App Title: BrainPOP Featured Movie
Developer Website: BrainPOP
iTunes Link: Click Here
Grade Level: Elem, MS
Purpose: B
Program Functionality: C+
Overall Educational Value: C+
Explanation: The lack of control of the content of the featured movie and the ability to track the performance of individual students makes it difficult to use the BrainPOP app successfully in the classroom. However, the videos are of high quality and do merit some value.
Platform: iPad ONLY (iPhone version in the works)
Cost: FREE
Description / Recommendation:
If you have not heard about BrainPOP, you need to check them out at their
website. BrainPOP offers fun, educational animations about various topics in science, history, math, etc. It is great for upper elementary and younger middle school students. I used the BrainPOP subscription successfully with my sixth grade science class and they loved it.
Being an experienced BrainPOP user, I had huge hopes from the BrainPOP Featured Movie App for the iPad. Because of this, I have mixed feelings about the free iPad app.
The app loads to its main page which shows a screenshot and brief description of the Featured Movie. Just about these are four buttons you can choose: Play the Movie, Take the Quiz, See Your Scores, and About BrainPOP.
Play the Movie allows you to view the 3-5 minute video about the featured topic. The Featured Movie I was able to watch when I reviewed the app was about football, but the free video changes daily. The videos usually feature Tim and Moby, who are animated characters that teach about the topic in an entertaining way.
Take the Quiz allows you to take a 10 question quiz about the content of the video. It does not allow you to move on to the next question until you correctly select the correct answer. You can take the quiz at any time, but I would suggest watching the video before taking the quiz.
See Your Scores allows you to see the scores you have made on every quiz you have ever completed in the app. This could be a good way to monitor a student's progress.
About BrainPOP provides a little bit more information about BrainPOP. There is a link to a video that teaches you about the featuers at BrainPOP.com.
It seems that BrainPOP is trying to use this free iPad app as a way to advertise for their web-based service. However, the BrainPOP website requires Adobe Flash Player, so the website cannot be accessed from the iPad. Possibly this will be remedied in the future, though this is only speculation on my part.
As a BrainPOP and iPad fan, I really hoped this app had more features. The ability to select from a few different videos or at least from a chosen content area would be very nice. It would also be nice to access previous featured videos. BrainPOP.com gives you access to several free videos, but in the iPad, you can only access today's featured movie. This was a huge disappointment to me.
The quiz section could be improved as well. The online subscription does not tell you the correct answers until after you complete the quiz. I think this would make the app a lot better as well, instead of forcing you to get the correct answer before allowing you to move to the next question.
The online version also allows you to view various activities, or extensions, that can be used in conjunction with each video. I have found this to be extremely helpful in the past. Sadly, the BrainPOP app for the iPad does not include this feature.
Another feature that would be EXTREMELY beneficial would be having the option to have several user accounts. This would help significantly with the tracking of student progress on the daily quizzes. As it is currently, there is no option for multiple users, so all of the quiz scores are saved together, with no way to identify who had which score.
The BrainPOP Featured Movie app has a lot of potential, but falls short in features and quality in relation to its online only subscription service. The iPad really needs a subscription service for BrainPOP as well, with the additional features I mentioned above. These features would knock this app out of the ballpark.
I love BrainPOP, but the lack of features in the app makes it difficult to give this a terrific rating. Perhaps these features could be included in a subscription service for the iPad. I feel this subscription service option would greatly enhance this app.
Classroom Use Examples / Ideas:
Due to the lack of some key features, this app cannot be used as successfully in the classroom as it could be.
The main problem is you have no control over the featured video. If you are trying to help a student struggling in English, you have no option to select an English video on a particular topic. Because of this, the only use for this iPad app is for edutainment (learning about something in an entertaining way).
The best use of this app would be for students while at home, so they can continue learning and be entertained at the same time.
Other:
For more information about the subscription service available at BrainPOP.com, go here. They have subscription services for families, classrooms, and entire schools.
For iPhone and iPod Touch users, BrainPOP is working on a version of the app that works on your devices.
Images:
Click images to see full-size screenshots of BrainPOP Featured Movie in action.
Opening Page for BrainPOP Featured Movie app
Featured Movie Playing
BrainPOP Quiz
*This app review was created by Trevor McGarrah and cross-posted on his blog at Edutechnophobia with permission.
Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 9:00AM ;)
;)
;)
