I’m going to leave assessment and testing
to educators, but preparing for a test is the responsibility of the student. If
you did a good job with the “consume” and “absorb” steps, that material becomes
your basics for test preparation. Replay lectures, Re-read notes. If you used
an Echo SmartPen, you can use the Pencast Player app (free, app2.me/4205) to
play the lectures back and replay the notes you tool while you were listening
to the instructor. And if you missed something, stop and replay from any point
by tapping a note. The lecture will start right from where you took that note.
Evernote
Peek turns your iPad into a giant flash card for pairing questions and answer
Evernote Peek (iPad only: free,
app2.me/4991) turns the iPad’s SmartCover into a virtual card flipper,
transforming the entire iPad into a giant flash card. Peek helps you write the
cards and then turns your efforts into memorization nirvana.
Panarea’s new, iPad only Nearpod apps
(student version: free, app2.me/5007; teacher version: free, app2.me/5008) turn
old fashioned lectures into iPad experiences, but in an interesting twist, many
students are downloading the teacher version and creating their own lectures
and tests. There is no better way to assess how well students are absorbing
material than by having them write their own compelling and challenging tests.
Experience
Experience turns theory into practice. It’s
one thing to be told how something works, and another to make it work yourself.
Many schools use geocaching as a learning experience. Looking for hidden
treasures offers time outdoors and promotes team-building and problem-solving
skills, while it simultaneously teaches students about geography (longitude,
latitude, degrees) and satellites (how GPS works, in particular). Using an
iPhone or 3G iPad with a geocaching app will help you locate caches in your
area. Don’t forget your trip slip!
Using
an iPhone or 3G iPad with a geocaching app will help you locate caches in your
area
Geocaching is just one example. If you’ve
used The Elements to learn about the properties of various chemical elements,
test out their behavior in the real world. Melt some sulfur, inflate a rubber
glove with helium until it floats, and use copper to turn flames green. You
could also tie knots you learned about via the Animated Knots by Grog app
($4.99, app2.me/3605), or try to identify local birds using Audubon Birds – A
Field Guide to North American Birds ($1.99, app2.me/4515).
Every educator (and in classes where
students co-create experience, the students themselves) will need to consider
their learning outcome and figure out what kind of experience they can deliver
in the allotted time and budget, and how digital technology can enhance that
experience. It might be as easy as pointing Star Walk – 5 Stars Astronomy Guide
($2.99, app2.me/171) at the night sky or as complicated as building a fort.
Apply
To apply learning, you have to find a way
transform your knowledge so that it helps you solve a new problem. In math,
that may mean solving a similar problem using principles you’ve already
learned. It may mean creating a piece of art with ArtRage ($1.99, app2.me/4992;
iPad version: $6.99, app2.me/3292), using complementary colors after learning
about the color wheel. It may mean writing a poem rather than reading one.
The power of iOS comes in tis mobility.
Take your devices into the filed: document an archeological site using
measurements and photography; create a log to track bird migrations and
calculate breakfast and figure out the number of calories they contain, or
document the chemistry involved in turning batter to you via social media are
there to help you figure out how to apply what you’ve learned in a meaningful
way.
The
power of iOS comes in tis mobility
Flipping the classroom
Applying knowledge is often left to
homework. You lean a principle in school, and are then asked it to a variety of
problems at home. Flipping the classroom involves sending a lecture home as
homework (say, a Khan Academy lecture or You Tube video). Class is then
dedicated to helping students figure out what they learned by applying it to
problems in class. The lecture becomes the homework, the homework becomes the
classwork – thus the flip.
Synthesize & evaluate solutions
The ultimate expression of learning is
synthesizing knowledge from a number of disciplines and applying that knowledge
to some bigger challenge.
Consider the knowledge necessary in helping
your high school band fundraise for new uniforms. You would need at minimum,
the following skills: database development, for tracking donors and sending
thank you e-mails: marketing, including social media; public speaking; and
accounting. Then think about the skills that will be tested, the gaps you will
have to fill with just-in-time learning, and the bigger challenge of doing most
of it using an iPad or iPhone.
Share
At this point you know what you are good
at: you may even tutor other students already. Sharing what you know brings
learning full circle: the student becomes the teacher. With iOS, you can share
like never before.
iOS apps like Evernote let you share
folders and notes with others. You can tutor face-to-face with Face Time.
Publish a blog entry about your learning experience. Even publish your entire
note-taking session, complete with audio of the lecture, to Livescribe’s web
service and market it available to your class or the world. Watching you take
notes in real time gives sharing notes a whole new meaning.
A final examination
It would be great if education software
developers considered the entire life cycle of learning, so if they didn’t
include some element of it, they could at least provide hooks so other
developers could complement their wares. But we aren’t there yet. Like much of
education, the different phases of learning spawn apps optimized for each
phase. And in some phases, like content consumption, the Wild West of formats
and options still reigns. You have to experiment and find what works for you.
But once you figure it out, stick with it; if you shift around too much, you
will fragment your experience.
iPhone
4S
In some cases, the best tool for a job may
be one you already own. On the iPhone 4S, Siri and Reminders are a great
combination. Just tell Siri, “Remind me I have a paper on the Civil War due on
the 12th”. You may not be able to talk to your iPad, but reminders
are just as effective when written. Record your reminders immediately with
dates and instructions.
For each class, find a hook that connects
you to the material. Use your iPad as a journal to make sense of how math,
science and history connect to lacrosse, for example. Not every class is going
to be your favorite, and some may even challenge you aptitudes, but they all
connect, in some way, to your passion.
