There are hundreds of thousdands of educational apps available on the Apple and Google Play stores. Photo: Unsplash
With over 400,000 educational apps on the market, how do parents and educators even begin the bewildering task of choosing? By applying some basic benchmarks, says a Canadian education academic.
So-called EduApps are a multi-billion-dollar industry, but information about the apps is thin on the ground, Adam Dubé associate professor of Learning Sciences at McGill University, Montreal, told RNZ's Nine to Noon.
So, what makes for a high-quality educational app?
There are five benchmarks that parents or educators should look for, he said.
Does the app have a curriculum?
"Which means what does this app teach? And does it tell you exactly what it's teaching? Ideally, the app should be in line with the curriculum that your child is actually involved in," he said.
What is the learning theory of the app?
"This is how does the app teach? Is this an app that teaches by having your child practice the same thing again and again and again to reinforce their understanding?
"Or is this an app that is about discovering information? To get a child to learn, for example, through playful exploration?" He said.
Look for apps that support a child's learning
"When you read the descriptions, it should say, we support the child's learning by breaking down complex tasks into small steps, by making sure that the content in our app is aligned with your child-specific age."
These are what educators call scaffolds or supports, he said.
Good educational apps give feedback
Apps should be telling the learner when they get things right and when they get things wrong, he said.
"Apps that don't give feedback, and a lot don't, don't help because then a child or a student is just practising incorrectly again and again and again."
Who made the app?
"Is it just an app developer or computer scientist, did the team making the app involve educational experts or developmentalists or educational psychologists."
By seeking out this basic benchmark information it should be possible to weed out dud apps, he said.
He also advises caution when it comes to star ratings.
"Unfortunately, all the research that we've done has shown that these ratings have no relationship with how good an educational app actually is and that's because anyone can review an app.
"It could be the child that's using it anyway with the app because it's in a theme that they like or it might be a parent is reviewing the app and they like the app because their child enjoys it, but they don't necessarily know if it has good educational content."
Companies running the app stores make billions from educational apps but do a very poor job of curation, he said.
"A lot of those 400,000 educational apps aren't very good. They don't make serious claims or accurate claims about how effective they are, and I think those companies could do a lot more.
"Take some of the profits that they're getting out of parents and out of school boards who purchase apps and improve their stores. Make that decision making process easier for school boards, for teachers and for parents. I think governments should put pressure on those companies."
While apps are useful, he said, they are no replacement for direct human contact.
"If parents want their children to learn letters or learn numbers, they're much more likely to learn from another person, from their parents. than trying to learn content off a screen."
