Derek Keenan, a professional learning coach in 21st century learning and technology at Bert Church High School in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada presented Mobl21 and Punflay apps at MobiLE 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona.  The presentation titled, The Educational Implications of App Innovations, showcased how developers are beginning to make a difference in education through their products.

Below is an excerpt of Derek’s blog post:

What I truly enjoy about talking to educators about Punflay is the common perception they have of the quality of apps Punflay releases.  Frog dissection, as one of the star Punflay apps, really sets the tone for this company’s dedication to creating highly effective and detailed apps with significant value for education.

I was able to share the app Rat Dissection with the audience, and talked about not only the value of this to the classroom setting in schools that may not have access to a full science lab, but also to distance learning students, or students away from the classroom who would otherwise not have the ability to interact with a live lab.

In the presentation for Punflay I looked at Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and the ISTE NETS for Students.  I challenged educators to put these apps to the test and see what kind of learning we could expect with them.  Some of the suggestions were quite good, including that the self-discovery in Rat Dissection as a distance learning tool might lead a student to the Analysing level in the taxonomy, not too bad for an app used independently.  In terms of ISTE standards, we can argue that the “Technology Operations and Concepts” and “Critical Thinking” sections might be the most applicable to these apps.

Read the full post here