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I found an app the other day that does one thing and it does it well. I like to listen to a particular podcast but the process to subscribe and then move it to my phone was very tedious. The app has a single purpose and it delivers my favorite podcast, no other, to my phone. Fabulous.
Yes I'm an AppAholic. (here's the link to a UK blog) It is important to me to understand my addiction and determine what caused this craving for specialty programming. I am of a generation that has lived through all of the transformations. The operating systems with the green text where we as consumers had to learn long strings of commands to create a process that only did a portion of what we really wanted. I've also been privileged to teach the Microsoft Office Suite - going on 8 years now. If anyone has ever opened MS Office with a group of 1st graders you will immediately have that recognition reflex. It is like sticking a 1 pound steak in front of a kitten. They poke at it but don't have any idea how to attack it. MS Office is a behemoth. It does far more than any of us will ever need to do. In fact, most of the software of today is the same way. All of the big companies want to be everything to everyone and we are overwhelmed.
Let's talk about education as well. I am heading to a curriculum development meeting to develop lessons that go with the new online textbook. Another behemoth is the textbook. Every teacher knows they rarely use a tenth of what is available to them as resources and finding what they really want to use takes years. At that point a new text is out and the process starts over. This online text is the same way. Luckily, I've taught with it and can bring some insight. So I am the guide through the forest. Just as I was when teaching MS Office.
Back to our apps now. As educators, we are desperate for lessons that are on target for what we need to teach. We love the online flashcards that we can easily program for chapter 10's list. That is why iPad/Android apps are so appealing. Do one thing and do it well. Don't give us a timeline maker. Give us a timeline maker for the Depression that only leads students to age appropriate materials with a simple interface. Web 2.0 has been a great start, but we want these activities to be student driven. Hence the apps rule.
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