Print What You Like – Control what you Print

Print What You Like is a free online editor that lets you format any web page for printing. You can now control what you want to print and avoid printouts that are  full of ads and empty space. How many times we want to print an article but we end up having so many printouts that have nothing else but junk ? . As educators, we can use this handy tool to crop what we want from a webpage or even merge two pages into one before printing and sharing with students. Print What You Like is browser based and does not require any installation or download. It is really one of the great  PDF tools educators should be aware of.

Some features of Print What You Like

Here is a list of the main features that Print What You Like  offers to its users:

• It is free (up to this moment )


• It is very easy to use


• It requires a sign up which is very quick


• It allows you to modify WebPages and select what you want to print


• It lets you combine multiple web pages - edit & print them as one document


• You can customize the webpage by changing the size and type of the fonts and also removing the background


• You can save your modified page as a PDF or HTML document


• It removes ads and other junk you don't want.

How can i get started using Print What You Like ?

Head over to Print What You Like main page and sign up for a free account
Enter the URL in the box and hit start
You can play with the commands on the left
watch this video to learn more


That’s it about Print What You Like – Control what you Print.

Read More

Reversi – an entertaining mobile game

Reversi is another free mobile gaming app. I am adding it to The Educational Mobile Gaming Apps i am collecting here in this blog. Reversi  is a strategy game play on a board with 8 rows and 8 columns.The player’s purpose is to have a majority of their colored pieces showing at the end of the game, turning over as many of their opponent’s pieces as possible. This game is a real brain trainer and involves so much thinking.

The original name of this game was Othello but because of copyright issues it became Reversi.

 

 

Some features of Reversi

Here is a list of the main features that Reversi offers to its users:

• It is completely free
• It is easy to use
• It is student- friendly
• It has an intuitive interface
• It offers sound effects to accompany your play
• It has smooth animation features
• It provides the undo and redo options
• It can be played over internet
• It requires android: 1.5 and up

How can i get started playing Reversi ?

I have picked up this video tutorial to show you how you can play Reversi

 

That’s it about Reversi – an entertaining mobile game.

Read More

Slice it – a mobile app to entertain your brain

Slice it is a free mobile gaming app. It is one of the best applications to include in the Educational Mobile Games i am gathering here. It is mainly a puzzle game where “you slice different figures into the same ratio or surface area”. I like this game for it increases the potential of brain calculations. This is one of the benefits of these educational games , they all enhance our students thinking powers and make them aware of some if not all of the analytical procedures at play when they are learning.

 

 

Slice it offers 180 different stages for players each with its due level of difficulty. It also support several languages including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.

Do you want to learn how to get started using this shape dividing game and learn how to start  slicing various shapes into equal sized pieces under a given condition , then watch this short tutorial video

 

 

That’s it about Slice it – a mobile app to entertain your brain.

Read More

Educational Mobile Apps – learn while having fun

Finally it is summer holidays, cheer up! it’s time to have some rest after a long year of hard work. We all love summer holidays and our students even adore them. but the question is are we going to have just fun and forget about our learning? the answer is definitely  Nooooooo. Remember learning is a life long process and does not stop in a certain period of time. If you are one of those who relate learning to just formal settings like classrooms or to certain months of year then you are unfortunately not the kind of learner the 21st century education advocates. Be it at school , home, or out with friends you should always keep learning and never stop discovering new things. It is that inquisitive urge and the insatiable  thirst for knowledge that must always drive you to inquire and as educators we want to make sure our students  adopt this approach too for this is the ultimate goal of learning after all.

                 

If the good results your students have got by the end of the school year are the only reasons that make you boastfully think that your teaching goals have been met then you are completely wrong. Yes, We all love to see our learners mark up high in their exams and get good  grades , this at least satisfies the ego of some of the teachers and would lift some of the burden on their shoulders but the heaviest burden, for me personally, is the bewildering question of whether i have prepared my students to be life long learners that would  go on learning outside of the school and with the same motivation they show inside . Aristotle compared the mind of man to a blank tablet on which nothing was written, but on which all things could be engraved. There is, however, this difference, that on the tablet the writing is limited by space, while in the case of the mind, you may continually go on writing and engraving without finding any boundary, because, as has already been shown, the mind is without limit.
                                      

What is the importance of games in learning ?

This is a good question to ask yourself. Why using games in learning after all? aren’t they just a waste of time and an unnecessary  feature of distraction for our students ?
To provide you with sound answers for the above asked questions i have done quite a long research online and even asked and emailed some experts in the domain and these are the results :
Games if they are not the backbone of the learning process then they are pivotal constutents of this process. The reasons are multifarious and here are some of them:

• Games are motivating and entertaining.
• Games help students to sustain the effort of learning.
• Games create meaningful contexts. They increase cooperation and lower anxiety.
• They  arouse the interest in learning
• They give the students a good rest so that they can go on learning more efficiently.
• Psychologists claim that games can be , if used judiciously, very important learning materials especially for young learner for they fight the boredom and dullness some of the students might feel when classical learning is taking place.
• Games make learning meaningful to students
• They make learning more memorable
• Games are an essential part of the socialization process
• Games help learners make fewer basic-level errors and improve their linguistic competence.
• Games are fun and students love them so much
• Games help students learn by doing and fight the breastfeeding approach where students are only consumers of what teachers give them
• Games open up new interesting and enjoyable learning experiences for students 

What are the things to bear in mind when selecting games ?

Games should be carefully prepared for. We will not just go around picking up games that sound and look good. We should treat them with the same importance as is the case with any other tasks in the lessons. There are many factors to take into account when opting for game selection and inclusion into the curriculum. before you choose a game ask yourself the following questions:

• What are the objectives of the game ?
• How will learners achieve these goals ?
• Is the game free to use or have any copyrights ?
• Is the game easy and simple ?
• Does it have clear-cut instructions for its users ?
• What skills does the game address ?
• Does the game require any previous preparation ?
• How long does the game last ?
• Is the game nudity free and student- friendly ?

Having grasped these points you can now start your safe online journey looking for the appropriate games to introduce to your kids and students. Again to start searching for games online you need to know some of the search tips to save you time and render your search much more focused and therefore get the right results in the right time. If you still do not know how to effectively search the net then i invite you to read Search Tips for Educators: Learn how to search the web effectively.



The following are some of the games i have picked up for you to use or share with your students and kids. Since we are on the verge of the  summer holiday  and most of us will not be in front of their computers then these games are just for mobile devices that you can play wherever you are. Remember these games all meet the above mentioned guidelines and are very safe to use with any age group :

• Math Workout – arithmetic brain training game

• Word with Friends – free social gaming mobile app

• Suduko Free – a brain trainer mobile game

• lines – educational mobile puzzle game

The list is not exhaustive and i will be adding more and more gaming apps. If you have any suggestions or comments feel free to drop them down or contact me using the contact form above.
That’s it about : Educational Mobile Apps – learn while having fun.

Read More

Math Workout – arithmetic brain training game

Math Workout is a free mobile app. It is actually a brain training game that educators can use with their students. The app works in such a smart way and has several mini-activities designed to foster your mental arithmetic. As i have pointed out in the Educational Mobile Games , students will soon go on holiday and we need to guarantee that they keep learning even when they are enjoying their free time. Games are just what they need to both have fun and learn which is our purpose after all.

Some features of Work out

Here are the main features that Math Workout offers to its users:

• It is completely free


• It is very easy to use


• It has a smart and intuitive interface


• It works on Android mobile handset such as the T-Mobile G1, HTC Hero, Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Cliq and more


• It offers seven games modes


• The games differ gradually in difficulty and run on three levels


• It has more than 20 wallpaper themes


• It offers times table practice


• It offers high quality of sound


• It also stores all your high scores


• It is available in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA

How can i get started using Math Work out ?

Head over to your Market application on your Android device , select the Games section then choose “ Brain and Puzzle” category, Math Workout is right there if not then search for it on your menu button.

That’s it about Math Workout – arithmetic brain training game .

Read More

Word with Friends – free social gaming mobile app

Word with Friends is another free mobile app for games. I decided to include it in the educational mobile games I am sorting out in this blog because of its importance in education. As i have already said in The Educational Mobile Games post, our purpose ,now that the summer holidays are on the doors, is to equip our students with educational apps to help them keep learning even when they are having rest. Games are one of the key factors to help students achieve this goal. We have already covered Math Workout which is a brain training game and today we will talk about Word with Friends.

Words with Friends is one of the best gaming applications online that is completely free. It allows you to build words and play with your friends in such a competitive atmosphere that renders learning such a great fun. It is your first step towards a solid social gaming experience.

Some features of Words with Friends

Here is a list of the main features that Words with Friends offer to its users:

• It is completely free


• It is easy to use


• It is compatible with Android and IOS


• It has a user-friendly interface


• It has a simple crossword game play


• It lets you play more than 20 games simultaneously


• You can either with one of your friends or you can match-make with a random opponent


• It offers an in-game chat service to keep in touch with your friends


• It automatically issues notifications to inform you when its your turn

That’s it about Word with Friends – free social gaming mobile app.

Read More

Suduko Free – a brain trainer mobile game

Suduko Free is a free mobile gaming app. It is number one Sudoku app in Brain and Puzzle. This is the third post in a series of posts covering the topic Educational Mobile Games. The purpose behind this collection is to provide teachers with educational games to share with their students. It is summer holidays now and we want our learners to keep learning but this time learning is taking place  in different settings and without students being aware that they are learning and games are just there for you to achieve this goal. We have already talked about Math Workout and Words with friends and today we are introducing Suduko.
Suduko is a smart game that has four levels of difficulty: easy, medium, hard, and extreme i hate the extreme one because it drains my mind lol.

Some features of Suduko Free

Here is a list of the main services that Suduko Free offers to its users:

• It is completely free


• It has an intuitive interface


• It enhances your arithmetic skills


• It has the undo and redo options


• It always save the top scores and history


• It offers intelligent hints


• You can submit results and track progress online

How can i use Suduko Free ?

After you have downloaded Suduko Free into your mobile device then this is how it works. Remember most of the games if not all of them offer an introductory tutorial to drive you through the whole steps of the game and provide you with the necessary instructions on how to play it.

Sukudo Free is all about filling in the grid so that every row,column and 3 x 3 box contains digits 1 through 9.
That’s it about Suduko Free – a brain trainer mobile game.

Read More