Come to this session to learn how a serendipitous meeting between three very diverse people turned into a productive collaboration to create a must-have app for educators. Presenters will not only showcase the app they have created, they will also discuss the process they used to turn a dream into a reality. Imagine this unlikely scenario:
The People: Three individuals - a university student in his early 20s (Travis Allen), a veteran, recently-retired university professor (Dr. Alice Christie), and the CEO of Mobicip, a company devoted to online child safety (Suren Ramasubbu) – met at Mobile Learning Experience 2011. They differed in age, experience, profession, gender, and ethnicity. But, they shared a common passion and goal to improve the online learning experiences of pre-school through university students. They met for dinner and shared their ideas and visions about creating THE APP for educators. They exchanged contact information and vowed to meet again.
The Common Goal: Unlike many such meetings, these three individuals actually did meet again; and then again, and again - occasionally face-to-face, but mostly online. Their goal was to create a single ‘workspace’ environment (or mobile app) that educators could use to locate the best educational apps at any grade level in any curricular area.
The Challenge: They soon realized that their good intentions could only take them so far in actualizing a great idea. Communication and productivity in a distributed team are interdependent, but often difficult to achieve.
The Process for Overcoming the Challenge: Through trial and error, the team developed tacit guidelines to facilitate the process of turning a dream into a reality. These guidelines included: setting realistic agendas and timelines (the most difficult task), using one collaborative document to which all members contribute (thus eliminating multiple emails), striving for clarity, brevity, and adherence to previously agreed-upon conventions in all communications, being open to and respectful of the suggestions of all teammates, and being respectful of each team member's individual skills and areas of expertise.
The App: Apps4iSchool allows users to search an extensive database of free/inexpensive apps for use in K-12 classrooms. Users can filter by platform (iPhone/iPod Touch or iPad), price (free/paid), subject area, grade level, activity type, or common core standards. In addition, an instructional strategy for using each app is included.
Because there are millions of apps on the market, finding really relevant, engaging ones that facilitate learning can be a bit daunting. Participants will use this app to identify apps that are appropriate for their classrooms. In addition, participants will (1) be able identify be able to identify criteria for evaluating apps for mobile devices, (2) have access to a list of over 200 of the best educational apps, (3) be ready to download a dozen apps for use in their classrooms, (4) experience the joy of learning that students will feel when they use apps on mobile devices in their classrooms, (5) ignite their students' love of learning with this interactive, educational app for mobile devices, and (6) have access to a website for ongoing reference and support about educational apps in PK-12 classrooms.
Come to this session to see collaboration in action, and to see the result of this unlikely collaboration. Apps4iSchool is FREE to all educators.
