So many apps! So little time!

So many apps, so little time...

This week's exploration has only served to demonstrate how many options exist for me/my students to express ourselves and learn using technology. I attempted to find apps that I thought would be appropriate for high school students to use. The selection is incredible. It is so daunting that without a recommendation, it is almost impossible for me to choose something to practice using. Knowing that I might be able to use these apps in class - if I choose wisely, doesn't help to make this task easier.

 

I received an ipad mini at the beginning of the 2013-14 school year, but have just now had the time to actually learn how to use it for more than taking roll and uploading grades into powerschool. I received an itunes giftcard at the same time so that I could purchase apps, but am just now getting around to actually purchasing something. (Giving technology to people does not necessarily guarantee that they will have the time or inclination to use it - hence the year long gap.)

For this week's lesson I purchased the wolfram alpha app, on the recommendation of a friend, and have found it to be delightfully usable. The way I phrased questions made a huge difference in the type of answer I got - but boy, did I get answers in spades....and on practically anything I wanted. Some questions I asked were tabled with a..."this area is under consideration for development."

I liked the fact that my students could learn as much or as little as they needed from the answers they received. On the learning pyramid, wolfram alpha is near the middle since it does not require as much creative thinking on the part of the learner. With that said, however; the learner must establish a springboard or basis of knowledge before beginning creative endeavors and wolfram alpha would definitely provide that. For classroom application my students could potentially use it for research into nutrition topics before beginning a creative project. I would also like for my culinary students to create their own set of training videos to be used as a teaching tool for middle school students .

I believe that I will continue to reflect on how to use this tool, in conjunction with another creative tool (if I can find one I like) to achieve learning goals in my classes. The pedagogy of this approach would allow students the freedom to search and explore(for example: different grilling techniques, optimal temperatures for grilling, health effects of grilling with charcoal vs. gas) and then select which method (video, live demonstration, a mix of the two, audio only etc.) of how to communicate a nutrition concept or a culinary technique to another person(middle schoolers). The background information would have to be mastered first (content) and wolfram alpha and a video app (animoto) or audio app (audioboo) would incorporate the technology.

I did notice that many of the higher quality apps required a monthly or yearly fee such as animoto and  imovie --if you wanted the full version. There were cheaper "freebies" but they were very limited in scope. I loved animoto and it was so easy to put together a quick video of a dessert competition that my culinary students had this last spring. I also threw in pictures from a field trip we took to Stephan Pyles restaurant. I was disappointed that I could only view 12 of the 50+ pictures I took. I couldn't arrange them in the order I wanted either. The video was only 30 seconds long with the free version! Who makes a 30 second video??? - Not me! I need at least a minute. Not my students! Have you seen their albums? I was really hopeful that I could use it as an end of the year video clip to promote my classes among the freshmen and sophomores. Disappointment. My students could use it to showcase what they have been doing and learning to friends and family or demonstrate/teach what they learned. They could investigate with wolfram alpha and then put together a video of what they discovered on animoto. I would just have to get the yearly subscription. The question remains as to whether all of them could use it or just one.

Another app I investigated was viz (short for visualize). The demo video looked amazing and I was really excited to play with it. Reality check - it was entirely too buggy. The app kept closing when I attempted to use some of the customizations/modifications. That was completely frustrating and would drive my students insane. They would not have the patience to work with something like that and would ditch it in a heartbeat. I checked online and other people have had the same issues. Thank goodness it was free. That would have been wasted money.

Interestingly I found the app zite, which was listed near the top of the Bloom's taxonomy for ipads (in the evaluating section), to be a smart or learning app that was a newsfeed/magazine. I did not expect that. I'm also not sure how that makes it an evaluation tool for students. If they are using an app that filters news content based on their interests, that makes it a poor basis for comparing and evaluating anything.

I loaded popplet (the free lite version), but it was entirely too simple for the majority of my students. It was listed on the taxonomy chart at the analyzing level. I am using the TPACK model with my students to achieve a high level of learning already, using basic excel spreadsheets. They use the Chrome books or the microsoft suite of tools on the PCs in the labs to analyze and organize data. They put together spreadsheets demonstrating food cost analysis using microsoft excel. They compare costs of products, make adjustments based on their findings and create new products. Then they go through the evaluation process all over again. The only thing I could see that it did was simplify and bulletize information for splashing up a graphic for others to see. I did not want to pay $5 for an app that does something my students can already do (and do better) for free. Unless someone tells me the full version of the app is significantly improved, this one will remain in the app store.

All in all, these apps have demonstrated to me that there are new choices coming available almost daily - some very good, some bad. Many of them do offer the ability to create amazing projects, which is currently lacking in the experience of many of the students I teach. More than a few would say they can't or they don't know how to create when I ask them to create a project..perhaps it has been the affordability of the tools I have been using. They certainly dislike almost any tangible project they are assigned whether it is a poster, a demonstration, or a presentation.

Apps are things that my students relate well to. They will spend countless hours on their devices if I let them. One teacher I know had them load 4pics1word as a vocabulary/spelling reinforcement tool and they absolutely could not put it down. They even had me going for awhile. My students are perpetually loading new apps onto their phones. I will continue to test apps for the remainder of the summer because I have the luxury of time, which I never have during the school year. Hopefully I will find some gems! If you know of some that you would highly recommend please let me know :)