Established in 1993, Crick Software is a company that develops innovative educational software for students of all ages and abilities. The company offers thousands of online resources for educators and students. Upon visiting the company’s website, you’ll stumble upon different apps for iOS devices. One of these apps is called Clicker Connect.
On the company’s About page, they state:
“Our products cross the artificial divide that exists between ‘regular students’ and those who need extra support. Universal Design for Learning is fundamental to everything we do; we design software for learners of all abilities and with differing educational needs, including struggling readers and writers, students with learning or physical disabilities, and English language learners.”
Their app, Clicker Connect, is the newest addition to the company’s family of apps. Clicker Connect “enables young learners and struggling writers to take their first steps to independent writing by using words and phrases to build coherent text.”
Within the Clicker Connect app, users can:
Develop independent writing skills
- Students using the app can choose from clusters of words, phrases, and pictures to produce their own writing. Once each sentence is completed, it is read aloud to help learners review and correct what they have written.
- Students may also listen to the words and phrases found in the grid prior to using them in the sentence.
Use any text
- Educators can set up a sequence of grids for their students in easily, and arrange words and phrases into clusters along the way.
- Plus, there are free Connect Sets from the LearningGrids site, which can be accessed from the app.
“Write” with pictures
- For extra support, users can add a picture to any cell in the grid. Over 2,500 curriculum images are included, plus photos can be added from the iPad Photo Library.
Differentiate support according to need
- Clicker Connect provides an extensive range of support options to assist students of all abilities.
- Color-code words/phrases to emphasize sentence structure
- Enlarge cells for extra clarity
- Use images to help identify words
- Use the child-friendly keyboard, in addition to the grids, to extend writing.
Share writing success
- The app features a child-friendly font called Sassoon, which makes Clicker documents look great on screen and on paper. Users are able to print their work to any Airprint-compatible printer, or share it via email, AirDrop, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or WebDAV.
Accessible for all
- The designers of the app made sure to make it as accessible as possible. For example, for individuals with mobility challenges, the app’s SuperKeys option makes words easier to select. To use the feature, “Tap anywhere within a word cluster cluster to enlarge it, and then tap the word you want. The keyboard works in the same way, with the keys grouped into six large clusters that fill the keyboard area when expanded.”
Clicker Connect is available for purchase on the App Store for $30.99.
