ETEC 522 – September 2012

melissaayers 6:47 pm on September 30, 2012

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  tomwhyte1 7:49 am on October 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  App Title: Skitch
  Publisher/Developer: Evernote
  Version: 2.0
  Operation Analysis:

  This is an application I have consistently used on my Mac, and was very excited to see its move to the iPad. On the Mac, I found Skitch to be very intuitive in its navigation, something that translated well to the iPad. Unfortunately, any help/tutorials to assist those with limited technical abilities could not be found within the app, nor were there any audio/video controls or elements to add into the screen captures. Skitch though, does use the iPad’s built in spell checker, as well; it allows material to be shared through evernote (which can also be used to show the history of the user), public links, airplay and even email. With Skitch being on the iPad, those individuals with limited motor control can markup, and comment on various images, websites, etc, a great feature for students of any age.

  Pedagogical Analysis:

  In terms of assisting education, Skitch allows students to comment both visually and verbally to anything that can be screen captured on the iPad, as well; the intuitive controls allow students of all ages to easily utilize this App. Furthermore, when the markup feature is combined with the Apps ability to easily share, students can receive peer and teacher feedback easily, allowing students to increase their understanding at a basic and high level.

  Overall, this App appears to be a basic screen capture tool, however if given proper assignments, or tasks (such as – locate the issue in this Rube Goldberg, and explain why this might be an issue), a student’s creativity, ability to problem solve, and work collaboratively can easily occur.

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  lullings 11:32 am on October 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  I have never used this app before. I can see how it would be useful for illustration and highlighting purposes. I have been an evernote user for a long time now and Skitch is of similar high quality. Useful but limited application. I would see its potential as an instructional rather than as an educational tool.

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    Jonathan 7:50 pm on October 4, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Skitch now exports to Evernote by default! I noticed this recently as it requested that I setup an Evernote account (I use to have one.. but I forgot about it). Skitch is really great for a quick snapshot in class of student’s work and being able to show it off on a whiteboard. You get the options of annotating it right away. For students, the ability to annotate a photo they just took is really nice as well. ie. Have the student’s show off different sections of an animal — it could be part of a bigger project for them.

    On a side note about Evernote. Do you find it really useful? I never paid for Evernote and I felt it was definitely necessary to pay into Evernote before the useful features will activated. Are you using the free or paying? Is it a “can’t live without it” service?

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  Colin 5:30 pm on October 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  This was my first time using Skitch and at first I was not that impressed. I installed it on my Iphone and I found that it lagged a lot before it would show me what I have done. Though after reading your reply Tom maybe it works better on an Ipad. I do agree with your pedagogical analysis as it would be easier to mark some of the students work as I could just write on it and send it to them. When I finally get an Ipad then I will be sure to try it again.

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    tomwhyte1 7:29 am on October 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    For myself, I have only used skitch on my desktop grab images for presentations, or to include into department meeting agenda’s, or to highlight issues for our IT department. As for use on the iPad or iPhone… I am not sold yet…

    Does anyone have any instructional ideas of how this might be utilized?

    Thoughts?

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      Lisa Nevoral 7:24 pm on October 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Hi Tom,

      Your analysis of Skitch was quite accurate. I can see the use it would have at meetings to capture information being presented, to capture things written on whiteboards, or images/information projected on screens.

      One thing I did not like about Skitch (but maybe I haven’t used it enough) was the ability to change the text font size.

      An idea that I thought might work well with Skitch was in a math class. A student or groups of students could work on an open-ended question where the solution was found in multiple steps. The students could take pictures using Skitch on their IPhones, IPads, mobile devices, etc. of each step they performed to find the solution. Because it is an open-ended question, there would be many different solutions and representations. For each stage of the solution students could add notes for later use or other students or the teacher could provide feedback or corrections.

      Just a thought,

      Lisa

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  adi 7:02 pm on October 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  I had never used Skitch and really liked it. In EFL/ESL or other language teacher it could be used in lots of ways: labelling things for learning vocabulary; listening practice having students label things in a picture the teacher describes; for note taking and lots more. The only drawback is having to buy the special pen; I’ve used ‘Drawsome’ using my finger and it’s quite hard to do.