Snapseed and Google Slides: Labeling images for use in a presentation

Walking across campus this rainy morning every single student I saw had their heads down, staring at a rectangle of plastic and glass. I see fewer and fewer students heading to class clutching an opened laptop computer. Watching students thumb type with speeds equivalent to my own touch typing speed, thanks in part to autocomplete, I am more convinced than ever that smartphone productivity apps are the future for which graduates must be prepared.

The end of the laptop program for students means fewer students have a laptop. Yet the vast majority of students have smartphones. Despite owning smartphones, the students' ability to use their phone as a productivity tool is surprisingly limited.

This week in my botany course students will again use the image editing app Snapseed. Snapseed is available for both Android and iOS. The students will learn to label flower parts in images, and then use those images in a presentation. 

This exercise will also reinforce the students' knowledge of floral morphology.

Earlier in my botany course I introduced the use of Snapseed to reduce image sizes for use in Google Forms. The presentation also acts as an introduction to making a survey or quiz with Google Forms. Again, this is all done from a smartphone.

The above two course exercises are part of my instructional theme of apps across the curriculum.