Exploring AppInventory, a visual catalog of applications for assisting teachers and students

Abstract

We are witnessing a meaningful transformation of teaching and learning practices and widespread experimentation of new didactic methodologies. The availability of a huge amount of contents and learning objects on the Web is progressively transforming traditional learning design activity of teachers. However, the Web also offers another great opportunity in helping teachers adopt student centred methodologies: the availability of hundreds of Web 2.0 and mobile applications for creating and sharing digital artefacts. If incorporated into daily teaching and learning activities, they can improve the collaborative, cognitive and creative work of the students, enhancing and redefining traditional educational practices. Nevertheless, although these applications are generally easy to find and use, there is a lack of knowledge about their existence, their functions and their potential in an educational setting. In this paper we present AppInventory, a Web platform which enables teachers (and students) to visually browse through a catalog of 271 apps, semantically organized in a multi-dimensional, purpose-based taxonomy. Users can explore the catalog following personal associative paths; assign ratings, and leave comments.