Wednesday, August 05, 2015

Android apps for the applying level of Bloom's

This is an edited re-posting of a blog post in 2013, which originally appeared on the now-defunct Sony Education Ambassadors site.

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy is a pedagogical model we are all familiar with. This is the third in a series of resources outlining apps, Web sites, and ideas for using Bloom's Revised Taxonomy to support teaching and learning. This resource deals with Android apps for the third of Bloom's levels, applying.
The previous posts in the series were:


APPLYING LEVEL


Applying is the cognitive skill set in which students use learned material through products like models, presentation, interviews and simulations, to execute or implement a procedure.


Some activities at the applying level include:




Diane Darrow, in her Edutopia series, outlines the questions you should consider when evaluating an app for use at the applying level.




ANDROID APPS AND WEB SITES TO SUPPORT THE APPLYING LEVEL

Sharing: Audioboom

One activity at the applying level is sharing. Audioboom is an application for recording and creating a podcast. This free version allows students to create audio up to 3 minutes in length and post that to their own Audioboom page on the web. They can add titles, tags, geolocation info and a photo to the recording before it is uploaded. Here is a great overview of the use of podcasting in the classroom by Tony Vincent.

Audioboom



Teaching: Explain Everything ($2.99)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.morriscooke.explaineverything&hl=en
Explain Everything is a full-featured screencapture/screencaster program. It allows students to share a great idea or explain a tricky concept. They can bring in images and PDF documents and mark them up, take a photo directly, animate objects, or simply draw out the concept while recording voice audio at the same time. Students can demonstrate their learning by creating a tutorial or teaching unit for others.

Explain Everything



Publishing: Tumblr

Activities that involve publishing learned material in the form of a newspaper, article, or story can easily be done with the Tumblr app. With the app, students can post text, images, videos, and much more to showcase the application of their content knowledge. 

Tumblr


Demonstrating: Animation Desk - Sketch & Draw

Demonstrating applied knowledge can be done with a drawing animation program. There are many of these, but I like Animation Desk Lite for hand-drawn animations. It includes all the best features of an animation program-- layers, onion skinning, duplication of previous pages, easy frame management, and the completed animations can be sent out to FB, YouTube, the photo library, emailed, or saved as PDFs. Users can even record their voice as part of the demonstration. KQED offers this article about use of stop-motion animation ideas for the elementary classroom.

Animation Desk


Another stop-motion animation program, StickDraw, might be easier for younger students. Students draw and manipulate simple images.

StickDraw



Performing a skit: Comic and Meme Creator


Students can showcase the application of their acquired knowledge by performing a skit. Create A Comic allows students to add various characters and speech bubbles to impart the information in their comic.

Comic and Meme Creator




FOLLOW UP

These are just some apps to get you started! The Google Play Store offers a ton of other apps that can be used at this level (or sometimes at all the Bloom's levels!) You can find more suggestions on my Bloomin' Apps page-- look for the chart for Android apps!