{"id":4882,"date":"2016-10-04T09:30:11","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T08:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/?p=4882"},"modified":"2016-10-11T14:14:38","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T13:14:38","slug":"whats-in-your-pocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2016\/10\/04\/whats-in-your-pocket\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s in your pocket?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image from Pexels<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Today we are pulling out our pockets and looking at our phones and asking, what are the most popular apps that we use in the TEL team?<\/span><\/p>\n

In alphabetical order, starting with Tab.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tab, Learning Technologist for Sciences<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Tab’s multicultural home screen (Android)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Tab Betts, LT for Sciences<\/p><\/div>\n

In keeping with my cultural and linguistic identity, the apps on my phone are a hybrid of English and Chinese.<\/p>\n

The first thing you’ll notice is my dual clock widget with London time and Beijing time: essential for keeping in touch with everyone back in China.<\/p>\n

For app stores, I use Baidu Mobile Assistant<\/a> as much as Google Play<\/a>. For social media, WeChat<\/a> and Weibo<\/a> get more use than Facebook Messenger<\/a> or Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For docs and cloud storage, WPS Office<\/a> and Baidu Cloud<\/a> get as much use as Google Docs<\/a> and Google Drive<\/a>. For improving my Chinese and Japanese, I have downloaded language packs on Google Translate<\/a>, use Hanping Pro<\/a> and Pleco<\/a> for dictionaries, Quizlet<\/a> and Memrise<\/a> for testing myself, as well as Arch Chinese<\/a> and Hiragana Learn<\/a> for improving my orthographic skills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finally, I use QQ Music<\/a> for my music needs, Voice Reading and PDF to Speech for text-to-speech, and AntennaPod<\/a> and Pocket Casts<\/a> for subscribing to podcasts like our brand new TEL Podcast<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Me (Sally), Learning Technologist for Social Sciences<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Me!<\/a> (Sally Burr) LT for Social Sciences<\/p><\/div>\n

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My phone screen (Android)<\/p><\/div>\n

I have lots of apps that I have downloaded onto my phone. I don\u2019t use all of them regularly and many are for work purposes. For example, I have <\/span>Poll Everywhere<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>ResponseWare app<\/span><\/a> on my phone but I will only use them for demonstrating to staff.<\/span><\/p>\n

My most used app is <\/span>Duolingo<\/span><\/a> – I try and use this everyday. We covered this language app previously in the post <\/span>Gamifying language learning<\/span><\/a>. Duolingo is language learning app with embedded gamification. I started optimistically on the \u2018Insane\u2019 level but I have since cut down to \u2018Regular\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

I like my <\/span>Fitbit app<\/span><\/a>. If I am having a lazy week it never gets a look in and I use it as a sporty looking watch. If I have a good week and I go to the gym then I check Fitbit for all my activity statistics. <\/span><\/p>\n

To make the gym time more interesting, I listen to Spanish songs via Spotify and use the <\/span>Musixmatch<\/span><\/a> for translating the lyrics. <\/span><\/p>\n

I also use <\/span>aCalendar (or Android calendar)<\/span><\/a> which is an app that combines my work calendar with my personal calendar. This is a really handy app for knowing what I have to do in the morning without needing to use a computer to log in. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anne, Learning Technologist for Arts and Humanities\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Anne’s home screen (Android)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Dr Anne Hole<\/a>, LT for Humanities<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m another Android user and have lots of apps installed so I use folders to organise them on my home screen. Most are free apps, but a few I find so useful that I pay for
\npremium accounts. One of those is Evernote<\/a> which I use to save notes and information for work, but also appliance manuals, notes about favourite places to eat, checklists for holidays, lists of gifts for birthdays and Christmas etc. I have an Evernote \u2018widget\u2019<\/a> on my home screen showing reminders I have set for domestic things like shopping and birthdays. <\/span><\/p>\n

The free apps I use most on a personal basis are the <\/span>Met Office weather app<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Google Maps<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Spotify Music<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Brighton Buses m-ticket app<\/span><\/a>. I also have various \u2018loyalty card\u2019 apps on my phone so I just scan my phone at the checkout to get points.<\/span><\/p>\n

PrinterShare<\/span><\/a> is great for printing from my phone to my wireless printer at home and <\/span>CamScanner<\/span><\/a> turns my phone into a scanner which is handy for saving copies of forms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Professionally, I use several social media apps such as Twitter<\/a> and GooglePlus<\/a>. I also use <\/span>Feedly<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Flipboard<\/span><\/a> for reading blogs and news. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another app I really love, and am happy to pay for, is <\/span>Pushbullet<\/span><\/a> which connects all my devices so that I can quickly share things between them. I see missed calls and SMS messages on my tablet or desktop and can share screenshots or photos to my browser – and <\/span>universal copy and paste<\/span><\/a> still seems like magic!<\/span><\/p>\n

Kitty, TEL Co-ordinator<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Kitty Horne<\/a>, TEL Co-ordinator<\/p><\/div>\n

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Kitty’s home screen (iPhone)<\/p><\/div>\n

Like Sally, I also have a quite a few work related apps on my phone. My \u2018Work\u2019 folder includes: the <\/span>SussexMobile<\/span><\/a> app; <\/span>iTunes U<\/span><\/a>; student response system apps such as <\/span>Poll Everywhere<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>ResponseWare<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Plickers<\/span><\/a>; the <\/span>Post-it Plus<\/span><\/a> app as well as my Google apps including <\/span>Drive<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Docs<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The app that I use most frequently at the moment is <\/span>Pinterest<\/span><\/a>, a social network which enables you to \u2018pin\u2019 visual posts on a virtual pin board allowing you to collect useful resources around your interests. <\/span><\/p>\n

I mainly use Pinterest to find free sewing patterns and recipes, most of which come from blogs. This allows me to pick and choose different tutorials that are most useful to me. I also have an \u2018Education\u2019 board which I use to collect useful edtech resources and new apps and ideas. Here\u2019s <\/span>an example of what you can find on Pinterest<\/span><\/a> when looking for teaching ideas. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another frequently used app on my phone is the native <\/span>News<\/span><\/a> app. This app lets me pick my favourite news sources and categories allowing me to tailor the content to me. I also use Twitter to browse news stories but find that, due to the people that I follow, the content is often heavily focused on higher education.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also use the <\/span>Netflix<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>BBC iPlayer<\/span><\/a> apps a lot, mainly because they are so quick and easy to use and I don\u2019t own a TV!<\/span><\/p>\n

Pete, Learning Technologist for Social Sciences\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Pete Sparkes<\/a>, LT for Social Sciences<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pete’s home screen (Android)<\/p><\/div>\n

A lot of the apps which I use are for practical reasons and to solve general life issues. I have just moved into a flat with very poor phone signal, I\u2019m often almost uncontactable through my phone network whilst at home so I use the <\/span>Skype app<\/span><\/a> on to make and receive calls and <\/span>Facebook Messenger app<\/span><\/a> as a replacement for text messaging. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also now on a waiting list for a parking permit, I use the <\/span>Paybyphone app<\/span><\/a> to pay for parking in the evenings which is great as it means I don\u2019t have to carry lots of change around with me to use at the ticket machines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another app which I use is <\/span>Google Cast<\/span><\/a>, this is an app which allows me to broadcast anything from my phone (or any other computer or mobile device in my house) to my TV and stereo via a device called <\/span>Chromecast<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>This is great as it means myself and flatmates can watch films or listen to music from our own devices on a bigger screen or sound system. <\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from these apps, I use <\/span>Google Drive<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Google Docs<\/span><\/a> at home and work on a daily basis as they allow me to keep all of my files and documents in one place and to view them on any computer or mobile device. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pinterest<\/span><\/a> is another great app which I use occasionally for finding and saving tutorials and recipes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new TV licensing rules<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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flickr photo by dailyinvention<\/a> shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license<\/p><\/div>\n

If you would like to view programmes via other means than the TV, read about the new changes to the licensing which will tell you how you can watch programmes from any device legally. <\/span><\/p>\n

The rules have recently changed and you can find about them in TV licence iPlayer change: What you need to know<\/a>, which\u00a0includes a section on what the rules are for students. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

TEL app list<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are over 50 apps that we use between us in the TEL team. Here is a list of all of the apps that have been mentioned in this blog post – <\/span><\/p>\n

aCalendar (or Android calendar)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

AntennaPod<\/a><\/p>\n

Arch Chinese<\/a><\/p>\n

Baidu Cloud<\/a><\/p>\n

Baidu Mobile Assistant<\/a><\/p>\n

Brighton Buses m-ticket app<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

CamScanner<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Chromecast<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Duolingo<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Evernote<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook Messenger app<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Feedly<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Fitbit app<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Flipboard<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Google Cast<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Google Drive<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Google Docs<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Google Maps<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Google Play<\/a><\/p>\n

Google Plus<\/a><\/p>\n

Google Translate<\/a><\/p>\n

Hiragana Learn<\/a><\/p>\n

Hanping Pro<\/a><\/p>\n

universal copy and paste<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

iTunes U<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Memrise<\/a><\/p>\n

Met Office weather app<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Musixmatch<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Paybyphone app<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Pleco<\/a><\/p>\n

Plickers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Pocket Casts<\/a><\/p>\n

Poll Everywhere<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Post-it Plus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

PrinterShare<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Pushbullet<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Quizlet<\/a><\/p>\n

QQ Music<\/a><\/p>\n

ResponseWare app<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Skype app<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Spotify Music<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Sussex Mobile<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

WeChat<\/a><\/p>\n

Weibo<\/a><\/p>\n

WPS Office<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you use\u00a0an app that you’d like to recommend? Tweet us @SussexTel or email <\/span>tel@sussex.ac.uk<\/span><\/a>. If you would like any help downloading apps or looking at apps for use in teaching and learning, please get in touch with your <\/span>school learning technologist<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

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