8 for 8: Eight iOS Apps You Can Learn to Use with Students in Under Eight Minutes

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1. Nutshell Camera (Prezi)

This app is like Vine, in that you can take a quick video of a subject or action. The difference is that Nutshell is a whole lot easier to use. With your iPhone, take three shots of any scene while the camera rolls. Add text and clip art, and Nutshell creates a professional-looking video clip to share. Great for creating visual summaries of learning.

2. My Story - Storybook and Ebook Maker for Kids by Teachers (HiDef Web Solutions)

After Naomi Harm tweeted out that this app was free, I let my entire staff know about it. Students can draw pictures and words, add clip art, type text, and insert audio of themselves reading their own writing. In just a few minutes, I was able to show a student how to use this app. He was able to create an original book independently.

3. Scannable (Evernote)

This app has been the best thing to come to Evernote since...well, Evernote. Scannable allows you to scan in several documents at one time, and then create one PDF of the content saved. This is really nice for students that have a multiple page story to put in their digital portfolio in Evernote. Educators can use this for saving lengthy meeting handouts.

4. Decide Now! (CafForce Studio)

Formative assessment is easy to talk about, but harder to apply in the classroom. One way to check for understanding during a lesson is to cold call on students. Decide Now! gives the teacher an easy way to do this. Input all of the students' names, and then push the button in the middle. This way, every student is expected to respond to a question.

5. YouTube Capture (Google, Inc.)

Want to capture video, edit it, and upload that content right away? This app by Google will allow you to do that. It certainly isn't a replacement for iMovie, but if you are a teacher looking to share student learning via a private classroom YouTube channel, this app seems to be the best way to accomplish that.

6. Canva (Canva)

If you need to mix things up when teaching students how to summarize their thinking, check out this app. Canva is built to allow users to create visual posts for Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Images, text, and templates are provided. Using this graphic design app in the classroom can be a way to integrate art concepts into content.

7. Animoto (Animoto, Inc.)

Put together a 30 second video that includes your images and/or video, a sound track, and text, and then publish for the world to see. Animoto has been around for awhile (relatively), yet still remains as an essential digital tool to consider when students want to represent their learning in dynamic and visual ways.

8. Marble Math and Marble Math Jr (Artgig)

These apps are more about consumption than creation, but the Marble Math series is worth mentioning. Kids take a marble around a maze and touch the numbers that complete the equation posted. Every problem posed changes in operation, which causes the student to think before solving it. Concepts covered are tied to the Common Core.