Apps Task-onomy: Digging Deeper Into the Application of APPS.
The iPad (or iPod touch or iPhone) with its apps opens many new opportunities for learning. At the same time, it offers a slightly different wrapper for older learning opportunities. Both can be worthwhile, but it would be a shame if teachers missed the former for the latter. And, if past experience and research is any indication, educators are much more likely to co-opt the new technology to accomplish the status quo.
This workshop is designed to help teachers think through both opportunities and to categorize those apps that lend themselves to either or both. Participants will start by exploring a variety of apps, some that lend themselves to learning content such as math facts or spelling words and others that can be used in open ended content creation such as storytelling or photography. Then, participants will examine a set of lessons that use these apps. Finally, we will use a "taxonomy" such as Bloom’s Taxonomy, SAMR, LoTi, ETaP, Prensky, etc. and attempt to classify/categorize where the apps fall. Most likely, participants will need to contextualize the app to a particular use/activity. Ideally, teachers will realize that in most cases it is not the app itself, but the context and way in which it is used that determines where it falls and that the apps belong in multiple places.
