Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Popplet For iPad

Over the last few weeks we've been utilising the iPad app Popplet Lite in a range of curriculum areas. Popplet is a straight forward and simple app that allows students to collate text, drawings, images and more onto a page.

It's based around a board (page) where you double tap to add 'popples' which are boxes where students can add text, videos and images or draw straight into. The popples can be left as stand alone popples or be connected up to other popples. They can also be re-ordered and moved around as you need to. It's so simple that most students pick up the app within the first session.

We've been experimenting with the free version but it has proven so popular with students/teachers that we will be upgrading to the paid version over the holidays. The great thing about Popplet is that it seems to be well designed for students and schools. The layout and design of the app and website are well suited to students young and old!

One of the area's I have been utilising Popplet Lite is within reading. Students use a drawing app such as Free Draw (a great simple app with no extras!) to create a visualisation of their character. The drawing could also be completed straight into a popple using the draw function too. The students have then created popples around the visualisation of their character with information, words and ideas about the character from the text. We are then using Dropbox to export them off the iPads. There are many ways which Popplet can be utilised in the classroom throughout a range of curriculum areas - check out my growing list here (as a Popplet of course!)




You can also use Popplet online and is able to be used on the iPads in a collaborative way with students participating on a single board with their own popples. Popplets can then be embedded into your blog or sent as a link for others to get to.

Check out the Popplet site and video to see for yourself:

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