As a software trainer I am frequently asked what apps I use to get done what I need to. Or during a training session I will use an app and it will get someone’s attention.
Here’s a list of my preferred apps and their uses:
Screen Recording and Publishing – Screencast – O – Matic
Screencast-o-matic is my goto for screen recording and publishing. It’s affordable for the full features, the built in editor enables me to easily zoom, annotate, blur etc my videos, and I can easily save them to OneDrive or publish directly to my YouTube channel. I have it installed on my iPad and iPhone as well to record training. Paid plan gives me unlimited recording length and access to royalty free images and video clips to use as well.
I pay $48 annually for the Solo Premier plan which for me is great value for money for a core tool in my role.
Screenshots and Editing – ShareX
ShareX is a free screenshot program with a massive amount of features. Full list on their website. My typical use would be to capture a screenshot and edit it using tools such as – blur, pixelate, highlight, outline circle/square, add arrows, labels, stickers Step numbers. Then save to OneDrive. It has more than I need. Totally free. App sits in the Quick Launch tray for easy access.
ShareX is a free software.
Colour Picking Tool – Instant Eyedropper
Instant Eyedropper is a free colour detection tool that I use to identify and copy to my clipboard a colour on the screen that I click on. I use it a lot to match colours when designing and creating images, logos and websites. Super useful and sits in the Quick Launch tray, click it then mouse over a colour on your screen, one click and that colour code is in your clipboard ready to paste.
Instant Eyedropper is free software.
Note Taking and Record Keeping – OneNote
OneNote is what I use to record information. I create notebooks for different areas of life and in each notebook divide it into sections which contains pages for topics. For example in my Personal notebook I have a section for Warranties and create a new page in that section each time I buy a product with a warranty. I simply take a photo of the receipt and insert it into the page. Fully searchable, it makes finding those instructions, recipes, car details, manuals, flight itinerarys and anything recorded, easy to access. Plus it is available on all my devices. So whether I am on my iPad, iPhone or computer I can get it all, with note changes syncing so the latest is always available.
OneNote is included in my $99 Office 365 subscription.
Disk Space Management – TreeSize Free
TreeSize Free is a free little utility which helps me find where my disk storage space has gone. It will scan the directory you tell it (eg. C: ) and list folders with the Gigs or Megs of data stored in them. From there you can drill down into any folder to identify what is taking up space. Useful, I dont use it every day and to be honest as I write this Im wondering if there is something in Windows which does this – and if not – why not?
I use the free version Treesize Free (there is also a Pro version)
Password Management – LastPass
LastPass – I pay to get the Premium account for this which enables me to have LastPass installed on an unlimited number of devices. Phones, iPads, work and personal computers. Changes to passwords and my password vault sync across these devices so I am always up to date. I use it mostly to generate hard passwords and remembering them when I sign up to something online.
I use the $54 per annum Premium version.
Video Downloader – 4K Video Downloader
I prefer to download some videos and use them in presentations rather than linking to them, so I know they are available and will play when required! 4K Video Downloader is an app I pay for, cost me one off $15 and I can use it on two computers. I don’t use it every week, but it lets me download videos or video playlists to my computer really easily.
$15 one off registration for 2 computers.
Remote Computer Access – RealVNC
I do some messing about with RaspberryPI devices and sometimes have to access them remotely. I also have a desktop setup at home and a PC media centre connected to my TV. Instead of accessing these computers all individually I installed VNC Server on each of them, then VNC Viewer onto the computers that I would use to access those from. It means wherever I am connected I can access those computers if needed.
I use the free versions of VNC Server and VNC Viewer to get this done.
Web Browser Content Blocking plugin – uBlock Origin
I use uBlock Origin, a web browser plugin to block content I’d rather not see. This includes adverts, tracking and malware sites. I use it in Firefox, Edge and Chrome. It’s nice and easy to turn off it a website is getting content blocked that you need to see – just turn it off for that site and refresh the page.
Instagram is an app you use to share photos and short videos with your Followers. You can Follow other Instagram users (people or organisations) and view their images and videos. You can Like, Comment on images and tag your followers in image comments.
Introductory video Instagram Beginners (5:30)
My Use of Instagram
I’ve been using Instagram since it came out. I like that its all about Images. No posts about “what am I thinking” just posts from friends and others I follow which are Images or short Videos.
Picture it as a visual Twitter. Where Twitter is a platform for sharing short (140 character) text posts, Instagram is sharing just an Image – with a caption.
Images have captions and you can Tag people who are in the Image. You can say the location and also add some built in filters to modify your original image really easily. Add some Hashtags and you’re an Instagram #pro!
What does the Instagram app do?
The Instagram app is how you connect to your Instagram social network and share images. Open the app, take a photo or find one in your Photo Library, add a caption, add a Filter, tag someone, add a Location, share on Instagram or with other linked sites like Facebook or Twitter.
How can I use the Instagram app?
Instagram is a great way to keep in touch with people through Images. Let others know what you are up to through capturing and sharing images of your activity or to promote what you are doing. If you are a classroom teacher its a dead-set simple way to share what’s happening in the classroom – simply take a photo, use Instagram to share with your Followers – most likely Parents and other Teachers.
Instagram is owned by Facebook and is a trimmed down social media network centred around Images. View and share images from people and organisations you follow without the clutter of everything else Facebook includes. Follow celebs and interest groups for short visual updates.
OneNote is a notetaking tool included in Microsoft Office and now available on your web browser or as a mobile app for android and iOS. When using Onedrive you can sync it across computer and mobile devices to record notes which can include text, images, audio, video. Notes are organised into Sections of a Notebook. You can setup any number of Notebooks.
Introductory video from Office 365 (1:16)
My Use of Onenote
Ive been using Evernote Premium since it came out around 2008/2009 and still use it for my personal notes on various devices.
But I started using Onenote in 2016 for work and it’s now my main tool outside of email. Onenote is software from Microsoft which enables me to create digital Notebooks which can contain Sections, each section can be made up of any number of Pages.
Pages can contain, Text, Images, recorded Audio or Video, and are saved instantly as I work. I can move Pages between Sections or Sections between Notebooks. I can even share Notebooks with other Office 365 users.
What does the OneNote app do?
The OneNote app offers me the core features of the full desktop version of OneNote which makes it great to record notes on my iPhone or iPad when getting out the laptop is too much trouble. Because my OneNote notebook files are stored on OneDrive in the Cloud the data syncs and when other devices running OneNote are connected OneNote data is synced, so everything stays up to date.
How can I use the OneNote app?
For my work I currently have around 7 Notebooks on various topics relating to my Role. Each Notebook has a number of Sections and those Sections contain Pages. For example one Notebook titled “Digital Tools” has content on various software and apps that I can share with others when they ask me what something is and how they could use it.
I have my Digital Tools notebook organised into Sections named Social Media, Video and Robotics and then each section contains relevant Pages, for example the Social Media section has pages on Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram.
An example of a OneNote Notebook/Section/Page structure
When I open the OneNote app on my iPhone (below) I can access this notebook and its contents, but the view and features are obviously different because of the device.
OneNote Notebook, Section and Page view on iOS app
One of the great things I use a lot is the iPhone’s camera to add photos of presentation slides during a workshop or presentation. After taking the photo in OneNote you have the option to crop the image by dragging handles to the image corners – OneNote then does it’s best to align the image flat. If its a Whiteboard photo just tap the “Whiteboard” button and watch the magic happen…..
Video: OneNote iPad app (33:16)
Sharing OneNote Notebooks
Once your using OneNote with OneDrive you have the ability to share your notebooks with others. For example, my Digital Tools notebook could be shared with other educators who could then view or contribute to the notebook content depending on what level of sharing I choose. This collaboration feature enables you to use OneNote as a tool for purposes where information needs to be up-to-date and available to a group.
When sharing a Notebook you are also able to protect sections within the notebook with a password, should you not want to share the whole thing.
OneNote is a really great tool for keeping the information you need to keep, organised and synchronised on various devices. The OneNote app makes it easy to access those Notebooks on your mobile devices. If you’re a OneNote user you will value having access via the app.
Swift Playgrounds is a coding app from Apple designed to teach kids how to code. Expect to see it available when iOS 10 is released in September 2016. It allows students to complete in-built lessons and write code to control a character named “Byte”, giving him movement and direction commands such as moveForward() or turnLeft() or jump(), to guide him through a series of puzzles to be solved in a 3D graphical world.
With Swift Playground’s split screen on the iPad as seen above, the coder can create and run the code in the left hand section, then preview it straight away on the right hand side Swift Playground’s “world view”. When you start coding the app also gives you suggested commands.
only available on iPads running iOS 10 and above (iPad Air or iPad Mini 2 are minimum)
you can share your Swift Playground’s code with others using Mail, Messages or Airdrop
record and share video of your code in action
expect new challenges to be added with app updates
code templates enable you to begin using iPad features (accelerometer, gyroscope, multi-touch) quickly and easily
Swift Playground’s code can be transferred directly to X-Code, Apple’s programming software for MacOS, WatchOS, tvOS and iOS
free app once released, available now to users on the Apple Developer program testing iOS 10 beta.
Watch a short video from Macworld introducing Swift Playgrounds (2min47)
From Apple –
“Interactive puzzles teach key programming concepts in a way that is both fun and challenging building confidence and skill. Starting with the “Fundamentals of Swift” lesson, you’ll tackle goals using the same code professional developers use every day. As you move along, more advanced concepts come into play. You’ll continually build on what you’ve learnt and create even more complex code.”
It’s an app which should be popular in iPad schools particularly because learning and writing code is so popular in education at the moment. Code writing involves students in planning, problem solving, design thinking, creativity and collaboration – core 21st Century skills schools want to see their students develop.
Watch the video demonstration from Apple WWDC 2016 of Swift Playgrounds below:
Campbell Smythe
I am a Learning and Collaboration technologies advisor living in Cairns, Australia. An educational technology leadership background and experience managing a globally located information technology team, has given me wide experience in the application of digital technologies to a variety of educational and workplace contexts.
Certified Microsoft Service Adoption Specialist
Microsoft eSports Leader
Microsoft Innovative Educator
Mountain Biker and Triathlete
Former Asia Pacific Information Services Manager MAFINT
1 Minute Introduction to OneNote
