Here’s one of the films from the series, which looks at teaching using apps. You can find the full set of videos on our YouTube channel.

So, we gave some teachers at Bellerbys College the chance to trial our apps with their students and run a mini action research project on the IELTS apps series.

For the purposes of this research project, students were to use the app for self-study purposes. Teachers could also use them in class, connecting a smartphone or tablet to a projector.

Students at two of our levels downloaded the app onto their smartphones: a Pre-Masters class and a Diploma English class (at undergraduate year 1 level).

Here’s some feedback from students about the ‘Reading Skills’ app:

To find out more about the project head to blendedmec.com.

To find out more about buying the IELTS apps series in bulk head here.

New phone or tablet in your bag?
Start the year by learning something new with one of our great English learning apps.

1 week special sale:
All apps only £1.99 / $2.99
Monday 28th Jan – Friday 1st Feb

Includes all of our paid-for apps, and covers both the Apple and Google app stores.

Perhaps I should be worried. The teachers tell me I have a problem. An addiction. The symptoms, they say, are becoming all too obvious – short attention span, the occasional dizzy spell, withdrawal symptoms when I can’t get my fix. Perhaps it’s time to come clean. I have a tablet addiction. That’s right – I can’t get enough of my beautiful shiny iPad. It never leaves my side. I hear people sniggering as I walk through the school with it clutched to my chest (if I leave it on my desk somebody might touch it!) The teachers suspect I’m playing a surreptitious game of Fifa soccer, when I’m actually researching the next training session. Honestly. I just can’t imagine life without my iPad. But I’m not alone. It’s a disease that’s spreading – many of my colleagues have started to show the familiar signs of addiction. The non-believers mock us when we insist that tablet computers and smart phones are an additional string to our teaching bow. So, I’m always pleased when I come across a new app that might – just might – help me convince them that my iPad really is useful and not just my favourite toy.

The first stop for many teachers when planning the week’s lessons is onestopenglish.com – and to supplement their great site, Macmillan have released the companion onestopenglish app. Never reluctant to find an excuse to take my iPad into class, I decided to give the app a go.

The first thing to mention is that the app is easy to navigate and master. The layout is simple and effective and works well on both tablet and smart phone. Being a onestop app, it is a useful tool in the preparation of lessons. If you are online, you can link to the onestopenglish site and the lesson plans and content available. Even if you are offline there is a nice collection of lesson activity tips – warmers, lead-ins, speaking activity suggestions and tips for supplementing the course book. I found it a handy reminder of some old favourites like ‘stand-in-a-line’ and all the activities can be easily adapted to a wide range of class types and language points. It’s by no means comprehensive, but useful in those moments when you want a quick activity idea (with no preparation required).
For me, however, the best thing about the app is that it offers three very useful classroom tools. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need this app to perform these activities – it’s just great to have them all in one handy place. I found they quickly became part of my classroom routine.

Activity Timer

We all know that it’s a good idea to set a time limit for certain classroom activities. It disciplines and focuses both teacher and student. And if you set a time limit, it’s only effective if you stick to it. So you need some kind of timer. Now, those other pieces of classroom technology – the wall clock and the wrist watch – do the job perfectly well. The nice thing about the timer in this app is that at the end of the allotted period the app produces a special sound effect. You – or the students – can choose the effect. My particular favourite is the ‘alarm’- put it on full volume and watch your students leap out of their seats as it sounds as if a full thermo-nuclear attack is on the way. Great fun! A colleague of mine uses the app with her young learners and they particularly enjoy hearing a great round of applause at the end of an activity. I’ve also used the timer during a training session – quite nice to watch the shocked looks on teachers’ faces as my much-mocked iPad interrupts them with an authoritative “And Stop!”

Voice Recorder

As a DoS of a certain age, it startles me to think that some of the new teachers joining the team think of the cassette as a museum piece. I remember rewinding them with pencils to save the battery on my classroom cassette player. I also remember the look of terror on students’ faces as I produced a fresh cassette and informed that they would now be recorded for prosperity (not realising that within three years the cassette would go the  way of the dodo).

Smart phones and tablets have stepped into the cassette’s shoes (which the CD could never really fill). We all know the value of recording our students, whether to help our own reflection or to help them focus on their speaking skills. The voice recorder in this app is dead simple to use – you just press the big button that says ‘record’. My students – always nervous about being recorded – seemed more relaxed when I recorded them using the onestop app on the iPad, perhaps because it’s not as intrusive as a bulky cassette player. Again, there are other apps that will allow you to do this, but useful to have it within one useful classroom app. I would recommend that a future update could offer the possibility of saving recordings as, at the moment, any new recording automatically erases the previous.

Sound effects

Another fun part of the app is the sound effects section. It simply replicates the effects used in the activity timer – police siren, round of applause, alarm – I incorporated them into a storytelling activity which worked well as students narrated the events they could hear. However, I must admit that I use this section more often at home – there’s nothing like a warm round of applause just after you’ve successfully mastered the washing-up, is there? This app doesn’t attempt to revolutionise your teaching. Indeed, many of the things it has to offer reflect practices teachers have done for years. What it does do is offer simple technology all in one place to make your life as a teacher a little easier. That is surely worthy of a round of applause sound effect.

Oh, and did I mention the price? It’s absolutely free.

Anyway, that’s more than enough time away from my iPad now…I have an important match, err, work task to attend to…

Head to the Macmillan English Campus blog for the original article and to read similar articles.

*Mike started teaching 12 years ago in Manchester. At the request of his students, he left the country and since then has been working in Italy. As well as eating lots of Italian food and playing FiFa on his iPad, he manages to fit in being Director of Studies at International House, Milan.

So you want to get our apps into the classroom? Here are the benefits to you of buying in bulk:

-Big discount: If you download more than 20 apps, you will get a discounted rate of 50% off the standard price.

-More than one student per app: Your institution has the option of retaining ownership of the app so that once a student moves on, you can make the app available to another student

-Easy to manage programme: Once you have signed up, Apple will ask you to enrol a Programme Manager. This person will control the account, creating users and editing accounts. You can have as many of these as you’d like.

-Access to the VPP Education Store: Once you have a Programme Facilitator account with Apple, with a new unique Apple ID specifically for the Volume Purchase Programme, you will be able to start purchasing other education apps in the VPP Education Store.

To get started, here’s a guide on how to purchase in bulk.

*The Volume Purchase Programme covers all Macmillan Education apps and is available in the following countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom and United States.

Download the lesson plan here or head to Onestopenglish, the number one resource for English language teachers, for more resources.

If so, then smile because we have the perfect series of apps for you.

The brand-new IELTS Skills apps are the perfect tools for fitting IELTS practice and study into your busy day. And because they’re mobile you can learn wherever you are.

Written by acclaimed IELTS expert and author Sam McCarter (Ready for IELTS, Tips for IELTS, Improve your IELTS Skills) the apps contain everything you need to improve your scores and take the exam with confidence. The four single skill apps (Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking) each take one skill and practice it in depth, with explanations, interactive exercises and authentic exam-style practice. The all-in-one IELTS Skills app contains the content from all four of the single skill apps, and is your comprehensive IELTS preparation tool.

Best of all, you can try a fully working sample for FREE now, with the IELTS Skills Free app.

Available NOW for Apple iPhone/iPad, and coming soon for Android devices. Learn more at www.macmillaneducationapps.com/ieltsskills.

At Macmillan, we have long been embracing the possibilities offered by online learning, supporting students who increasingly want to learn ‘on the go’, whether from tablet devices or mobile phones.

With the new release of Macmillan Practice Online we have improved the user experience for students to learn online or with tablet devices. While this does not include working from iPads, which do not yet support Flash, there are many other tablet devices the new Macmillan Practice Online works well on, enabling students the full use of resources and messaging facilities when not away from their computer.

Here’s a whistle stop tour of the updated Macmillan Practice Online with some insight into how it fits in with your mobile learning needs:

What is Macmillan Practice Online?

Macmillan Practice Online offers online courses that are made up of a collection of resources. Each course contains up to 200 interactive resources, covering listening, vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar. Many Macmillan Practice Online courses also include videos, web projects and games, and all of them give you access to the Macmillan English Dictionary Online, allowing students to build their own word lists.

Who is the new Macmillan Practice Online for?

The new version of MPO is perfect for teachers who want to offer their students the advantages of online practice, in an easy and cost-effective way, with the guaranteed quality of Macmillan content. Students can access the platform at home or on the go, all their activities are automatically marked,  and they are able to message teachers through the site. Teachers can create a class and invite their students to join it, to easily access all their markbooks and keep an eye on their progress – and the best thing is, access for teachers is completely free!

How does the new Macmillan Practice Online work on tablets?

Students will be able to use Macmillan Practice Online with any tablet that supports Flash, such as the Samsung Galaxy tablets. For the time being, the activities within the courses are not compatible with iPads but there are a range of other options it works brilliantly on.

If you want to benefit from learning on the go with Macmillan Practice Online, these are the tablets to go for:

• Samsung Galaxy Tablet
• HTC Jetstream
• Blackberry Playbook
• Amazon Fire
• Toshiba Excite

 
There are some others as well so to see if your tablet is compatible, check out this comprehensive list from Adobe.

www.macmillanpracticeonline.com

Jacquez has released a series of podcasts which go some way in tracking news, events and product releases in the world of Mlearning.

Click here to listen to his podcast about the apps.

Do you have your own Mlearning blog or podcast series? We’d like to have a read, so feel free to leave a link to your blog in the comments section below.