Mobile learning and mobile assessment are recurring topics of interest, and with the huge popularity of smart phones capable of highly sophisticated technical innovations they’re increasingly viable.  Both the Google App Inventor and Apple’s iOS Dev Center enable non-experts to create applications for these platforms, enabling the delivery of highly focused activities that can nevertheless be easily shared and adapted for different circumstances.

One example of this can be seen in Liam Green-Hughes RefSignals Android app which assesses users’ knowledge of the meaning of various signals and gestures used by ice hockey referees to indicate penalties.  It’s a fully-formed MCQ test: introductory rubric, a series of questions with feedback on incorrect answers and score keeping, and a final score display.  And, as he says, all produced without writing a line of code.

The source code for the app is available from the link above, allowing the test system to be adapted to any subject or purpose, although given the philosophy of simplicity Google designed into their app inventor teachers – and learners – can easily create a similar tool themselves should they wish.  And being Android, there are no app store oddities to present a barrier to sharing and exchange of such simple but potentially invaluable developments

Many thanks to my (iPhone using) colleague John Robertson for the tip.