A Baker’s Dozen: 13 Free Motivating Apps for Today’s Teachers and Tomorrow’s Learners
Abstract: Research indicates that students are motivated when they encounter new technologies in contexts in which they are challenged. Liu et al. (2011) note that instructional contexts and materials can positively contribute to student motivation. The challenge for teachers is to prepare lessons that motivate students and provide learning opportunities for students to use technologies in meaningful contexts. This presentation will briefly review thirteen free web-based applications which assist teachers in making their classes engaging to students and which students use in challenging ways. Areas of focus include apps for developing syllabi, giving presentations, making interactive video quizzes, producing audio content, developing comics and interactive games. Formative and summative feedback from students have been positive indicating that dynamic and engaging content does indeed lead to increased motivation and significant learning experiences.