The Answer Pad

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) classrooms provide students and teachers with endless learning opportunity and aims to heighten the interactivity between students and the teacher. 
If you are a teacher in a BYOD classroom, you will appreciate The Answer Pad. 

 

Image Source: Used with permission from Flickr by flickingerbrad

To put it simply, The Answer Pad is a student response system, an add-on to the formative assessment puzzle. It allows students to draw and type out answers for the teacher to view.
There are 2 parts in The Answer Pad:
1. Go Interactive - The student response piece comes with drawing features.
2. Answer Sheets - scores and retrieve data from existing paper exams allows students to show their work, and a variety of question types.


Even though this is designed for ipad users, but now, it is available for students to access it with their own laptops or other electronic devices.

This video will tell you how The Answer Pad is useful and how it can be integrated into your classroom. 

Using COMICS in the classroom? Yay.

Comics In The Classroom

Image Source: Flickr by Stallio with some rights reserved.

Let's admit it, we all love, if not like reading comics once in a while. I'm sure the one above attracted your attention. Using comics in the classroom is a fresh and captivating idea to me. After reading this article, I thought to myself, what a clever tool to capture the attention of students. Not only that, comic is an effective tool in engaging learners--all kinds of learners. The best thing is, comics can be used in almost any subjects. As a future English teacher, I could totally see how comic can be incorporated into my classroom and lessons. For example, instead of having students to learn up a new vocabulary by checking the dictionary, they could read a comic that explains the word in context. Students will not only remember the word and its meaning more quickly and better, it also allows them to practice their analytic skills as they learn to guess the meaning of the word in context. 
               A comic is capable to represent pages of written materials while it is enjoyable and effective for students in their learning. Teachers should know what are the things that students of today and future would be attracted to, and turn them into meaningful learning opportunities. Comic Life is a software program that is easy to use by anyone to create his/her own comics.