Cooperative Learning is a great teaching method. It is clear though that Kagan did not put effort towards this app. Here's why:
- The timers/spinners don't have sound options (no buzzers or 'dings' to alert class). Unless students are looking at the timer, they will not know that it's time to move to the next student. There is no audible cue. Ridiculous and renders this app mostly useless in the classroom. Hoping for an update, Spencer Kagan, are you listening? Lazy design and ridiculously expensive considering what this app does/does not do.
- Does not rotate to orient up. This is a simple developer tool option that Kagan did not include. Pointless not to.
- The timers/spinners should be absolutely fullscreen once they have been initiated to help students see the numbers. If I already chose the settings and type of timer, why do I need a heading 'interval timer' at the top? Why do I need 'home, new, reset and start' buttons at the bottom. Those should pop up on the touch of a finger. Not be constantly present taking up valuable screen space.
Don't buy this. Seriously, don't. It's a waste. Also, the other apps are unhelpful as well for similar reasons. This is lazy design at an absurd cost. While the in-class teaching strategies themselves are useful, Spencer Kagan has proven time and time again that he is more interested in profit margins than quality products. The same can be said for the Kagan catalog which has $50 led timers from China. Production cost for items like that averages a couple of dollars. Too bad the Kagan Institute isn't more interested in useful accessible tools that complement their teaching strategies.
Kagan, if you want to redeem yourself I would suggest packaging all your tools/apps in one $2.99 package and updating these tools so that they are actually useful. Anyone rating this app over 1/2 stars is seriously ignorant to the amount of work (2-3 lazy days with zero thoughtfulness/quality control) the developer put into this. Finally, notice that this is version 1.0 (no updates have been issued). Hoping to be proven wrong, but I'm guessing we can expect more of the same.. nonresponse.
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