As Vikrama Dhiman pointed out in his recent post, mobile learning is one of the coming markets for online education. Smartphones and other portable devices have more and more become a common gadget, so it is a no-brainer to offer learning and teaching related apps on them.
This is why we are introducing a new show on the KWTV network called app:ed. And the first application we reviewed is MindSnacks Spanish.
I tested the application on my iPod Touch 32GB running iOS 4. The version I am using is a prototype but I am pretty sure that the version that went public on the iTunes AppStore yesterday is pretty much the same to the one you see in the video.
So, once again to sum this up: the app is truly engaging and turns the dull vocabulary learning part of each language acquisition into a fun but amazingly effective process. I played the game about twice a day for maybe 10 to 15 minutes each and I have to state that I actually learned the words without really noticing it.
As I said this app does not mimic a fully immersive approach but I would suggest to make it a part of your personal or your students lesson plan. Soon, there will be more languages such as French, Italian and Mandarin available.
Small minus points are the fact that you cannot revise a section and you cannot set up different user / player profiles. I am also not sure about the selection of the vocabulary sets, e.g. the sequence of the different topics.
All in all MindSnacks Spanish is a real steal at a price of $4.99 (introduction price 50% off) as it delivers you six mini games plus a fun way to brush up your Spanish vocabulary = 4.5 of 5 stars at app:ed.
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