My name is Beth Still and I am a Social Studies teacher. I usually blog on Nebraska Change Agent, but I volunteered to write a guest post for Richard so he could take a little time off to rest up and recover from a nasty cold.

A couple weeks ago I received a message from a friend telling me about this cool app I had to add to my phone called HeyTell. This is a free cross-platform app that allows Droids, iPhones, iPads, and ipods to send and receive voice messages with just the click of a button. After adding the app to your device it is easy to send invites to your contacts.

While the app itself is free there are two features you can buy that could enhance Hey Tell’s functionality and make it a little more fun. For $3 you can purchase Private Groups which allows you to create an unlimited number of groups of up to 25 people each. With a private group you can message all of the people in a group at one time. The other feature you can add is a voice changer. For $2 you can make your voice sound like a robot or musical note.

I will be using this app to keep in touch with my friends during ISTE, but it has potential in the classroom as well. Students could use this app to take notes or record their observations. It could also be used as a way to have students check in when on field trips. Teachers could use the private group message to push out message to parents who have devices that support HeyTell.

I highly recommend this app. It is a fun and easy way to connected with people.