Sunday, July 24, 2011

My Review for Learning: Is There an App for That?


When reading the article Learning: Is there an app for that?, a few thoughts came to mind.  They are a bit random so please forgive me.

First off, to me, the word “App” is just a fancy name for a website that’s catered towards the user’s browser.  I think Apple has done a fine job of conditioning everyone into thinking the word “App” is unique and important but the fact is there are many websites online that have/still do the exact same job. 

CBC Kids used to have many free educational games for children to improve their language and math skills.  They employed teachers to work with online producers to ensure the content created aligned with curriculum expectations.  By today’s standards, the entire CBCKids.ca site could be considered an app.  Unfortunately CBC made a business decision to gear CBC Kids away from educational learning, and more towards infotainment to acquire more hits for their websites.

Another thought that came to mind, was how technology has evolved over the years in education.  If you think about it, technology was slowly released over the years via the listening centre (record/cassette tape), overheads and now Smart Boards, movies (Beta/VHS) and now online videos, computer websites and now “apps”. 

I’m sure with each new type of technology, there was some increase of student learning as long as the type of technology was used as a supplemental source.  According to our educational theories, each of these new types of technology introduced differential instruction.  Therefore it does not surprise me that this article states, “there is evidence that kids can learn from apps”.  Technology has been doing this for years. 

My question is: Are Apps just a fad? 

I found the Usability Study results in this article to also be predictable.  Boys love playing video games, so it did not surprise me that they ranked Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii the highest followed by the iPhone.  Also the girls ranking cellphones/Blackberries higher than boys was also expected.  At least now there’s a study that substantiates these findings. 

Lastly, I understand that this article’s focus was on young people being interested and able to use mobile applications.  However I found it interesting that people may only recognize the Pass Back Effect as being in only one direction: older generation passing to the younger generation and not vice versa.  My friends and I have “passed down” our older technology to our older relatives, and witness some improves in their interest of technology.  

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