This is part of a weekly series on APP-smashes in my high school classroom. When I consider an APP-smash I like to take the systems approach through the lens of an input/output model. In terms of the inputs going into the APP-smash I like to think about what I want students to learn. After I decide what I want students to learn then I choose the APPS to smash and not vice-versa.
Tuesday APP-Smash: Forensics Class The Touchcast Screencast
Learning Outcomes in Bloom’s Taxonomy Language: SWBAT understand factual information about Jack the Ripper, SWBAT synthesize information about the Jack the Ripper from a variety of sources, SWBAT create a project that shares their knowledge Jack the Ripper with the world.
APPS we Smashed: LAYAR, Educreations, ePackBack, and Touchcast
The APP-smash we used as a Tuesday feature was part of a unit we are doing about various infamous serial killers. Upon entering the classroom students were required to scan a 2D cartoon of Jack the Ripper that was displayed on the whiteboard with their LAYAR app. Once they scanned the trigger image it took them to a screencast that I had created for them in Explain Everything which asked them to research the following information about Jack the Ripper (Who was he? When did he live? Where did he live? What was he infamous for? Who did he target?) the students created a screencast with all of this information and littered it with screenshots to paint a more vivid picture. They took a screenshot of their screencast in Educreations and sent it to me in eBackPack. Then based upon the differences in their individual work I called them up one at a time to contribute to a group Jack the Ripper Touchcast. One student had a great Jack the Ripper quote in his screencast so I gave him a quote vApp in the Touchast, one student had some great news headlines so they placed a Google News Feed about Jack the Ripper vApp in the Touchcast, another student placed a vAPP in the form of a Google map of London.
When I look back and reflect upon the APP-smash or it this case it was partially a vApp Smash I think of the SAMR model within my reflective lens. This was a learning activity that was previously not conceivable in a non-iPad classroom. The students learning and not the apps drove the project but the way my students used the apps extended and expanded their learning. Redefinition occurred as my students created an APP-smash project that they were eager to share with the world. It took someone who lived a long time ago and used technology to make him current, relevant, and interesting to my students in their present day lives.
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