A School Mobile Educational
App
Having an app for educational purposes
can further you in your studies and help
you be more successful in life.
What is a mobile app? (Application):
• Made for mobile devices, (iPods, iPhones.
iPads...) and is a piece of software that you can
easily download for free or purchase, most
commonly through the Apple App Store.
Introducing
…FUTURE FOR LEARNING
• After researching a variety of different apps out
there, this PowerPoint will tell you all the
elements that I am including in this useful School
app called Future For Learning.
• This PowerPoint will display all my ideas and is
only a start to what I want to create out of this.
Elements in my App:
• In the app, you will find each of the 5 subjects (French, Math,
Science, Social Studies, Science) laid out on the page and when
you tap each subject name, you will find useful video links,
educational games and helpful skills to master the course. The
content in each subject will help you to gain your knowledge on
that specific course.
• Second, there will be a section for memorization/fun brain
games.
• MOOC
• A section on Online Tutoring
• Surrey Connect
• Online Counselling
• iTunes U
• Online Homework Club.
In the French subject category there
will be..
• Flashcards
• Word searches, crosswords, hang man.
• You can rate how well you know each vocabulary
word and then after you rate it, the app will
decide when the word will show up again on the
flashcards based on how well you know it.
• You will receive a long list of useful and valuable
vocabulary.
• Audios for the French pronunciation
In the Science subject, this category
will..
• help you memorize any kind of reading passage.
You can take a picture of the sheet of paper you
need to memorize and add the paper to the app.
• take out the important words and it is your job to
remember the missing words and to fill in the
blanks.
• assist you in your skills for memorizing key
vocabulary and information.
• provide students a “cool” way to study,
substituting the old fashioned way of studying.
In the Social Studies
Category:
• There will be a variety of maps and
interesting information and facts about them.
• You can compare the maps of present day to
the maps of the past
• Shows the population of each part of the
world on the map, for example the
population in 1918. This assists teachers
greatly because you don’t have to have a
physical map hanged up in your classroom,
you can just go on a mobile device and see
it. This is better because students who have a
mobile device can view the map at home
too, not just in the classroom at school.
• You are able to go all the way back to the
maps during World War II. Just by looking at
my screenshots, you already have a good
impression on what this app can do and how
it can help you in history class.
In the Math Category:
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Algebra Equations: takes you one step at a time
introduces letters into the equation : Ex/. 3(x+1).
crossing out to eliminate numbers
distribution. Algebra is an important part of math because
you study algebra a lot in high school. You start in grade
eight and it is used all the way up to your senior math
classes too.
• lets you come up with your own equations and problems
which is good for studying with your friends, so you can
create an equation and your partner can solve it. There are
different lessons; each lesson teaches you a new element.
• Graphs, circumference diagrams, (anything revolving
around Math)
In the English Category:
• Many different books to choose from. This
section of the app is similar to iBooks.
• Review and rate books. Reviewing books are a
good thing to do because it gives you a chance
to reflect on what you have read. Just like my
teacher, Mr. Stroh said, doing an assignment is
one thing and reflecting on what you learned is
another thing. So the same goes for reading
books.
Memorization Category
• Here is one of the videos in the app that shows a
very interesting and more of a fun way to
memorize numbers or words. I use this technique
all the time!
• http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/memorygames/memory-games-videos/how-to-memorizenumbers.htm
• As you can see, this app includes video links to
valuable videos that the students will be interested
in watching.
Memorization
Games…
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Watch this video for a visual
description of what the game
in the app is similar to:
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http://www.dailymotion.com/vi
deo/xjs6xm_rise-of-the-planetof-the-apes-app_videogames
Test your memorization skills. One particular
game, doesn’t involve words, instead it
involves numbers. It’s very entertaining and
addictive. The video to the left shows people
playing a game called Rise of the Planet of the
Apes. The video describes and tells you that
chimpanzees beat humans in the category of
memorization. One of the memorization games
in the app is similar to the Rise of the Planet of
the Apes game.
Chimpanzees outperform humans, so this can
help high school students with memorizing
numbers and gives the brain a workout. If it’s a
Friday afternoon and you don’t want to do
homework, then you can play this game which
is both fun and educational. Numbers appear
on the screen and after a second, they turn
blank and you have to figure out where each
number was by touching each blank IN
ORDER on the screen.
Lumosity…
More Memorization and
Brain Games
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Something similar to
Lumosity will be incorporated
in the app.
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enhances awareness and memorization. It also
monitors your growth. Not only does it revolve
around your memory but it also helps you with
your problem solving skills as well. It tests your
memory by telling you to memorize many
different ideas, names and locations of certain
objects.
assists you with your attention by trying to get
you to avoid all the distractions going on around
you and to focus when you’re doing work at
home and when you are introduced to a new
topic.
helps you to be productive which is something
that is very important in high school and in
university because it leads to success. If you are
productive, it means you get a lot of work done in
a certain amount of time. A lot of people, even
myself need more practice in speed. When I say
speed, I mean that you need to be able to act on
the spot and be able to react to things right away.
helps you adapt into a new environment and
atmosphere.
More Lumosity!
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For these reasons, by just reading the reviews
on this app, it seems like both a fun and educational
game and that’s why I decided to include something
similar to Lumosity in my app.
Thinking outside the box, being able to prevent
mistakes and clearly communicating relates to
flexibility which is one of the topics Lumosity
tests you on.
Based on the reviews after using this app, you
will notice big time improvements and the
activities in the app help you to improve in the
different types of sports that you play. It helped
one person win more medals in rowing and it
helped another person focus more during
competitions.
These activities in Lumosity are created by
neuroscientists; evidence and research has been
done to prove that there have been
improvements after the training. Lumosity is
based on neuroplasticity which deals with the
brain as if it is a muscle that needs to become
accustomed when the brain is given a challenge.
Neuroplasticity is when your brain can change
in a physical way when it encounters new
challenging problems and experiences.
Lumosity is like going to the gym to get a
workout, except it gives a workout to your brain
instead. Lumosity feels like a game where you
have your own personal trainer.
Small Elements to Include..
Mind Map Maker:
• If you want to memorize new topics or if you have a unit test
to study for in a class, a good way to memorize definitions and
to understand the concepts is to draw yourself a mind map.
This lets you to easily organize key vocabulary and to get
everything all straightened out. When you do your mind map,
make sure it is colourful and make sure you include highlights
and illustrations. So by just looking at your finished map, you
can easily comprehend the sequence of events and you can
remember it when your test comes along. By using a mind
map you can quickly pick out and identify the main idea of the
concept.
More Elements:
• A section for alerts for your next upcoming test or
when your projects are due.
• A live chat: instead of emailing or asking
questions via Twitter, you can use a live chat
which is used for educational purposes only.
• Rhymes to help you memorize a specific order of
something. For example, in music the rhyme I
learned in order to memorize the order of sharps
is: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle.
Continued:
• The ability to record voice memos so you can
hear yourself saying a sentence or phrase over and
over again to help you memorize it. (First listen to
it as many times as you like, and then try to recite
it.)
• Flashcards: Use online flashcards to help you
memorize definitions for words. The flashcards
should have some sort of illustration or diagram
on them so you can have a visual memory of the
words. They allow you to include voice memos
on the flashcards as well.
Continued..
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A section to include on just tips/Techniques
For example..
-Take breaks. Work for an hour and then take a fifteen minute break. After taking a
break, recite what you memorized to check if you memorized it properly.
-Do your homework where there are no distractions, work in a quiet place so you can
concentrate.
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-Highlight information, colour code important sentences of a paragraph.
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-Write yourself notes on sticky notes.
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-Before you start studying make sure you understand the concept and the information.
After you comprehend the work, then memorize it.
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-Classify points into groups.
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-Work with a partner when studying so you can help each other out and if you have
questions, your partner can help clarify them or if your partner doesn’t know, you
both can try to find the answer together. (Two brains are better than one.)
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-Say all the information you’re studying out loud.
Inside the App, you’ll be able to use
MOOC
• stands for Massive Open Online Course.
• A MOOC is a course with information everywhere to be shared
with your teachers and other participants. It’s more of an event
than a course, where many people can come together and discuss
topics. A MOOC gets you used to working by yourself and
independently, which helps build life-long learning. Life-long
learning is important because the reason why we come to school,
the reason why teachers teach us new things, the reason why we
are expected to complete homework and understand concepts, is
so that we are prepared for the real world outside of school. For
example, getting a job is something we need to be prepared for.
The school’s mission is to prepare the students for lifelong
learning as described in the planners.
More info on MOOC
• MOOC has facilitators, a beginning and end date, and contains
the course work. People can come together and complete work on
a topic that interests them. Other participants reflect on your
work that you complete and it is shared with everyone that is
doing that course. You don’t necessarily have to do assignments
but you can make connections to your life with the material and
link up your life with other results on the internet.
• All video responses, tweets on twitter, blogs and other things on
the internet, all join together to form a really unique course. This
open course allows you to work independently, and to get
familiar to the idea of working alone. It allows you to engage
your learning with others. It offers you FREE online courses with
no charge to participate. Here is a video that describes what
MOOCs are about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc#
MOOC
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In school, teachers can easily communicate with their students, however if you take
an online course teachers can still have the ability to communicate with their
students through audio comments about thoughts on a specific assignment, emails
and weekly videos for the students about the course.
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Exams can be taken at specific locations (regional testing centres) or at home with
cameras put up in the room when you are doing the exam to prevent you from
cheating. You can also supervise the participant’s mouse clicks to see if a student is
cheating or not. 10% of the people who sign up, end up completing the course.
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MOOC is not just a course and it is not a school, it is a different way of learning
online. There is no limit to how many people can do these online courses. MOOCs
are like courses you would take in Universities; however they don’t offer the
academic credit unless you decide to pay money. MOOCS usually are talked about
on social networks online so that’s how you can get started with a MOOC. There
are a variety of courses that you can take such as art, architecture, mathematics,
science, physics, biology, chemistry, law, foods and nutrition, music, robotics,
marketing, design, languages and so many more. MOOC is not just some random
place online to take courses, it is offered by many of the best Universities. Coursera
is an example of a technology company that offers MOOC.
MOOC
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These universities: Wharton School, University of Virginia, Stanford University are
examples of participants of MOOC. There are, of course many others. The thing I
like about MOOC is that you decide what you want to learn, how you decide to
learn it and who you learn it with. It lets you have the opportunity to explore what
you can do and not be given specific instructions from the teacher on what to do.
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The work you complete is graded or marked by other peers; this allows your peers
to have an opportunity to reflect and to see someone else’s point of view on the
subject. You can watch the videos at any time of the day and you can rewind the
video if you missed any important information, but in a classroom you cannot
rewind what the teacher just said. In class you are too busy writing notes so you
may miss out information; you don’t have to worry online because you can easily
rewind back. It is very unique and will become more popular as the years go by.
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Personally I would like to be a part of a Massive Open Online Course; it is a
different kind of experience and by hearing what it’s about, it persuades me to
participate.
The app will not have MOOC on it, but it will have something very
similar to it on it.*
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Online Tutoring
• Online tutoring will be incorporated in the app because it is really helpful.
You can easily get help from an older student or teacher, and second it’s all
online so you can access a tutor from home or from anywhere on your
mobile device.
• On the side of the page, there should be the names of tutors and it shows
you which tutors are available to help, by having a green dot by their name.
This website categorizes the tutors in to subjects. So there are different
tutors for each subject. Each tutor has their own profile page with an
explanation of their teaching experience, reviews on them as a tutor and a
little bit about their personal life so you can get to know what they are like
outside of tutoring.
• You can use video, audio or text chat to communicate.
• There are professional tutors, who know what they are doing. Some of the
tutors are graduates, professors, or certified teachers so you know the help
you are getting is valuable and is actually going to help you succeed; it’s
not just a waste of time. You also know the information they give you will
be accurate.
More Info on Online
Tutoring
• If you wish to use the tutoring part of
the app, it will include a report card
at the end in detail outlining the
aspects of the course that the tutor
has seen improvement on. Tests are
being given to the students in detail.
Online Tutoring
• The tutor is able to work from home wherever they are in the
world. They don’t have to worry about getting ready and driving
to work. They can just get up in the morning and go sit down and
start working in front of their computer. That’s all! It’s a really
simple but an advanced concept. The children don’t have to go to
an actual building and meet their tutor face to face. The children
don’t need to stress their parents out by having them drive them
there and back. They can learn at home safely. It is worth the
money you pay due to all the advantages. Even if you’re sick, or
injured and you can’t go to your tutor, you can still do it from
home on your computer. Your energy and time is used more
efficiently and is saved. The technology that is at the child’s
finger tips might help them get a gist of the concept more easily
due to the new interaction and communication of technology.
Sylvan Learning
• Sylvan Learning is a tutoring organization. It offers
online tutoring. Certified Sylvan teachers do the live
lessons. Sylvan offers personalized reading and math
help. It offers math, reading, writing, study skills,
homework help, college prep, SAT prep, ACT prep,
State test prep, and summer camps.
• Sylvan Learning will have it’s own section in the app
and is used as the online tutoring organization for this
app.
• Price for Sylvan’s online tutoring varies.
Overview
• Overall, online tutoring is a really good way to
learn easily. It saves time, money, and energy.
This is the future now. Everything is online.
You don’t need to actually physically be at a
place at a specific time. With the progression
of technology, I can absolutely see this idea
growing even more popular than it already is
today and that’s exactly why I want to
incorporate it in my app.
Introduction to Online
Courses
• A few students from Sullivan are currently taking some of their
courses online. Right now it is not that common, yet most likely
everybody will be doing this in the future as the years pass. I find
it cool because you don’t need to worry about going to an actual
classroom; you can just do your work at home, anywhere at any
time.
• This allows you to go at your own pace too. Whether as in a
classroom, you need be following the class’s speed. MOOC is
something that you would do more on your own time for
curiosity and you would have to pay in order to get the credit. It
doesn’t follow the grade curriculum. Some students from Surrey
and I know there are a few students from Sullivan that are doing
their courses online. They are doing it through Surrey Connect.
Surrey Connect
• Surrey Connect offers three different programs. One is
called the elementary program which is kindergarten to
grade seven. The students have three report cards
throughout the year. The Surrey Connect program assists
students that are five years old and up. Families that are
always traveling or students that are too sick to attend
school are supported by Surrey Connect.
• They offer workshops, such as thinking challenges,
painting workshops, science fair projects, book talks, ice
skating as well as many more. Surrey Connect arranges
field trips, such as Science World, the Vancouver
Aquarium, the Vancouver Museum and the Vancouver
Zoo. Surrey Connect can access support services such as
counselling, ESL Learning, and LST.
Surrey Connect
• The second program is called the Secondary program, which is from
grades 8-12. Grades 8 and 9 can only register to take courses if they are
full time. For grades 10-12 there is more of a variety to what courses
you can take and you have an option to do part-time or full-time. More
people take online courses in grades 10-12 than taking online courses in
grades 8 and 9. These online courses are free to take part-time and fulltime for grade 10-12 students. Grades 8-9 are also free. Grades 10-12
have 6 months to complete the online course, however they have to be
active every week. Grades 8 and 9 have to complete the courses by the
first week of June. Surrey Connect has marks cut-off dates just like in
school, so even if you take an online course, you still have to be on top
of your studies. There are field trips also such as law courts, PNE,
Planetarium and many more.
• The last program offered is called the Adult Program, which is 18 and
older. Students that have already graduated can take grade eleven and
twelve courses, such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math. Adults
can take these courses on Surrey Connect to complete their Dogwood
Diploma.
Is Surrey Connect Right For You?
• If you choose to take a course on Surrey Connect, you
need to make sure you are a self-motivated and an
independent learner who is able to focus and truly
understand each concept taught in the course, as it is up
to you to learn the material as best you can, since you
are not in a classroom environment under the
supervision of an actual teacher.
• Furthermore, it is very easy to fall behind and you need
to make sure you are always on top of your studies as
you would be in school. Now you may wonder what
Surrey Connect has to do with school mobile apps, and
the answer to this is that I want to incorporate Surrey
Connect in a good school app.
Online Counselling
• Online counselling is advantageous because any student
can book a session with a counsellor of their choice and
talk to them about issues arising at home with their
family or concerns about their courses. Counselling
serves anyone and doesn’t just focus on students. You
could talk about your marriage, family issues,
addiction, careers, your anger, stress, eating disorders…
ECT. Online counselling will have professional
therapists and counsellors. Students have an option to
speak to a teacher too.
Online Counselling
• The online counselling can be through video chat, video conferencing or
emailing. More people are using online counselling rather than using the
old style way in person. The efficacy is equal to the traditional style of
counselling. The end result is not effected and the way the end result is
reached is not effected either. People have been booking and attending
more appointments through online counselling than the traditional style.
Online counselling puts you in to a more relaxing and calm mood because
the traditional way may make you feel more intimidated. People have
missed fewer appointments in the online therapy than the in-person therapy.
Online counselling makes the patient be more open and honest, which leads
to a better treatment from the counsellors. People may be shy when they
talk in person so that’s how online counselling can allow the patient to tell
more of their thoughts and feelings about their situation to their ecounsellor. It is also way more convenient because some people may not
have the time in the day to go to an appointment, but online you can do it
easily from home which is a big advantage.
Online Counselling
• There are pros and cons to this idea. If you are having suicidal thoughts and
are having a crisis, it may be treated better at an actual office, but anything
minor than that can be done through the internet. Daily struggles can be
talked about easily on the internet. E-therapy and e-counselling cannot be
used as a substitute for in-person counselling; it is just another option to
how you want to contact your counsellor and it’s a neat option to have.
Online counselling is time efficient as you don’t need to worry about
driving there and back and with that being said, it is very useful for
travellers. People who don’t feel comfortable face to face in a room with
another counsellor can easily go on their computer and start online
counselling. In my school app, I want to include a section for online
counselling and there could be a list of counsellor’s names with profiles on
each one of them, describing their personal life and a little bit about them.
This should be free for students for the first couple of sessions but then
after that you would have to pay. It shouldn’t be very expensive and the
cost should depend on your situation. The app is also going to allow you to
speak to a counsellor through FaceTime if that is more effective for you,
rather than emailing when you can’t see what the counsellor looks like.
iTunes U
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You need to have an Apple ID to use this app. This is an app that gives you useful and
reliable material for all kinds of courses such as Physics, Social Studies, Calculus,
Business, Psychology, Spanish, Economics, Music, Management, Statistics, Anatomy,
Shakespeare and many more. There is more than 500,000 free resources on courses, such
as lectures, videos, presentations, audios and more.
You are able to take courses made by instructors who are from universities and
institutions. You are able to easily access all the materials for the course on your device
with no problem. You are able to access and view the list of assignments for the course
and check off the assignments you have completed as you go, which helps you organize
your work and make things less overwhelming.
You can take notes easily (tap Add Note button) while watching videos, listening to audios
or reading novels. The nice feature is that, iTunes U knows the location of what place in
the audio you made a note in, making the notes easily accessible after watching the audio.
On top of that, iTunes U organizes the notes in to sections based on whether it was from a
novel, audio or lecture. This app is very useful as it allows you to view different
presentations, play audio lectures and transfer important information to other pupils.
Sending notes and important material from the course through Mail, Twitter or Messages
can be easily done with only a few small steps. The other students are notified when new
assignments are made or when new messages are sent.
The iBooks app is connected to iTunes and you are able to read books from iBooks
directly from the iTunes U app and highlight specific text from the book.
iTunes U
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iTunes U Course Manager is a tool that allows instructors to create a whole entire
course that is shared with students including handouts, quizzes, tests, worksheets,
videos, audio lectures, links and material from iTunes, iBooks, the Internet and the
App Store. You can include content from the iTunes U app, letting you collect
information from different institutions, universities, and museums.
Step by step instructions for building the course are available in the iTunes U
Course Manager guide and a maximum of five teachers can work together on just
one course for a class. Delivering the course to your students is done by using a
URL or code when inviting them to enroll.
Your own course that you made can be found in the iTunes U app catalogue section
if you work in an institution.
This app goes far beyond than the knowledge you learn from sitting in a classroom,
as it is easily accessible with information directly from your handheld device,
making it very convenient. While taking a course on iTunes U, you will always be
updated with the latest news and information at all times no matter where you are;
as long as you have your device with you. You will always be updated with
important educational messages. From reading and researching about this
application, it seems extremely useful and valuable throughout high school years
and all the way through university. *My app will also provide useful material
for courses and will have a whole entire section in the app that is similar to
iTunes U.
Homework Club
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Students can get together and chat about struggles they encountered while doing
homework and other pupils can use techniques to help them understand the concept.
This allows the students to come together and to interact with others at the same
grade level as them.
The online chat tool can be monitored by teachers to ensure students are using it
appropriately and that it is used as an educational tool only and not as a social
networking site. The stronger students can guide the weaker students through
difficult course material without providing just the answers for the weaker students
to copy from.
This is very useful because if you are stuck on a problem, you can easily access
help when needed. If students are using the tool constantly and are too lazy to do
the work themselves, then the online teacher will take necessary action and discuss
with the student why they are always using the chat tool.
This is great for students requiring extra help with specific subjects because they
can either get help from their other peers, or if needed you are able to get help from
the teachers who also have online accounts and they can both monitor and
contribute to the conversations. Schools have a homework club set up after school
for the students to come together to work on their homework, and this Online
Homework Club follows the same idea because it is used for getting help,
discussing an interesting topic, posing questions, and introducing your own ideas to
be shared with everyone else.
Homework Club
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This tool will make you better prepared for exams because you get a chance to give
and receive ideas from other students.
You are able to work with others and use the brain of two or more people to solve a
challenging problem or to try to find the answer to an in-depth question. Not only are
you gaining your knowledge while doing this, but you are also learning how to
cooperate with other people.
Students can use this chat tool to quiz each other before a test.
The tool should allow the students to send audios, and cool educational videos to one
another.
The teachers can monitor which students contribute greatly to the conversation and
which students take the time and effort to help other students.
This will be similar to a blogging site, where a good blog filled with detailed responses
should be formed at the end and can be used to show the learning growth of each
individual. The blog should be a good representation of what the students are learning
and how they are learning it. Each student should also have their own blog describing
their standing within the course. For example, every month they should write a
paragraph explaining their understanding of the course and whether they feel very
confident and proud or on the other side of the spectrum, feeling confused and
puzzled. In the paragraph they should have included how they feel interacting with the
other students and whether or not it is beneficial to them. They should also have most
of their assignments posted on their blog including a section of what they learned each
week.
How will the Homework Club work?
The online homework club gives the chance for students to
actively participate.
• There should be a specific time once a week when all the
students involved in the Online Homework Club should
meet together and everybody should all be online at the
same time to discuss the course work. The time can be set
up so it is convenient for most of the students. All the other
days of the week, the students are welcome to pose
questions and to write about interesting ideas.
• The students that participate more actively than others will
get more marks because they decided to take the time to add
new ideas to the blog. Therefore, they receive more credit
than the other students.
Your future learning
all in one app
• This app will help you throughout your high school
years all the way through college and university… just
taps away.
• Cost: $9.99
• The reason why it costs $9.99 is because it has to be
affordable for students and the Online Tutoring, Online
Counselling, will have separate costs depending on
your situation.
• There are also some paid brain games in the app too.
These are my ideas, and I hope you understand that
this app assists you greatly in your learning to
become a brighter student and provides you with new
methods of studying. This is the key to your future
learning. I really want to download this app in the
future in order to explore its useful features, therefore,
allowing everyone along with myself, the ability to
experience lifelong learning.
Thank you