iPad Literacy

Preparations-Merriam Webster

I have been using Google translate or other online dictionaries on the Internet.It's my first time to approach Merriam Webster.It's easy for new learners to master it just by exploring it.Like all the other dictionaries, you are able to type in word or phrase to search for its meanings.Plenty of word suggestions are displayed when the first few letter typed in.Voice input makes searching more convenient too.

On the top of the screen, there is tool bar with "Daily", "History", "Favorites" functions. Daily word encourages users to keep learning new words, especially helpful for the non-native English speakers."History" makes searching for words so handy that Merriam Webster records whatever you search last time and save them so that you are able to retrieve them next time. "Favorites" can help you create a personal word list and save the most frequent words that you come across.

The definitions of a word or phrase are quite detailed including pronunciation, brief and full definitions, synonyms, and examples.Thorough definitions allow users to have a in-depth study of the words or phrases they search.

Lastly, you can email the full definitions to yourself or others, which enhances collaborative study.I am really fond of Merriam Webster so that I may download it in my iPhone.

Presentations-Educreations Interactive Whiteboard

Educreations Whiteboard is one of the most powerful iPad applications I have ever known. As the name indicates, it's such a creative app for education, both teaching and learning. Educreations is meant to create video lesson, explain concepts or ideas, demonstrate multimedia lessons such as math, science,geography and history.

To create a new lesson, tap "New Lesson" on the top tool bar.As soon as you start the lesson, you can record it by tapping the "Rec" on the upper right corner.It records not only whatever you do on the screen but also the sound. There are a few main functions as follows:
To insert text, you just click the "T" icon on the top bar. You can choose what colors you want to type in text too, which allows you to signify different parts of the concept or idea on the screen.The two arrows are "Undo" and "Redo", which is a word processing app like Pages for you to edit the lesson and present a complicated concept by breaking down the steps. How convenient it is!

To insert images, you can choose from photo library or take photos. Photos are editable after being inserted. Video will be paused in the process of choosing images.This function is so considerate that it only records the important part of the lesson. Dragging the image to wherever you want on the screen, zooming in and out,rotating, underlying and marking, deleting are the options to edit images.By clicking the arrow on the bottom right corner, new page will be created.You can also go back to the previous page by clicking the left arrow.This allows you to review the lesson anytime you want and help students reinforce it by going back or forward.

After you finish creating the lesson, you can tap "Save"  to save it on your iPad or share it to the world through Facebook or Twitter.As people benefit so much from free educational resources from YouTube, sometimes it's kind to give back to the world and share our creative ideas. You can also share it with particular people through emailing or copying the video link. When you save it on the iPad, it helps sort out video's subject too.

Educreations is great for one on one tutoring or small group lecturing. When teachers or speakers connect iPad with the project, it allows the whole class to see the lesson on the big screen. I fall in love with it. The best thing is that it is free! It's such an amazing and powerful tool for education, business and sharing video resources and all kinds of purposes.

Stories-Strip Designer

Strip Designer is for telling stories with creative images,text and even your own drawing.It's also easy to use.
To create a new story, click "Create New".You can either innovate your own stylish frame or choose the provided numerous templates.For example, if you choose one of the templates to start with, you can tap the strip to implant images from your photo album, other resources or take photos instantly.It enables you to edit the image by zooming it and out, rotating and deleting.You can draw in another strip if you want with the installed brush tools.

On the bottom left-hand corner, to click the "+" icon, you can add speech bubbles, a dozen of clip art and stickers. They can be dragged anywhere on the screen. Double clicking the bubble allows you to type in text, choose the font and color of the text, even to choose the shapes of the bubbles.After you finish creating and editing, you can save it by clicking the top left-hand corner "Save" tap.The saved format can be JPG or PDF, which lets you view it on your tablet or PC, print out or share it with anyone you desire.

Strip Designer is great for education or family purpose. Most children like to tell stories and see themselves in photos. This free app makes this experience more engaging.With this, teachers can assign a short presentation homework for students to tell their stories about their vacations,interesting things happened in the past, etc.Kids learn to be creative by selecting the stories they want to tell, what photos to use and how to design each page. Strip Designer is a very easy and practical story telling app.