BYOD and Finding Apps for Education
Mobile is the big thing in computers, and apps is the big thing in software for those mobile devices, but educators and schools are still behind these trends.
That's not surprising. It took longer to get computers and then the Internet into classrooms than all the prognosticators were saying 25 years ago.
Students, especially at the higher levels, are bringing their own devices to class. That's enough of a trend in itself that a search on BYOD will turn up lots of results. As is often the case with technology, the business world has already been dealing with BYOD issues (such as usage policies) before schools gave it any serious thought. BYOD has a Wikipedia entry too, so it's official.
Students bringing their own technology (smartphones, tablets, and laptops) is moving down from higher ed to K-12 education. The model has always been that schools provided the technology that students would need. Some of that tech "funding" is being passed on to students and parents without schools even asking via the BYOD trend. This has also reduced a school's responsibility for support and upgrades.
But one thing that hasn't changed much in 25 years is deciding what software should be used. Schools or teachers still have most of the control over content and oftentimes that also means the software.
In 1990, there may have been dozens of software titles in an academic area and it was difficult to preview, review and test them. With the rise of apps on mobile devices, there are hundreds or thousands of titles to sift through to find ones with good educational uses.
Most educators don't have the time to go through the process. More and more, textbook companies drive adoption by bundling software with textbooks. Hopefully, educators can begin to use the filters, curation and recommendations of peers aided by sites (and even apps) and contribute their own reviews for others.
I find many more sites with a K-12 focus rather than higher ed, so far. Here are a few samples:
IEAR- I Education Apps Review - reviews on apps, schools spreadsheets of Apps, student reviews
SNapps4Kids these reviews have an embedded list of skills that are addressed in the app (very important in K-12's world of objectives and assessment
Scoop it- Recommended Educational App Lists - on this site you can join or just look at the reviews
Apps in Education - a blog that includes apps for music, math, English, special needs and more
App Advice is interesting because it is a website and also an app itself. The appadvice app is $1.99.
Have you found other reliable sources?
That's not surprising. It took longer to get computers and then the Internet into classrooms than all the prognosticators were saying 25 years ago.
Students, especially at the higher levels, are bringing their own devices to class. That's enough of a trend in itself that a search on BYOD will turn up lots of results. As is often the case with technology, the business world has already been dealing with BYOD issues (such as usage policies) before schools gave it any serious thought. BYOD has a Wikipedia entry too, so it's official.Students bringing their own technology (smartphones, tablets, and laptops) is moving down from higher ed to K-12 education. The model has always been that schools provided the technology that students would need. Some of that tech "funding" is being passed on to students and parents without schools even asking via the BYOD trend. This has also reduced a school's responsibility for support and upgrades.
But one thing that hasn't changed much in 25 years is deciding what software should be used. Schools or teachers still have most of the control over content and oftentimes that also means the software.
In 1990, there may have been dozens of software titles in an academic area and it was difficult to preview, review and test them. With the rise of apps on mobile devices, there are hundreds or thousands of titles to sift through to find ones with good educational uses.
Most educators don't have the time to go through the process. More and more, textbook companies drive adoption by bundling software with textbooks. Hopefully, educators can begin to use the filters, curation and recommendations of peers aided by sites (and even apps) and contribute their own reviews for others.
I find many more sites with a K-12 focus rather than higher ed, so far. Here are a few samples:
IEAR- I Education Apps Review - reviews on apps, schools spreadsheets of Apps, student reviews
SNapps4Kids these reviews have an embedded list of skills that are addressed in the app (very important in K-12's world of objectives and assessment
Scoop it- Recommended Educational App Lists - on this site you can join or just look at the reviews
Apps in Education - a blog that includes apps for music, math, English, special needs and more
App Advice is interesting because it is a website and also an app itself. The appadvice app is $1.99.
Have you found other reliable sources?
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