Assignment #2 Developing an Evaluation Rubric for Selection of Mobile Apps:

Using the resources provided and others that you will no doubt seek out and research, your team of three will develop an evaluation tool for the selection of apps to be used on mobile devices for use in an educational setting. Your group has choice over which tool is used to present your work it does not have to be fancy. Word processing is just fine or a link to a web page would suffice as well. Your call. If it is a document, please save as a PDF.

There are two parts to this assignment: Part I deals with the structure and creation of an evaluation rubric for the selection of a mobile app. To be clear, this is an app that is either IOS or Android based. (as opposed to Web 2.0 apps such as Google Docs, Blogger, Wordle or Prezi) Kathy Schrock has done some very nice work around this and for more clarification/specifics, you can visit her site at Kathy Schrocks Guide to Everything: Bloomin Apps i) What is the overall driving force when selecting an app? What should be considered in the big picture regardless of the type of device or operating system? Provide sources to support your answer. ii) Design/create an evaluation rubric for mobile apps. There should be 5-7 categories and each should have point values so as to arrive at a total. Please feel free to peruse any of the examples I have included in under the Week 2 tab in the Required Readings,Videoclips, Presentations section Evaluation of Apps. Please save your actual rubric as a pdf. iii) Explain/justify why your group chose the categories that were used in your rubric.

Part II addresses the HOTS or Higher Order Thinking Skills and a review and selection of the apps themselves. Using the diagram below, select six apps that addresses all six stages of the New Version of Blooms Taxonomy for iPad. (one for each stage) If possible, try and select apps based on an academic focus that you are interested, i.e. the courses you know/teach/are interested in English, Math, Science, Social Studies etc. For each app give: a) Its full name, hyperlinked to the App Store or Google Play and an icon/symbol for it b) Which HOTS it represents and relate this to what it does in your own words

c) Which age group it is designed for d) The price... if it does cost money, is it worth it in your opinion? You dont necessarily have to buy it but some reviews by others might be useful. If its free, download it and try it so you know. At least three of the six must be FREE. Sometimes free is not always better quantity vs. quality... e) Provide a total or overall score/rating for each app using the evaluation rubric you developed. This will allow many of us to get an initial impression of your thoughts on the apps you selected.

Image used with permission from Med Kharbach. He is the founder and editor of Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. He currently lives in Canada where he teaches while preparing for his MA Ed. You can reach him at: med@educatorstechnology.com

New Version of Blooms Taxonomy for iPad

Requirements: All sources are to be referenced using standard APA formatting at the end or bottom of your assignment. Wherever possible, please hyperlink URLs so that they are live and easily accessed. As well, any images used should be attributed with permission from the creator or should contain a Creative Commons license attribute. Again, please provide a live URL. You need not do this for commercial icons/symbols you use from either the App Store of Google Play.

REMEMBER: All assignments need to submitted via the VIU D2L site