mLearning Tools

My Mobile Toolkit: Tools for mLearning Field Activities

Note: this page is especially ephemeral as many of these applications will cease to exist in the near future. However, they are here now and they are especially useful for mobile learning field activities. Please note that these listed here are for iOS (Apple). Many of these have Android-based versions; all have equivalents (other apps that do the same thing). Consider a quick search through CNET or the Android App store. Rest assured that creating a mobile toolkit to fit your instructional or learning needs is time well spent.

I find it incredibly useful to begin to think of applications not in terms of name or popularity or price, but rather in terms of what need or form of media does it account for. If an application is redundant or does not add to your capacity to make meaning in a given context, it should be removed.  If it does not add to your capacity for using multimedia to make meaning, then consider removing it. If it does not account for some step on your checklist of activities, then revise your checklist or remove it. Experiment by all means, but then discern and discard as readily. So with that in mind, I group my applications according to what media they allow me to capture and manipulate or what stage of my workflow they account for. Find a model that works for you and the whole process of app selection becomes much easier. Before jumping into the applications themselves, a few questions to consider before using a particular app.

1. Can I export my data (email or otherwise)? If the answer is no, consider trying something else.
2. Can I  use my native functionality in my phone to do the same thing? Most phones have audio, image, and video recording capability so use those first unless an application offers considerably more functionality.
3. How will I present all this data later? Consider editing tools, blogs, or other formats for presenting this media once you have manipulated it.

Below are the list of some of these apps I use for mobile learning. When it states Native functionality, I mean that both iOS and Android smartphones should have functionality to account for that activity without loading an applicaton.

Search Engine

1. uQuery
2. Android App Store

Field Notes

1. Native functionality (Notes for iOS)
2. Penultimate
3. Notes Plus
4. UPad
5. Inscribe

Audio Notes or Transcription

1. Native functionality
2. Dragon Dictation
3. Audioboo

Audio Composition

1. Figure
2. Garage Band 

Images

1. Native functionality
2. Flickr
3. Diptic 
   
4. Montage

Video

1. Native functionality
2. Lumify
3. iMovie
4. Camtasia

Blogging and Reflection

1. Poster
2. WordPress
3. Tumblr

Tools I use for mapping

1. Flickr and Google Earth
2. Flickr Uploader (tag these photos, people!)
3. HistoryPin

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