focal point for developers across the globe who are creating new and innovate tools that can be used by students for analysis.


Apps for Creation


The iPad’s greatest benefit to the classroom is its ability to promote the creative activity of students. Some modern variations of Bloom’s taxonomy argue that the act of creation is the highest form of understanding. While this is certainly debatable, I think we would all agree that the ability to think creatively with one’s knowledge is the skill of the future and has already become highly valued in the workplace. The act of creation can take on many forms with mobile devices. These three apps illustrate three distinct ways in which students can create using the iPad.


The games that have emerged due to the success of the iPad provide new environments in which to be creative. The “level editor” feature that is present in many video game apps provides unique constraints that promote creative thinking and problem solving skills.


iMovie is easily the most valuable app in any K-12 classroom. It makes the iPad one of the first all-in-one capture, edit, share devices for creating HD videos. Video is today’s communication tool, and teachers have already embraced video creation as a viable classroom project. The iPad streamlines this process, removing the computer lab from the equation entirely and paving the way for the “video project” to become the next generation’s “term paper.”


The ultimate form of creative activity made possible by the iPad is the creation of new apps. This is illustrated by Bubble Ball, a simple game created by a 14-year-old student, which briefly outranked Angry Birds as the “Top Free App” with over a million downloads. The math, logic, art and design that go into creating apps are skills that would benefit any student tremendously. To facilitate this creative activity, teachers need to be well-versed in the creation process themselves. Making movies, identifying relevant games, and developing their own original apps – these are essential skills for the next (and perhaps current) generation of teachers.


A group of technology educators from across the state of Michigan have spent part of their summer working with Michigan Virtual University®


to develop a series of Apple iOS and Google


Android app creation courses for teachers. When these courses launch later this year, any teacher with an interest in creating apps for their classroom – or teaching their students how to create apps – will be able to learn how. The iPad is already transforming the way we work, communicate, and play. Together, we will work to make this device a transformative tool for promoting sophisticated thinking in our students.


Andrew Vanden Heuvel is a teacher and course developer with the Michigan Virtual School. In 2010, he was named Michigan Online Teacher of the Year. As the founder of AGL Initiatives, Andrew provides consulting services in STEM education for clients such as USA TODAY Education and NASA. Andrew lives in Grand Haven. He can be reached at avandenheuvel@mivu.org.


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