I am a proud member of AASL’s Best Apps for Teaching and Learning Committee.  And we need your help.  You’ve been exploring apps with your students and faculty over the course of the year, now’s the time to nominate your faves!

But while you wait for the completion of the nomination process and our always exciting annual reveal at ALA Annual in June, here is a round-up of my own  strategies for keeping on top of apps.

1. Since 2007 Jane Hart, Founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT),  has been creating the most wonderful lists of tools based on international survey input from educators, experts, instructional designers, consultants, developers and vendors.  Each year Jane examines trends–which tools have moved up and which have move down the list. (Check out her Movers & Shakers to explore the movement.)

In this tenth anniversary of Jane’s efforts, she has moved from Top 100 to an impressive list of Top 200 Tools for Learning.

You will want to share the following with your classroom teacher partners and your school’s edtech leader:

• Best of Breed 2016 (categorized favorites)
• Top 100 Tools for Personal & Professional Learning (for formal/informal learning and personal productivity)
• Top 100 Tools for Workplace Learning  (for training, e-learning, performance support and social collaboration)
• Top 100 Tools for Education (for K12, university and adult education.)

2. I’ve long relied on so much that the nonprofit CommonSense Education creates. I especially trust their reviews. To help you locate just the right app, CommonSense Education’s app reviews may be filtered by grade, device, genre, subject, topic, price and sorted by newest, age and number of stars. Ratings and reviews a based on standards-aligned, multifaceted rubric used by a team of expert reviewers and a select group of educators who field-test products for their value with learners.

3. Ever since 1993, the monthly subscription journal/service, Children’s Technology Review, led by its editor Warren Buckleitner, has engaged in high quality reviewing of interactive media, aiming for inter-rater reliability with the same review instrument.  You can use the CTR Flex rubric to evaluate apps and other software with your local colleagues or use a variety of possible criteria to customize your own instrument.

• Richard M. Byrne’s FreeTech4Teachers  Every day Richard shares something new and considers free resources and how they can be used in education, often with quick instructional videos. Check out his iPad Apps for Schools and Android for Schools.
• Monica Burns Class Tech Tips is a font of new discoveries and round-up posts, gathering top lists of tools to meet a variety of essential learning needs. For example, check out Monica’s 8 How-To Tips to Energize Your Classroom with EdTech in 2017 and her  24 Hour of Code Resources for Teachers and Schools.
• John Evans uses his iPads, MakerEd and More in Education to Scoop news, reviews, resources for iPads, Maker Education, coding and more
• Ana Cristina Pratas regularly Scoops useful discoveries on Digital Delights for Learners
• Tammy’s Tech Tips for Teachers hosts Tammy Worchester Tang’s rich array of tech tips and how-tos as well as her Tip of the Week. A phenomenal, fast-paced conference presenter, Tammy is always coming up with something new and exciting, now with an emphasis on Google’s free online apps.  Don’t miss her conference handouts and her iPad Apps and Web Resources.  Follow her @TammyWorcester.
• Alice Keeler is a Google Certified Teacher.  Her Teacher Tech blog is an absolute must-read if you are a Google Classroom school!  Check out her Big Ol List of Chrome Extensions and her lists of Add-Ons and Templates. Follow her @alicekeeler
• Catlin Tucker is a Google-certified high-school teacher whose blog reviews developments relating to blended learning. Check out her personal list of Favorite Web Tools. Catlin also writes the Techy Teacher column for ASCD’s Educational Leadership. Follow her @Catlin_Tucker
• Clay Reisler’s Ipaddition blog covers everything you need to know about thoughtful iPad integration for instruction and workflow and the more than 1500 videos his YouTube channel illustrate the process.  Follow him @RecessDuty
• Tony Vincent‘s Learning in Hand blog has for years presented a wealth of excellent advice for choosing and using the best and latest apps and more.  Follow him @TonyVincent where he posts weekly tips on Tuesdays and don’t miss the nearly 200 posts on his Teaching & Technology Tidbits board on Pinterest.