Review – 5 Steps To A 5: European History

Note that gWhiz provided me with a promotional code to download this app for free in order to write this review.

This is a review of the iTunes app AP European History 5 Steps to a 5 which was created by gWhiz on behalf of or under contract with McGraw-Hill.  The goal for this app is to provide a mobile support or even supplement to the hard copy of McGraw-Hill’s book of the same name.  The app is available for the iPhone and iPad in the iTunes store and it cost $9.99 to purchase.

Using the Emantras taxonomy of different types of mobile learning programs (see 7 Learning Models for Mobile Learning), I would have to say that this app is a combination of a test prep (i.e., “Mobile learning that can be easily adapted to design multiple choice tests and fill-in-the-blank answers. By constant review of test prep material, students can ensure better preparation for exams.”); guides (i.e., “Most educative materials comes with some memorization requirements be it formula, dates, or diagrams. Creating guides which can be revised separately before an exam, or reviewed in conjunction with learning material can enable better comprehension.”); and supplemental (i.e., “Supportive material inputs like examples, and case studies which supplement the main chapter can be introduced for further reading and better understanding of the key subject. Mobile learning delivers content in small nuggets making it ideal for supplementary content delivery.”).  Overall, there were many things that I liked about this app and then a couple of suggestions that I have for the developers.

Without having access to the book itself, I’m going to guess that the structure of the app mirrors the chapters or divisions of the book. As such, the app is divided into five different sections. Step one is an introduction, where the app provides text-based information about the app itself (and the five step process), the Advanced Placement program, the AP European History course, and the AP exam for European History.

The second step is really the meat of this application, at least in terms of being something more than simply a collection of information. Step two is the test preparation portion of the five step process, at least for the multiple-choice question portion of the exam. The multiple choice questions are divided into the different time periods (which I suspect probably correspond with whatever book they publish for this course) – with 8-10 questions for each subject area.

One of the things I like about the way in which gWhiz have done these multiple-choice questions – similar to what they have done with their more recent FLVS apps – is that students gets immediate feedback. In addition to being told right away whether they got the question correct or incorrect, the student receives a fairly lengthy/descriptive explanation as to why their response was either correct or incorrect. After reading the rationale, students have the option to go back and review the question again with both their response and the correct response (if the two were different) highlighted.

The next step in this five step process is some general test taking tips for all three types of questions students will have to complete during the AP exam: multiple-choice, document-based, and free-response. As someone who has graded AP European History exams for the past five years, the content of the tips provided are quite reasonable and ones that I would have been likely to tell my students when I was still teaching the course.

One of the things I like about this section was the fact that in the material related to the document-based and free-response questions used examples of actual questions – at least for things like how to write an effective thesis.

This was actually one of the areas where I thought the content could have been improved. For example, the document-based question requires that students use documents to build a case or argument that addresses the question. The content could have done a better job of providing examples of documents and how to use them effectively. In grading previous exams, students have a tendency to group do documents along the lines of social, political, and economic. Using a collection of documents and showing how they could be grouped together in a manner that would actually achieve the student the core point for grouping. The same could be said of how to describe bias in the documents, as students often just make attribution or simply state that a document is biased. I’d make the same suggestion about providing more specific examples for the free-response examples as well.

Step four are these flashcards where the students is given a term or a phrase or a name or an event and they can tap the flashcard so it flips over and provides a definition or explanation.

Students can tap on either an “I know it” or a “Don’t know” button. The know it ones become hidden, and the don’t know ones remain in the queue to appear later.

Step five is a timed practice test for the multiple-choice portion of the exam that uses the same format that I described above for step two.

The was one area where I thought the functionality of the app could have been improved a little. If the purpose of this step five practice test is to simulate taking the exam – or at least the multiple-choice portion of the exam – than having immediate feedback that provides a rationale for the response that immediately follows the question requires students one more click to proceed to the next question in this timed exercise. Essentially it slows the student down. This is one of the times where the feedback provided to the student could be done at the end of the activity, as opposed to as the student progresses. [Note the text in green is no longer applicable, as if I had clicked on the “Feedback Off” underneath the magnifying glass it would have addressed this concern.]

Another content-based suggestion I would have provided the publisher was to include a couple of samples document-based questions and three to five free-response questions. While the app would not be able to provide students with feedback on any responses they prepare, the act of having a question that they could respond to outside of their mobile device would likely be a useful test preparation activity.

Overall, I liked this app for what it did – and suspect that I would have even more to say about it if I had the accompanying book that this app supports. The app was design to do test prep, guides, and supplemental.  Although I would suggest that it does the test prep the best, the guides are still well done, but the supplemental is limited by lack of specificity for the document-based and free-response question examples.

Note that I have three additional McGraw-Hill apps from gWhiz that they sent me to review, which should appear in this space over the next few weeks.