Workshop 2- Appartunity or Appain?

Kate Brown, Sheila Cunningham, Jodie Ward, Kate Wilkinson and Jo Wilson, Middlesex University, School of Health and Education

Are apps in the classroom an opportunity or a pain? This was the question posed by this workshop with each group exploring answers for themselves. We were promptly organised into groups of 6-8 participants per table, all seated around board-style guided questions to allow us to explore the use of (mobile) applications at Middlesex. The workshop turned out to be as exciting as its title and setup hinted at, and was prepared with a good dose of creativity and carefully organised questions.

I’ll describe the experience at our table...

Participants were from different areas, with some qualifying themselves as ‘technology dinosaurs’, others quietly having used apps in the classroom for some time.  All of us seemed very keen to define what is meant by ‘apps’ (mobile apps only or others?), and the conversation quickly moved to practical considerations (‘but does this work on a Samsung tablet? ‘are all apps free?’ etc.) and then onto accessibility (‘would the library consider putting iPads on loan for students who do not have one?’). We also discussed the use of technology as a possible distraction in the classroom and how we can deal with this.

I particularly enjoyed how one academic talked about how he used 3D-visualisations of difficult concepts in his teaching as a way to break down a dry two-day course and as a way to make some of his presentations more vividly understandable (‘and your work is half done!’).  We eventually agreed that we needed to know where to ask for support and guidance (both CAPE Senior Academic Developers and School Librarians were referred to at that point) in order to be able to focus on pedagogical considerations and we talked about looking at apps in exactly the same way as you look at other new initiatives, with the same critical approach and part of an evaluative process.

We also touched on the potential of apps in an assessment context; we had more difficulty with this. We wondered whether they could help with developing certain aspects such as memorising skills. We also identified areas where we thought apps may currently be difficult to support assessment practice, such as in assessing creativity. One group wondered whether apps might be able to help you with minimising elements of subjectivity in the future and one group had come to the conclusion that we should develop our own apps, as a way to tailor them to our needs.

I was really impressed with the quality of the conversation in such as short space of time and with as few as 8 people from a range of areas. Definitely the highlight of the day for me.

Here are links to the articles and BBC item used during the session:

• Exploring Students' Mobile Learning Practices in Higher Education
• Mobile devices in medicine: a survey of how medical students, residents, and faculty use smartphones and other mobile devices to find information
• Developing confidence in the use of digital tools in teaching 
• The apps giving hospitals a cutting edge
• Study Skills Apps will be available from Middlesex University Library as of August 2015

Report by Pascale Colonna, Senior Academic Developer, Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE)