Loom: Students and teachers will find this screencast and webcam video creation tool helpful on a daily basis. Teachers will find it especially easy to create videos of tutorials, review sessions, or feedback for students assignments. Students can use it for presentations, how-to videos, or responses to assignments. The options are endless, and teachers with a flipped classroom will love the ease of use. Grades 4 and up.

Best Apps

If I had to choose a favorite among these children, it might be Science Journal:

Turn your phone into a light, sound, and motion sensor. Measure these experimental variables with greater accuracyandcreate detailed data displays. Use photos and text to record observations within the app. Teachers can connect external sensors and search Science Journal’s website for possible experiments.  Platform: iOS, Android   Grades: 5th +

Reflection on appyness

You may notice that we often have a little overlap among committees’ selections. I think that’s okay.

This year it has been more clear to me than ever before that there are growing differences between websites and apps. Some tools work well across platforms and devices. Some tools require both web and mobile versions. And some tools work best or only when they are natively developed as mobile apps.

Here’s a beginning list of the reasons some digital tools have to be appy. A website could not possibly do the job. This list is included in our slidedeck with apps that offer examples of when native appyness matters.

1. Portability: immediate mobile accessibility
2. Manipulability: being able to use a touchscreen and use scootch features
3. Access to the camera for saving, recording, producing and sharing
4. AR/VR/MR features
5. Personalization
6. Multiple response experiences
7. Use of specialized tools/accessories/pens

Help enrich our 2019 list!  Nominate your favorite apps and websites at www.ala.org/aasl/best by March 1, 2019.