Thing 15: App-palooza!
So Many Apps, So Little Time
After reading several articles from Edutopia and the blog assignment post, I think that I will try setting up a "pocket library" for CPCS. I have not decided on the age level yet, but I may go with PK and K because we have iPads in those grades plus I have a personal interest in apps for the very youngest children. :) I will be working on that for the next few days. Then, I may try one for our high school students because that would be fun. I will report more when I have collected some apps. Because we are a "mostly" Google school, I will explore Google apps that our students can use with their Chromebooks, too. I am starting with Kathy Schrock's lists:
Bloom' Apps and iPads in the Classroom
After reading a lot of articles related to apps, I have decided to hold off on the "pocket library" for now because many of our resources could only be placed in the library via a QR code because there is no app, as such. I might work on that for my independent project. Instead, I am creating a Google doc that is a database of articles and lists of good apps for different grade levels and subject areas. That way I can share it with my staff. They can pick and choose what they want. Link will be forthcoming.
After all the reading and searching I have done, I now realize there is a huge number of apps out there available to educators on all kinds of subjects and to do all kinds of things. It seems that the end user needs to pick and choose the apps with which he/she is most comfortable and not what someone says should be used. The variety is huge and the quality of the apps very varied. I think that there is a lot of opportunity for designers to come up with apps for kids because there are great ones in some fields, like science. But, other subjects could use work.
Last, I am including a link to an article about handheld devices and children that recently appeared in The Huffington Post, just a sort of aside, but something about which we need to think and of which we need to be aware.
After reading a lot of articles related to apps, I have decided to hold off on the "pocket library" for now because many of our resources could only be placed in the library via a QR code because there is no app, as such. I might work on that for my independent project. Instead, I am creating a Google doc that is a database of articles and lists of good apps for different grade levels and subject areas. That way I can share it with my staff. They can pick and choose what they want. Link will be forthcoming.
After all the reading and searching I have done, I now realize there is a huge number of apps out there available to educators on all kinds of subjects and to do all kinds of things. It seems that the end user needs to pick and choose the apps with which he/she is most comfortable and not what someone says should be used. The variety is huge and the quality of the apps very varied. I think that there is a lot of opportunity for designers to come up with apps for kids because there are great ones in some fields, like science. But, other subjects could use work.
Last, I am including a link to an article about handheld devices and children that recently appeared in The Huffington Post, just a sort of aside, but something about which we need to think and of which we need to be aware.
