The article I read about google education app packs was very interesting to me and I'm surprised I've never heard of it before. Google App Packs are pre-designed packages of applications that are popular among google app users. With so many apps out there, it's often hard to find what you are looking for. Often times, it's almost impossible to find the coolest and most productive educational apps because you don't even know they exist and therefore you don't know to look for them. Google has taken the pressure off and has put these app packs together for you.
App Packs are available for three grade levels:
Grades K - 5 Grades 6 - 8 Grades 9 - 12
The elementary app pack contains the following apps: CK - 12, Geogebra, DogoNews, GoAnimate, Haiku LMS, Hapara Teacher Dashboard, KhanAcademy, KidBiz3000, LearnBoost, Loupe, MeeGenius Children's Books, Pictico, Pixton Comic Maker, ScootPad, Slide Rocket, StupeFlix, SumoPaint, Typing Club, Vocabulary SpellingCity, Wixie, iPass, and nFinity Browser.
The middle school app pack contains 3D Tin, AudioTool, BuzzMath, CK - 12, DogoNews, Geogebra, Glogster, GoAnimate, Haiku LMS, Hapara Teacher Dashboard, Khan Academy, LearnBoost, Loupe, Lucid Chart, MindMeister, Pixton Comic Maker, Slide Rocket, Stupeflix, SumoPaint, TeenBiz3000, Typing Club, Vocabulary SpellingCity, WeVideo, iPass, and nFinity Broswer.
The high school app pack contains 3D Tin, AudioTool, CK - 12, Desmos, Diigo, EasyBib, Empower 3000, Geogebra, Glogster, GoAnimate, Hapara Teacher Dashboard, Khan Academy, Lucid Chart, MindMeister, OpenClass, Pixlr Editor, Pixton Comic Maker, Slide Rocket, Study Blue, Typing Club, Vernier LabQuest 2, WeVideo, and nFinity Browser.
For a description of all the previously mentioned apps and to see all three app packs, click this link: Google Education App Packs.
App Packs are also available at 3 price levels:
- Free: Apps are provided free of charge.
- Freemium: The apps are provided for free, but there may be a charged for advanced features.
- Paid: Many of these apps come with a demo version, but you have to pay to use the full version.
If you are a teacher and you are looking for a great way to find useful apps for your classroom, I think the app packs are a great place to start.
I am downloading the elementary pack as I type! I use many of the apps already, but I didn't know they had several others bundled together- it seems like such a smart choice having all the different apps available. The people at Google definitely know how to create things people will use.
ReplyDeleteThese apps can make learning and management so much easier for a teacher, and the kids always love seeing the design and functions of them. Anything in technology, especially at the elementary level, is such a novel concept that the students become enthralled with just one look and they want to try it.
After browsing the website, I also noticed that these apps are downloadable to all of the student computers as well. I'll just have to wait for our computers to catch up with the technology.
My wife is an elementary special ed teacher and is using tablets with her kids. Her reaction was similar to yours. As teacher, we love free stuff. We really love free stuff when it is authentic and beneficial to our students.
DeleteThese packs and apps can automatically downloaded and "pushed" to chromebooks through the chrome management system. From a management standpoint this is awesome! We could have a custom set of apps similar to the packs listed above that we could have available to all, students and staff in a matter of minutes. When we find a new one or someone recommends an app that is awesome, we can have it on all devices with a few clicks! Pretty cool stuff and eventually, we wil, be there - all education will be there!
DeleteI just hope we can get this to all of our elementary students in any format- byod, computers, tablets...
DeleteThis is a great concept. There are so many resources available, that often times it is hard to organize and find what fits best. These education packs make it easy to search and find applicable apps to fit individual classroom.
ReplyDeleteI also really like the concept of the 3 levels of cost. The price structure allows all teachers to have the ability to access these resources. Good article!
I agree! So many districts are faced with financial hardships right now. It is wonderful that these apps can be free of charge, if needed. That way, all schools can remain current with the newest technologies, and provide the digital learning experiences for children, while staying under budget as well.
DeleteI agree that this a great concept. I can't wait until it get's more individualized. I would love to see not just a high school App Pack, but an Algebra App Pack, a Calculus App Pack, a Biology App Pack and so on. That would take a lot of the tedious work of finding and and then testing apps off of teachers plates and then I think more teachers would be willing to experiment and use technology to help them create engaging lessons.
DeleteThe packs are a great starting point. However I would encourage educators to also read up on some other sites and sources for the new and most useful apps out there. From what I know of Google, they will, be somewhat cautious in adding apps to these packs, as to not include unworthy ones. However, sometimes the best apps are the newest ones! I would encourage people to frequently browse the Play store and use other resources such as http://www.webappreviews.org which is a site reviewing the best Chrome apps and extensions.
ReplyDeleteOne of my eKids actually stumbled upon this same link a month ago, and we have been using the site ever since. They discovered "pow toon" with it, and the LOVE it! It's probably the best comic app out there. Great for story mapping or for social studies classes!
DeleteThis is great! I love all of these app options! Many of them I haven't even heard of before. I will have to add several of these apps on the Middle School package to my "summer to do list" to check out before next school year. I love that Google is partnering with schools to provide us with free digital learning opportunities. I know it's only been a few years since our district acquired the Google package, but I can't imagine where we would be today without it!
ReplyDeleteI agree, we may not have all liked making the switch to Google but now we are really experiencing the benefits of Google. There is so much you can do at little to no cost. I really like the fact that these Google app packs are available at all different price points, starting at free! I have added Google app packs to my "summer to do list" as well.
DeleteThis is great information! I try to know as much as I can about the things that are out there for educators to use but I have to admit that I did not even know that these existed. This is something that I think could really help teachers and save time. This is especially useful for those teachers that want to try technology but do not want to put the time into to figure out what is out there. I will definitely be spending some time this summer going through these apps to see which ones might be more relevant for who. This is something that I will be passing to those staff members who have asked me for resources because it is already neatly packaged for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that some teachers just don't have the time to create their own so these resources are going to be amazing! I also love that there are packs for each area of grade levels seems fitting to be able to find the appropriate materials to reach our specifica age groups of students.
DeleteI felt the same way after reading the article. I never knew about the Google App packs. Now that I do know about them I am very excited to explore these apps even more. Typing Club, which is one Jay mentioned is an app I would like to explore. I came across, what I thought to be, an odd request from my ekids. That request was they wanted to learn how to type faster. This app seems right up their alley. I look forward to doing some more research over the summer.
ReplyDeleteI agree! These are very exciting apps and am very excited to share this with the staff when we get back to school in the fall. It is funny that you mentioned how students have been asking for typing classes. We have had some students ask for the same thing at Delhi. I honestly think that a typing class is a necessity for our students because a lot of them do not know how to type properly and typing is a skill they will definitely need in the future.
Deleteall free, packed into a nice, easy to use app- its awesome. I have been exploring it my self and I am very impressed, it is a great move by google to integrate their branding at the elementary, middle and hs levels
ReplyDeleteI totally agree ... really smart move on their part. I have very few complaints with what they are trying to do for education. I just had a student compliment me on my typing skills the other day - he couldn't believe I could do it so fast without looking... it took me back to my typing class in highschool...so much fun! I think that my students are frustrated that they can not type as fast as they can write...and would be interested in learning to type more efficiently if given the tools/time.
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