Storest!

Storest ($2.99 for iPad), a superlative app, is one I have been exploring in therapy with my students. The app, from the makers of the fun Foldify series, simulates a store in ways that make unique uses of the iPad as a tool. Check it out in the video below:



Storest from Pixle on Vimeo.

The app works in two modes: a traditional drag-and-drop interface allowing you to shop in the different departments and pay with virtual money, and an innovative activity that requires you to print out paper items and money to play via a virtual cash register. Each item used in the cash register activity has a QR Code attached so it can be scanned by the "register," a great engagement factor for kids.

Storest is a nice app to look at using the FIVES Criteria:

Fairly Priced: At $2.99 Storest brings you many of the features of a (generally much more expensive) play cash register, and more. It can be used flexibly in two different activities and with a wide variety of age ranges.

Interactive: The interesting interface of both activities allows students to make choices as they engage in scaffolded play, and I love apps that bring students beyond the screen to interactions in the real world. In this case, the register becomes "part of the table" and you can arrange the other aspects of the activity (departments and products) to promote interaction among students.

Visual: In the traditional mode, departments are arranged visually in categories so that students can name items and work on identifying their association. The register mode well-represents a register and visually represents the items as they are scanned.

Educationally Relevant: Consider the following classroom tie-ins and educational standards that can be addressed with the app:
-Math, obviously, with the cost of items and use of play money for counting. This great set of cards can be used for following directions and math tasks.
-The MA Curriculum Standards in Social Studies include the following:
Kindergarten
3. Use correctly the word because in the context of stories or personal experiences. (History)- I find that an interesting one as an SLP!
7. Use words relating to work, such as jobs, money, buying, and selling. (Economics)
8. Give examples of how family members, friends, or acquaintances use money directly or indirectly (e.g., credit card or check) to buy things they want. (Economics)

My students loved scanning the items- note the clock and "shopping baskets" used

Speechie or Specific to clinical objectives:
-The app lends itself to working on categories and describing functions of items in a store, as well as reasons one would buy them and associations between them.
-Once printed, the "store" can be arranged in a space so that students work on Social Thinking® concepts such as managing one's body in a group, following a group plan and playing roles of shopper and cashier. I often note my students struggle with the sequence of events when visiting a store (e.g. when to pay) as well as the arrangement of the store itself.
-The arrangement of items can be paired with post-activities such as using pictures of real supermarket aisles and describing their arrangement. I take a cue from executive function specialist Sarah Ward and use such pictures to describe the features of each section; take the bread aisle, which can proceed from stuffing to store breads, flavored breads, rolls, english muffins, etc. EF can also be promoted by presenting real-life tasks such as buying items for a party, and monitoring time for shopping using a clock.
-Pair the app with a picture book for further context and narrative language development. A Chair For My Mother by Vera Williams is a good one, though I am sure you can find many others.

Enjoy shopping!

QR Code Update: Make Audio-Based QRs with Recordmp3.org

In my previous series on using QR codes in speech and language intervention, we covered how clinicians can use this engaging visual strategy to easily "hide" text and images behind a code scannable by mobile devices.  The result is kind of a high-tech (but simple) hide and seek where stimuli related to articulation, vocabulary, sentence structure, narrative skills, you name it, can be accessed by your students.

I have seen some QR codes that, when scanned, play audio, and it occurred to me that this adds a really exciting dimension (and modality) to the potential uses of QR.  Think of it- you could create QR codes that will play verbal directions, informational material, even the students' own oral language (descriptions, storytelling, functional narration of a school tour or rationale for their art/writing project, etc).

So, though I am sure there must be other ways of doing this, one simple way I found is to use Record mp3.  This simple site uses a Flash-based tool (so, you will need to use your computer and NOT an iPad to access it) to let you make a simple recording. You will want to make sure your Flash is updated or you may have trouble or distorted audio.

It even tells you how right on the site:

Once you have recorded and saved the audio sample, the site gives you a link. From what you know about QR already (I hope a little bit, or you'll want to go to my series, read about it and watch the video tutorials), what do you do next? Go to a QR code generator such as Kaywa, copy and paste the link from Record mp3, and you have a QR code that plays audio when scanned.  Try using the app Scan to access mine below:

Now, go have fun with audio QRs!

Appy-Picking Month: A Reminder about Scan

As I am getting ready for short workshops on QR Codes and emerging tech at Masscue's conference this week, and soon at ASHA, I wanted to again mention Scan.  Scan (free) is used to scan QR Codes you access or create yourself.  Check here for my entire series on QR Codes, including video tutorials.

This post is also timely because I have a Spooooky Halloween Lesson involving QR Codes and Story Mapping from last year I would love you to use, whether or not you have a Story Grammar Marker (though you should get one)!

Note: author is a contractor for Mindwing Concepts and provides blog content

Headed to ASHA in Atlanta!

Hi Folks,

I am returning (gradually) from being on vacation for a couple of weeks, and one week pretty nicely disconnected, except for Facebook, which I can't seem to shake entirely. Through that time, however I was checking my personal gmail pretty regularly on my phone, because ASHA notifications typically come out the 2nd week of July.  The surely hardworking committee finally came through this Tuesday, and I was really pleasantly surprised to see that both of my submissions were approved. More to come as we get closer, but I wanted to let you know what I will be up to come November 15. Besides these two sessions, I will be helping out at the Smarty Ears booth, so be sure to stop by and say hi in the Exhibit Hall.

Topic Area: Language and Learning in School Age Children and Adolescents (SLP)
Session Number: 1042
Title: Pairing Picture Books With Apps to Contextually Target Language Objectives
Session Format: Oral Session (Seminar 1-Hour)
Day/Time: Thursday, Nov 15 -- 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
Abstract: SLPs can easily harness emerging trends in mobile technology to engage students in new ways while addressing clinical objectives. Free and low-cost apps for iPad allow clinicians to utilize technologies such as Augmented Reality, Animation and ePub creation tools to visually target language structures. 


Topic Area: Language and Learning in School Age Children and Adolescents (SLP) 
Session Number: 1084 
Title: Applying Emerging Trends in iPad Apps in Speech-Language Interventions 
Session Format: Oral Session (Seminar 1-Hour) 
Day/Time: Thursday, Nov 15 -- 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM 
Abstract: Using picture books in speech-language therapy is an established practice that we can combine with the recent integration of iPad apps in interventions. This presentation describes the contextual overlap between books and apps for various ages, and models the alignment of these "old” and “new" visual tools with language objectives.


I am excited to attend the convention in Atlanta! Hope to see you there!

Edcamp Boston!

I attended my second Edcamp Boston Saturday, making it my 3rd official "unconference." Edcamps are really more of a movement than anything, an acknowledgment that we as educators have so much we can learn from each other! The unconference format forgoes pre-set agendas, structured proposals, presentations and PowerPoints in favor of informal sessions run by people who are passionate about education and collaboration.  Each session looks much more like a conversation than an "info dump," and the process of sharing experiences, ideas and resources is just, well, inspiring. You can see the schedule that was formed in real time here.

Both the interior and exterior of the Microsoft NERD (um, New England Research and Development Center) are also inspiring.

I was a bit crispy (as in, burnt) going into Edcamp, it being a very busy season at school and with presentations lately, but I found myself re-energized by the environment and, even more so, the people. I went to a few sessions on iPad facilitated by Liz Davis, learned about iBooks Author and current work in Project-Based Learning, and facilitated a session on QR Codes and Augmented Reality. You can see the notes from my session here on the Edcamp Posterous, which also gives you a great overview of the whole experience.

The day ended with the classic alternative PD session, a "Smackdown." Smackdowns are sharing sessions that do not involve wrestling but rather participants coming front and center to share resources (with a 2-min time limit for each participant).  You can see the list of shared resources here!

Edcamp Boston was a great experience.  Thanks so much to the organizers:

@dancallahan
@ldelia
@lizbdavis
@karenjan
@tsocko

QR Codes Part 8: Wrapping Up! More Ways to Use QR for SLPs

This series has been really fun to write, and I appreciate all the feedback!  It's been busy here with all this content- November will be a little slower! I have several presentations scheduled and have to start writing evals! This final post (for now) in this series deals with a bunch of ideas on how to use QR as suggested recently by some SLPs and other educators.

For a ready-made halloween lesson plan for kids in upper elementary, MS or perhaps HS, please check out my crossover post on the Mindwing Concepts Blog.  It features a spooky story broken down into narrative elements, each with its own QR code for you to print.  I had a lot of fun with my students doing this find-scan-and-story-map activity!

Thank you to Tara Roehl of SpeechyKeenSLP who sent in these wonderful ideas:

1. I know someone at Palm, so they donated a bunch of old Palm phones in developer mode for me. I simply sync them to the clinic wifi and let the kids loose around the room/halls/clinic/building. I have a HP touch pad, so they can bring back their phone, touch it to the touchpad and we can all see what they found! 
2. Expected and Unexpected (see the Social Thinking™ methodology) behaviors around the building. We have QR codes on the front door, all around the lobby, in the halls and in each room. As an "intro" to the clinic they get to go around and find the QR codes to read what is expected or unexpected in our clinic! 
3. We have mandatory fire drills here this month. So we will be having the students find all the pieces to the "Drill" on QR codes, then see if they can put them in the correct order and complete the drill! 
4. Organization was a big puzzle for me. A way to tuck them away, remember what they are, preserve them, etc. We aren't laminating them, as the glare messes with the phones reading it. I went to Office Depot, got the "business card size name badge insert sheets" that you can put through your printer. They are the appropriate size to fit into the baseball card binder pages - so I store them in there in between!

A colleague of mine at school, came up with the clever idea of using QR Codes with the Visualizing and Verbalizing® Program.  QR codes could link to pictures to be used in the "Picture by Picture" level of V/V, or could link to the structure words that help students construct and describe mental images.

I also received a great suggestion via anonymous comment- "This is very easy to do. I actually gave my artic. kids their homework words in the QR Code. They are motivated to go home and see which words they need to practice." Thanks, commenter! 

Thank you also to Tanya Coyle, our Twitter Yoda, who initiated a discussion on Twitter about QR codes this week as part of her awesome #SLPsnQs series of discussions.  


Still curious about different ways you could use QR codes in your work? Check out this collaboratively developed presentation from Tom Barrett, educational technologist: 40 Interesting Ways to Use QR Codes in the Classroom. Tom has curated a whole slew of these presentations, created by educators adding slides to a collaborative Google Docs Presentation.  You can see all of the "Interesting Ways Presentations here.

Note: author is a contractor for Mindwing Concepts.

QR Codes Part 7: Another Lesson Plan Using QR

As part of a teen social skill group recently, I used this strange-but-cool resource from Australia that allows you to make a visual "art cube" of your interests using Google Images or YouTube clips.

The kids worked in 2 groups to assemble a cube with their favorite things (in this case, 3 kids per subgroup, so each got to pick 2 sides of the cube).

Choose the category All, then you can select what type of media to insert in the cube (Google Images and YouTube are  the best choices).

The great thing about creating the cube this way (besides the kids being really engaged in sharing things about themselves) is that we could then get together and share cubes, and the kids in the opposite group had to guess who had added what to the cube.  We were therefore working on remembering things about others, an important skill.

QR Codes served to provide a fun extension activity the following week.  Once a completed cube is saved, you can view it on the site, and when you click on each side of the cube you get the option to View Source:

When you view the source of each side of the cube, it brings you to the exact URL of the Images and YouTube videos.  Guess what you can do with those URLs? Make QR Codes of course!!  The week after completing the cube, I created QR codes with Kaywa, printed and hid the QR codes around the area, and the kids did a hunt/scan/"Oh yeah that one was something that _____ picked!" Additionally, the kids used a checklist to mark off what they had found and make a guess about the person based on the picture (e.g. "She likes pickup trucks- I bet she likes the outdoors?" We got together after the hunt and discussed the guesses.  Again, many of these strategies are based on ideas in Michelle Garcia Winner's Think Social! curriuculum, so I highly recommend you check out that book!

QR Codes Part 6: QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator

In previous posts, I showed how you can use Kaywa to generate individual QR codes for URLs, images, or text.  If you want to create an activity that involves students moving around and scanning many QRs (i.e. a scavenger/treasure hunt) with text questions, prompts or stimuli, ClassTools.net's QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator is a good resource to do this quickly.  You can use the website to enter in text questions and answers, and it instantly gives you many QRs to print:

The website gives you a specific format to enter in questions and answers, and allows you to go back and edit the hunt later if you enter a code.  It would be a good idea to save, cut and paste your hunts from Word or Google Docs so that you can keep an editable copy yourself!

QR Codes Part 5: QR Reader for Desktops/Laptops

In recent posts I have discussed mobile apps for using QR Codes in speech-language sessions, but there is also at least one application that is an option if your desktop or laptop has a webcam.  I have had good success with QRreader, which is free and runs on both Mac and PC. Simply navigate to that link and install the application.  It is Adobe AIR-based, so don't be surprised when you get prompts for periodic Adobe updates.

Once installed, the QRreader works much like a mobile app.  Open the application and your webcam will be activated.  Hold up the printed QR code to the center of the targets (this takes a bit more finagling than with a mobile app, as you are holding a flimsy piece of paper).  QRreader will then display the text, website or image encoded in your QR!

Like this:

Next week, a QR Scavenger Hunt creator that lets you make and print a bunch of QRs at once!

QR Codes Part 4: A Lesson Plan incorporating QR

Last spring I had a social group of 2nd-3rd graders that was getting a little tired.  I wasn't getting tired, but they were getting tired of me.  I needed to change things up, and had recently learned about QR Codes at Edcamp Boston, so I thought I would give it a try.

One concept we had been working on was smart guesses vs. wacky guesses (a form of social inferencing, see Michelle Garcia Winner's Think Social), and I wanted to break from structured tabletop conversation activities to let the kids engage with each other through play.  So my plan was to have a themed session, and have them find QR codes around the therapy center in order to guess the theme.  The theme was camping, with an interactive website ("Thrill of the Catch"), play activity, and board game as part of the agenda.

The QR portion went like this:
1. I created four QR Codes that linked to images (pictures of a forest, boat, campfire, and tent) that served as clues about the theme. I printed the QR Codes and hid them around the center.
2.  The kids worked together to find the hidden codes, negotiate and take turns scanning them, and we discussed each one, doing some "negative practice" of what a wacky guess would be (i.e. "I found a boat!  I think the activity will be about clowns!"). It should be noted that QR hunts are great for kids who need some movement as part of their sessions.
3. We finally came to a smart guess about the theme, and proceeded to the non-QR activities for the rest of the session.

You create a QR of an image the same way you create one for a URL, but the process is a little different.  Check it out below:

QR Codes Part 3: Mobile Scanning Apps and Demo

So in this, Part 3 of my series on using QR codes to deliver engaging messages, stimuli and visuals to students during sessions, you'll get to see what it looks like when you scan a code with a mobile device.  Check out the video here:

So, that video pretty much sums it up.  The app I used there (for iOS, iPod Touch w/camera, iPad, iPhone) was Scan, and another I have used successfully is RedLaser (both are free).  Android peeps, I hear Barcode Scanner works well, but not having an Android device, I can't vouch for anything.

Next week I'll be sharing some more ideas about using QR codes in therapy, including sharing an image through QR, lessons using QR related to the Social Thinking® curriculum, and other tidbits.

QR Codes Part 2: Using Kaywa to Generate a QR Code

In part one of this series, I described what a QR Code is, where you might have seen them, and their potential for grabbing the attention of our students.

Today, I am going to talk about Kaywa, a free site that you can use to generate and print a QR code for use in a session.

Kaywa is simple to use.  You can type or cut/paste a website URL (address) and create a code that, when scanned, will open the web browser on the device (smartphone, iPod Touch, iPad) or you can enter a short piece of text (e.g. a word with a target sound, vocab word or definition, contextual info, or a strategy you want the student to use).

1. Choose the Content type (generally you will use URL or Text)

2. For URL, you may copy and paste the URL from another window or tab (just make sure to delete http:// from the URL field before pasting (so you don't end up with http://http:// at the beginning of your code, which would be an invalid URL.

3. Click Generate!

Here's your code! Click on it and you will see it by itself on a page in printable form.

Like This.  

Select File>Print from your browser and you will be able to print the code for scanning. You can also right-click(PC) or control-click(Mac) to copy or save the QR Code image.


Here's a short video showing these steps.  Have fun!!

QR Codes Part 1: What are QR Codes?

I am excited to do a few "theme" series on SpeechTechie that will explore topics and strategies in more depth, as I did with Glogster EDU.  To that end, over the next month we will be looking at QR Codes, a hot topic and emerging technology in education.

What are QR Codes, you ask? Well, you probably have seen them already and wondered, "What the heck are those things???"

This is a QR Code

You have most likely seen QR Codes as some part of an advertisement.  QR stands for "Quick Response" and the code is offered to you basically as an eye-grabbing teaser.  You can use an app on your mobile device (smartphone, iPhone, iPod touch, Android phone, iPad) to scan the code, and it usually opens up your web browser and brings you to a site related to the topic of the ad.  In other words, you scan the code and get more information, or more ad! Which ultimately can be kind of lame (but not when used in education, so sit tight).

I wasn't really tempted to get too close to the 3rd rail on the MBTA to scan this QR code

QR Codes can lead to grossness.

So what about QR codes is applicable to us as SLPs and educators? First of all, they are extremely easy to create and print for use in sessions (though again, you need to have access to one of the devices I mentioned above, or a computer with a webcam). Secondly, they are an instant attention-grabber for kids, and constitute a kind of high-tech hide and seek. Rather than giving kids a piece of paper that serves as a stimulus (word or picture), you can present (or hide!) a QR Code they can scan in order to read a text message or see an image, website or video. Students from Kindergarten to High School are engaged by this little hook, which adds the process of discovery to any of your sessions.

Over the coming posts, I will be describing in detail how to create various kinds of QR codes, apps to use to scan them, and lesson ideas for you to try out right away! Each post must by necessity be a bit of a tease as I can't give all the info at once, but I will let you know where I am going in case you want to work ahead!  Next post (Weds): using Kaywa's free QR-Code Generator to make a code.

Part 2: Using Kaywa (Free site) to generate QR codes
Part 3: Apps for Scanning QR Codes and a video demo
Part 4: Lesson Plan incorporating QR and using QR to bring up an image
Part 5: A Desktop/Laptop App for scanning QR Codes
Part 6: Make a bunch of QRs at once with Scavenger Hunt Creator
Part 7: Cube Lesson Plan involving QR
Part 8: Wrapping up with More Ways for SLPs to use QRs
Part 9: Making QR Codes that Play Audio