Thing 10

#10 Sharing Photos

Instagram and Snapchat are by far the most-used apps for photo-sharing among our middle school students.  

Professionally I can see uses for Instagram - creating hashtags related to reading, specific topics students are studying, etc.  The required age of 13 for account registration restricts the use of these apps in our school setting.  

I'm a bit uncomfortable using Snapchat with eligible students simply because it is difficult to manage - the images/videos disappearing after viewing.

On a personal note, it has been fun using both apps.  It keeps me connected/updated with our children. A picture is certainly worth a thousand words!

Thing 9

#9 Taking and Editing Photos

I never thought I would find use for these photo editing apps but found myself lost in Color Splurge.  It took me awhile to understand the app but once I did...let's just say I sent a few too many pics to my family that day!

The foam-tipped pen I've never use came in handy when making the fine edits.

Students could have some fun and be a bit creative with this app.  A taste of what some graphic designers/photographers do when using their advanced design programs.  

I also enjoyed using the Cam Me app.  Fun to have some selfie options! Very similar to a camera timer.  Interesting how a wave of the hand can activate the camera.  

Thing 8

#8 Social Media Management Tools

image:OpenClips

Trying some of the other media mgmt. tools in this Thing seemed not a good use of time.  I use Twitter to mainly follow leaders in the field and much less to post personally or professionally.

Our school has a Twitter account and we are beginning to use it a bit more. I do occasionally check TweetDeck - an app that organizes tweets.  The Deck allows a much easier view of Twitter activity for those I'm following.

Thing 7

#7 Content Saving & Sharing

Using Pinterest as a visual bookmarking tool has proven helpful.
(I do cringe a bit when I share "finding something on Pinterest.")
That said, the category organization, visual reminders, and many online opportunities to "pin" a site, make Pinterest an extremely easy and useful tool to organize and follow sites of interest.

Personally it was an extremely awesome tool for organizing a recent large family event. Professionally I have easily organized those sites I wish to regularly visit - many providing timely answers to work related queries.  

Thing 6

#6 Creating and Editing Docs

image by: Nemo

Our school recently added Google Apps for Education and so I naturally explored Quick Office Pro.  (Thank you very much for the iOS tutorial - much easier than trying to follow screenshots.)  I am one to prefer working on my laptop vs. iPad and am not certain I will make good use of this option.  

The Quick Office app is surprisingly easy to sync and edit documents.  One more option to having documents available via mobile devices is a comfortable thing.