I can even sign and date the feedback sheet.   However, the piece de resistance is the fact that Notability has audio recording functionality enabling me to audio record, rich and detailed feedback, to provide greater feedback clarity.   The resultant document and audio file are emailed direct to the student(s), with clear instructions in the email as to what they are receiving that is attachments of feedback assessment rubric as PDF file and audio wav feedback file.   Students are positive about this feedback approach, as shown by the following student’s reflections;

“The audio feedback was very helpful it allowed me to amend my work accordingly and go through it as if my tutor was walking me through it.   The grid provided me with very precise description of what I had achieved and what I had not. Overall I think the most helpful element was the audio format which provided very useful in modifying my work accordingly.”

The only niggle with this app is that you cannot pause the audio recording, if you press stop and start again a new audio file is created.  Personally I would prefer a pause, as when I am audio recording feedback I like to start, stop, collect my thoughts and then begin audio recording again.

Penultimate

Penultimate

By Evernote

Free

Available for iPad

I purchased this app two years ago when I received my first iPad, it is the app I still use most regularly.   Since I purchased the app it dropped in price to be now free.   Personally I don’t begrudging paying for the app, as it is really the best of all the hand writing notebook apps.   The handwriting is accurate and responsive.  The wrist protector technology is very accurate.  You can write with your finger or a stylus.  However I would recommend a fine tip stylus.   

The app enables you to digitalise note-taking in notebooks with the added bonus you can embed photos from iPad camera or photos, and you have the choice of free paper background from graph to line paper, to paid backgrounds from sheet music to to do lists.   The note books can be synchronized to Evernote, emailed, printed, sent to iTunes and even opened and read in other apps tools that have the facility to open PDF documents.   The real bonus though is the Evernote functionality to recognize your handwriting for searching, you can type in keywords and search your own notes for that critical information you noted down months ago.

An app I would recommend for any student or academic who wishes to make lecture, seminar, tutorial, workshop or revision notes.   As an engineer it has enabled me to replace my paper based log book and organise my notes more effectively, i.e. different note book for different activities oppose to being noted linearly in one notebook.   One app I would be quite lost without! 

The only niggle is that I use the app so much and produce large volumes of written matieral I am running out memory space on my iPad.   Android community is very keen to see this app in the google market place!

Blackboard Mobile Learn

Blackboard Mobile Learn

by Blackboard Inc

Free if your institution Blackboard License Agreement includes Blackboard Mobile Learn

Available for Android, Palm WebOS, Blackberry and iOS mobile platforms

Provides access to all your module/organisation blackboard sites whilst on the go. Enables you organise your favourite module/organisation sites to provide ready, quick and easy access to module/organisation resources, that is your learning material, announcements, assessments, discussion boards, groups and staff details, etc.

In fact many of the resource functionality on the app is more intuitive and quicker to use than on the desktop. For example to add a thread to discussion board takes two clicks, you can add files from Dropbox, photos or image taken with your Smart Device camera. Bb discussion board finally meets Twitter/Instagram/Facebook to provide a social media functionality that is familiar to learners and academics alike, but in safe closed shop learning environment. Functionality that has been somewhat missing with the desktop version; the ability to social network and post images at any time and any place.

Even how academics configures a Blackboard site on a desktop can be designed as to how you would like students to interact with the learning resources uploaded as attachments. Attaching a file using paperclip in an item description will result in the mobile user being required to open the attachment in browser window in Bb mobile learning app and the user not being able to open the resource further in any other app on the smartdevice. Whereas files attached using the attachment tool in the item, the file will open in its own window in the Bb mobile learning app and will enable the user with the functionality to open the document in other apps installed on your Smart device, for example word document can be opened in Pages app (if you have your have this app installed on your smartdevice). The app is just so simple.

This app on the iPad has revolutionized how I interact with Blackboard and my students. The app is so beautiful, accessible, user-friendly, inter-operable with other valuable apps.  The functionality of the mobile app makes the desktop version  in comparison feel clunky, dated and tired. The app is just so simple and has provided me with impetus to and mechanism to want to use our VLE again. It is shame that I have to use the desktop version to configure and populate each year the module site resources, also to view and edit student grades and feedback. However all module management; announcements, discussion contributions, email communication , opening and reviewing student e-assessment submissions then the Blackboard learn mobile is the app of choice.

The app is available for the android platform, the app is not quite as refined as the iOS version, however the following Students’ reflections operating android mobile systems are still quite impressed;

“The Blackboard mobile app allows me to simplify my work setup and, as all my documents are at my fingertips, aids my leaning during lectures, seminars and labs. The BB mobile app is one of the biggest innovations in student experience, ever.”

“The Blackboard mobile app represents the final phase of integration into the lives of students. A one touch solution to learning services is exactly what the students of today are looking for. It doesn't get much more personal than having it in your pocket.”