App-titude co-director Cecilie Murray hosted a workshop and unveiled the first demonstration of the App-titude system at the recent ACEC2010: Digital Diversity conference

1. Do you have an App-titudefor Learning? Cecilie Murray App-titude Learning

2. Why Apps for Learning? Small handheld devices enable learning anywhere, anytime Convergence of innovations in mobile technology and social software Young people’s social use of technologies For schools it means 1:1 is achievable

3. The Research ‘safe learning’ and ‘disruptive learning’“learning in a more personalised way, handing over more control to the learners themselves” (Stead, 2006) “a small, cleverly designed handheld game can significantly enhance learner performance in mental maths as well as having a positive impact on other aspects of classroom life” (Robertson, 2009).

4. ‘Mobile devices can have a positive impact on learning experiences for both educators and students’ (McFarlane, Triggs& Yee, 2008; Ng & Nicholas, 2009) ‘the use of iPods in the classroom holds and heightens student interest, engages students in learning, and provides yet another means for expressive and receptive literacy’ (Dogeby, 2007)

5. The Future ‘public agencies [Departments of Education] and schools are beginning to explore multimobile services – convenient, flexible tools that enable users to access information in a range of formats using mobile devices – as a way to support…staff and students’ (The New Media Consortium, 2009)

6. Educational games Apps Relevant to kids Use technologies that pervade their lives Engaging for learning Inquiry based constructivist content High quality games prolong engagement Kids can consolidate knowledge independently

7. Apps are based on constructivist learning principles Promote deep thinking, not simply skills development

8. Curriculum-driven content, high quality graphics Monitor student progress online

9. Simple assessment 1 2 3 Sheep! is a standalone game, suitable for young learners anywhere - but it's also designed for classroom use with the innovative App-titude assessment system. Teachers can instantly see and track their students' progress online via the iPod's automatic wireless updates. As children complete tasks within the game they gain App-titude achievements, such as ‘All Rounder’, ‘Helicopter Ace’ and ‘Perfect Farm’. Each of the 10 achievements available corresponds to a level of participation or competency. They are displayed in a simple helpful online interface for teachers Farm counting fun Children explore basic counting concepts in three fun activities - flying a helicopter around the farm, herding sheep into pens and guiding the sheepdog into the truck. The game difficulty automatically adapts to match their progress, with content based on the school curriculum. Children are drawn to the friendly, detailed graphics, playful audio and lots of humorous encouragement. During in-school testing we were pleased to find 6 and 7-year-old children are happy playing 1 2 3 Sheep! for an hour or more.1 2 3 Sheep! was developed in consultation with teachers in classrooms and educational experts, and built by professional game developers. 1 2 3 Sheep! Our first App. Available on the Apple App Store!

10. An online assessment system collects data from the app Teachers monitor student progress at a glance

11. Levels of Achievement Unafraid: The student has played all three activities at least once. Getting Stuck In: The student has spent 10 days on the farm. I.e. they have played an activity to completion 10 times. Hard Worker: The student has spent 30 days on the farm. I.e. they have played an activity to completion 30 times. All Rounder:The student has scored at least 2 stars in all three activities. Great Counting: The student has scored a total of 9 stars. Heli Ace: The student has all 4 stars for the Helicopter activity. Round Up Ace: The student has all 4 stars for the Round Up activity. Jump Ace: The student has all 4 stars for the Jump activity. Perfect Farm: The student has all 12 stars - the total number available across all activities.

12. Discussion Forum for Teacher Input

14. References Metiri Group (2006) Technology in Schools, What the Research Says, Cisco Systems. http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/education/TechnologyinSchoolsReport.pdf McFarlane, A. Triggs, P. & Yee, W. (2008). Researching mobile learning - Interim report to Becta http://partners.becta.org.uk/uploaddir/downloads/page_documents/research/mobile_learning.pdf Ng, W. & Nicholas, H. (2009a). Introduction of pocket PC in schools: attitudes and beliefs in the first year. Computers and Education. Robertson, M. (2009) Innovative Schooling and Responsiveness to ongoing Global Change, La Trobe University, Melbourne Stead, G. (2006). Mobile technologies: transforming the future of learning, in Emerging Technologies for Learning, BECTA. http://partners.becta.org.uk/upload-dir/downloads/page_documents/research/emerging_technologies.pdf

15. Web: www.app-titude.com.au Email: cecilie@app-titude.com.au Twitter: http://twitter.com/App_titude Facebook: 1 2 3 Sheep!