Both Sides of the iPad:
Perspectives of an Educator and
App Developer
Marg Griffin
SLP @ Kings Junior High School and coowner of Golden Communications LLC
Learning Objectives
• Understand the current state of the art for the
development and use of educational apps
• Learn what the developers perspective is and
understand how knowing it can help you as
an educator
• Discuss best practices for use of this
technology
• Discover great resources for apps and
professional learning communities
“One of the most poignant summaries of
the market for innovative technology
solutions in education is that it is forever
in its infancy. That statement was true 30
years ago, when the Apple II was
introduced into schools and I first started
working in education technology, and it is
true today.
Joanne Weiss, Chief of Staff to Secretary of Education
Harvard Business Review
January 2012 Apple Education Statistics
• Over 20,000 educational apps in the App
Store
• 1.5 million iPads in use in schools
• Over 1000 schools using 1:1 iPad
programs
Survey of directors of technology by Apple
Insider, 10/2011
• All were testing or deploying use of iPads
in their schools
• Expect iPads to outnumber computers in
the next 5 years
• Currently average 10:1 on computers
• Expect to average 6:1 on iPads
Conclusions from iLearn II
• Market for early childhood apps may be
saturated
• Apps for older students is a growing
market
• Call to action for educators, developers,
research institutions and investors/funding
agencies to work together
Best Practices: School Districts
• Set up district policies for BYOT
• Address parent concerns
• Support and encourage teacher’s personal
use of iPads
Best Practices: Teachers
• Assess current usage, familiarity, methods
• Connect novices with proficient users
• Set up a personal learning network
Best Practices: PLN
• Listservs through professional
organizations
• FaceBook Groups and Pages
• Twitter
• Websites and Blogs
• Google alerts
FaceBook Groups and Pages
• Educational App Talk (FB group and
website)
• iTeachSpecial Education (FB group)
• Moms With Apps (FB page and website)
• Technology in Education (FB page and
website)
• InOV8 Educational Consulting (FB page
and website)
Twitter
• Choose who you follow to create a PLN
• #education, #edtech, #edchat, #edadmin,
#iPad, #iPadapps
• An amazing resource for current articles,
news and practices
Google Alerts
•
•
•
•
www.google.com/alerts
Enter your search item (ex. 1:1 iPad)
Choose how often you want updates
Get alerts by email
Finding the Right Apps:
Embrace the serendipity factor but …
• Set your purpose
• Target your efforts
• Limit your scope at first
Apps for Compensating
• Assistive and Augmentative Communication
apps like Proloquo2Go
• Apps that support students with low literacy
skills such as Typ-O and Dictionary.com
• Apps that help students record and
organize information such as Evernote and
Skitch
Apps for Remediating
• Conversation Skill Builder
• Multiplying Acorns
• Grammar app
Apps for Practice/Studying
• FlashCards+
• Enchanted Dictionary
• Math Bracket
Apps to Illustrate
•
•
•
•
Frog Dissection
3-D Brain
Simple Physics
Portion Platter
Apps that Motivate
• Visual Timers
• Apps that collect data, give feedback
Apps Used to Create
•
•
•
•
Keynote
Evernote
Skitch
Educreations
Apps Used to Assess
• Sunny Articulation Test
• Reading Remedies
An Exercise in Finding Apps
Things to Know About Developers
• They are a little afraid of you
• They can’t find you
• They don’t speak your language
Building a Better Model for Educational
App Development
“If we can match highly-effective
educators with great entrepreneurs
and if we can direct smart capital
toward these projects, the market for
technological innovation might just
spurt from infancy into adolescence.”
-Joanne Weiss