A List of Free Apps for Students with Hearing and Visual Impairment

People with disabilities have just the same right to enjoy life the same way normal people do. It really rips the heart to see someone with a certain impairment trying hard to do the simplest things in life with such a hardship. These people struggle with the day to day situations that we might simply take for granted or do not really have an entire appreciation of .

Imagine having to teach visually impaired students or those with hearing problems.Do you think they are having an easy school life like the other mates ? The answer is definitely no. They are in fact doubling the efforts to catch up with the rest of the class. Thankfully with the integration of technology into education we can help these students and give them a leg up.

Reach out for mobile technology apps and you will find a plethora of educational apps designed just to help students with different impairments. I know not everybody can have access to them because mobile technology gadgets to run them on such as iDevices are still scant in schools but this is not an excuse not to introduce some to your students. They might get their parents to buy them these devices. Additionally, there is an ongoing revolution in the world of education due to mobile technology boom and schools are now planning to get iPads and use digital textbooks. Some in the United States have already started experimenting the use of digital Chrome Books. That is really very promising and we are very sure that this is just the beginning and there is more to come.

In this regard, The Best of Mobile Technology has gathered and reviewed some of the apps that you can use with your students. These apps are for students with hearing and visual impairement. I have included these apps into different presentations to make it easy for you to share and access them anytime you want.

Here is the presentation in Google Docs






Here is the same presentation using Issuu

Open publication - Free publishing - More free apps

How Educators, Teachers,Students Use Evernote

Evernote is a great web service not only for teacher and educators but for all internet users. I have already covered this tool in one of my posts here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning almost a year ago and today I am updating it via adding another important feature that has just been included in the Evernote service.

As you know Evernote allows its users to bookmark their websites and access them wherever they are. It has now a mobile app that is free and works on both iOS and Android devices. I personally used to use Google Bookmarks to do all the bookmarking but have switched now to Evernote because it offers way more features than Google Bookmarks. I really do like the tagging and sorting options available in Evernote.

As I said earlier there is a new feature being added to Evernote called  Evernote for Education. This is basically a page devoted for education topics. They provide samples of how Evernote is being used by educators, students, and teachers from all around the globe. There is a webinar there explaining in depth how students and teachers can use this service. Head over to Evernote for Education to learn more.

Watch this video to learn more about Evernote


Evernote for education webinar from Ronald Toledo on Vimeo.

Write Your Own Textbook with Apple's iBooks Author App

                        This is a guest post by Samantha Peters from The Education Update


I just got an email from Samantha who is the guest writer of this post asking me to delete this post. It looks like this article has already been publsihed somewhere else and keeping it here means duplicate content which I wont accept. Only unique articles are accepted for guest posting.

Make your Own Books for Free Using Apple iBooks Author App

In conjunction with the release of iBooks app, the digital textbook app, Apple has also announced the launch of its new iBooks Author app that is designed specifically to help users create ebooks.. It seems quite obvious that Apple is moving some of the focus of its technology into education. They  knows that there is a big potential in this ' promising market " and so a few smart investments in it will boost up their company's gainings. As educators and educational technology experts we would but welcome all these innovations and wish that the competition would heat up between all the major corporations to come up with new products to fooster education.

Some features of iBooks Author App

Here is a list of the manin features that iBooks Author app offers to its users :

• It is free
• It lets users create  apple ebooks
• It provides a variety of different book templates
• It offers several customization options to users such as the layout, design , cover etc
• It lets users include multimedia features to their ebooks
• Users can choose and customize theor ebooks 'table of contents, chapters an sections
• There are several page layout users can choose from
• It allows for importing text directly from a page or Word file
• Users can integrate some interactive widgets into their pages such as images, 3D objects, video, photo slideshows, quiz questions,custom HTML and keynote presentations.
• Users can preview their ebooks on their iPads before publishing
• Ebooks are stored in the library of iBooks store

iBooks Author seems to be a great idea in the democratization of knowledge sharing and information access but to what extent this new experience will succeed is a question that   needs  some time to see how things go  before judging the usability of this app.

For more educational apps reviews head over to my website The Best of Educational Technology

Here is a video about iBooks Author

iBooks 2 Is It The 21st Century Digital Textbook Revolution ?

In its first major announcement since the death of Steve Jobs, Apple Inc has recently released iBooks2 and iBooks Author.It seems like Apple is planning to radically transform the digital textbook market. iBooks 2 which is an updated version of the company's iPad e-reading app that supports interactive textbooks, is a complete reinvention of the textbook as we know it.

There are several reasons why Apple is trying to revolutionize the textbook world and among these :

•  1.5 million iPads currently used in education
•  more than 20,000 educational apps are now available
•  Traditional textbooks are expensive and not interactive
•   Major educational publishers including Pearson,, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have already partnered with Apple to develop iBooks Author.

This is Apple's video to promote iBooks 2.

Educational technology experts and curriculmum designers see this move as the beginning of the end for the " big backpack" and a major step in taking advantage of the device's portability and cost-effectiveness. Roger Rosner, VP of Apple's iWork, said " Clearly, no printed textbook can compete with iBooks2 interactive digital texts."

Some features of iBooks 2

Here is a list of the main features that iBooks 2offers to its users:

• It is free
• It has a user friendly interface
• It is easy and simple to use
• It allows for highlighting and note-taking
• Books can be owned forever and re-downloaded at any time from the cloud
• It offers a more dynamic user experience

This is all awesome and promising and yes iPad with its ability to play video and combine informatio from many resources has definately positioned it as the lead of the evolution of the digital textbook but the question that remians unanswered is that both Students and schools will need  iPads to use iBooks but who is going to afford the cost of this digital transformation ?

Here is a hands-on video to learn more about iBooks2

Head over to iTunes Store to download iBooks 2

Here are some screenshots of iBooks 2

Juice Defender – a mobile app to extend battery life

Juice Defender is a free mobile app for educators. It manages and controls power consumption on your mobile device. In fact one the drawbacks of the continuous dependence on mobile phones is the battery power savings. How many times you are caught in the middle of somewhere say a trip or a long travel and your battery is going dead on you? I hate it because it happened to me more than once especially when i had to travel back and forth from Canada to Morocco which normally takes me 24 hours. Now with Juice Defender the problem is probably solved , i say probably because i have just installed it on my phone and i am going to see if it really works as they say but i am hoping it does.

Juice Defender is mainly an Android app that is free but premium versions are also available.

Some features of Juice Defender

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

• It is free


• It is easy to use


• It has a very interactive interface


• It optimizes your power consumption


• It makes your battery life longer


• It automatically manages the battery draining components of your phone


• It offers WiFi toggle automation + auto-disabling option


• It has location-aware WiFi control

How can i get started using Juice defender ?

Head over to Juice Defender main page and  install the app
watch this video tutorial to learn how to use it.

That’s it about Juice Defender – a mobile app to extend battery life.

Smart Traveler – Great mobile app for educators

This post is a gift from my part to my loyal American readers. The majority of the readers of this blog are Americans, i can say that its about 70 per cent of the readership of this blog comes from the US. i always take this fact into consideration and whenever i stumble upon something that is related to US than i would straight forward post it here. So thank you very much my American readers and the same gratitude goes to all the other readers from different countries and continents , i am so thankful to all of you for your loyalty and i hope i will always live up to your expectations.

Today’s post is about Smart Traveler . Smart Traveler has been designed by The United States Department of State with the aim of helping American citizens worldwide “to see  and access the updated official country information, travel alerts, travel warnings, maps, U.S. embassy locations, and more”. This app can also be used by any other person from any other country. I find it very educational for it is packed with a tremendous treasure of information about countries around the world. It is a useful app not only for travelers but for any person interested in learning about different countries.

Some features of Smart Traceler

Here are the main features that Smart Traveler offers to its users:

• It is completely free


• It is very handy and easy to use


• It has a great intuitive interface


• It provides you with a packed set of information about any country


• It gives you alerts about travel warnings and related issues


• It provides access to the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).”Free STEP enrollment enables the State Department to better assist you in emergencies such as natural disasters, unrest in foreign countries, or lost/stolen passports overseas. During your travels, STEP can help your family and friends reach you in an emergency”.


• It also gives you access  to the Department’s Consular Affairs Facebook and Twitter pages.


• It is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later

I hope you liked the post and until we meet again here my blessings to all of you.
That’s it about Smart Traveler – Great mobile app for educators.

Show Me – a great learning app

Show Me is a great learning app for educators. It allows its users to create and share lessons on the iPad. It offers a nice and intuitive whiteboard surface where lessons can be shared very easily.This app , though still in closed beta, looks like it is going to be a great app for educators. Teachers can use it to create lessons on the go and share them with their students. I am hoping Show Me will go open to public in this summer for it is the ideal tool  for this season when teachers have much more free time to create nice staff to share with their learners. I have picked up this video to let you have an idea about what this app is going to be all about.

If you want to get an instant access to Show Me and be the first to be informed when it is officially launched then submit your email to Show Me.


ShowMe iPad App from San Kim on Vimeo.
That’s it about Show Me – a great learning app.

PuppetPals – Free mobile storytelling app

Puppet Pals is a cool free  mobile app. It allows its users to create their own animated stories in such an easy way that you do not need any extra tech knowledge to do so. This app is totally free and it is one of the best storytelling apps online. Now you can create your own characters and combine them into an animated clip using your own creativity. This is exactly what students need , they need apps to teach them or at least improve their creative skills. If it happens that you have an iPhone or iPad then why not give this little app a try and see how it works , remember it wont cost you a penny.

Some features of Puppet Pals

Here are the main features that Puppet Pals offers to its users:

• It is free


• It allows you to create you own animated shows using photos


• It lets you create your own actors from photos


• It is very easy to use


• Easy zooming and rotating options


• It offers a wide variety of characters to download

How can i get started using Puppet Pals ?

As i said before this storytelling app is very easy to use. Just pick out the characters, drag them onstage and tap record. Movements and audio is recorded for your performance.
That’s it about PuppetPals – Free mobile storytelling app.