Concept 1

Educational Applications

In today’s society, students have access to mobile technologies that are significantly more capable than desktop computers.  These technologies not only provide access to the Internet and various applications, but also deliver email and instant messaging, one of the most readily used forms of communication. (Murray, 2010) Educational Applications were never an aspect of Information and Communication Technologies  (ICT) I used within my pedagogy prior to 4001EDN.  My personal research and investigation enlightened my educational thoughts with the discovery of educational apps whilst researching ‘mobile learning’. Through reading and seeing examples and a range of uses for applications, I followed the pathway of applications, where I was exposed to enormous amounts of information in relation to education.  Applications are an aspect of mobile learning (m-learning). Discovering Educational applications changed my thoughts and views on both ICT’s in the classroom and games in education.  Not only can they be used in addition to current teaching practices to enhance teaching, if implemented correctly they provide engaging learning experiences and higher-order thinking. (Mayorga-Toledano & Fernandez-Morales, 2004) Founding these applications such as ‘Story Kit’, flashcards and ‘Hungry Fish’ have enhanced my teaching ideas with individuality and creativity.

The development of itunes U (Apple education, 2012) has taken the app world by storm.  Producing an education specific application, which allows users (schools, Universities, Teachers) to create a whole course online, not just a playlist.  This enables students to access and learn anything, anywhere, anytime (Apple Education, 2012).  The creation of a course in itunes U would mean students are able to pre-teach themselves concepts, revise concepts and extend their thinking and learning through reading of ibooks, learning objects, images and audio and presentations.  Having the ability to do this outside of the classroom, as well as part of the classroom learning creates endless opportunities for educators and students.  The ability to deepen my students thinking to develop higher order thinking skills (Bloom, 1956) as well as providing them with interactive, engaging learning experiences in all areas of the curriculum and hidden curriculum (general capabilities including information and communication technology, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability (ACARA, 2011)) is the first step to providing life long learners. (Apple education, 2012)  

A specific app that I would implement into early years literacy would be 'Storykit'.  This app provides students with the opportunity to create digital storybooks inclusive of voice recording (an aspect of podcasting), still image capture, written language (typing) and the opportunity to digitally draw images, or upload still digital images into their personal story books.  This application would invest ‘thinking creatively’ into the students’ literacy learning (Four C's – learning and innovation skills)(Partnership for 21^st Century skills, 2011).  Communication and decision making is embedded when the students have to decide which form of communication would best suit the message they are aiming to get across to their specific audience.  This could include incorporating song, voiceovers, images, wording, including amount of text, type of text and vocabulary.  Alongside the Four C’s (Partnership for 21^st Century skills, 2011), the process of Blooms Taxonomy ( ) would be followed, and students ultimately reaching the ‘creating’ stage when completing their storybook. 

Not only have I discovered a range of educational advantageous applications, I have also been taught search techniques and the wide world of blogs that provide such deep knowledge for application in the classroom of such technologies. 

References

Apple Education. (2012) ITunes U. Retrieved April 26, 2012, from http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/

Australian curriculum, assessment and reporting Authority. (2011) General capabilities. Retrieved April 26, 2012, from http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/general_capabilities.html

Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc

Murray, C. (2010). Mobile learning in the classroom. Agora, 45(1), 48-54.

Mayorga-Toledano, M.C. & Fernandez-Morales, A. (2004) Learning tools for Java enabled phones. An application for actuarial studies. In J. Attewell & C. Savill-Smith (Eds.), MLEARN 2003. Learning with mobile devices (pp. 95-99). London: Learning and Skills Development Agency.

Partnership for 21^st Century skills. (2011) Framework for 21^st Century Learning. Retrieved April 25, 2012, from http://www.p21.org/overview/skills-framework