Why this app? How educators choose a good educational app

Montazami, Armaghan; Pearson, Heather Ann; Dubé, Adam K.; Kacmaz, Gulsah; Wen, Run; Alam, Sabrina Shajeen

doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104513

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Moreover, Taylor et al (2022) found that top‐rated apps on app review websites (ie, Common Sense Media, Good App Guide) contain more opportunities for feedback; but, these apps were more likely to provide low‐quality, retrospective error‐rate feedback (cf., immediate, constructive feedback). Undervaluing learning theory aligns with previous work, as this benchmark may be too abstract for parents (Montazami et al, 2022a) and is also undervalued by elementary educators (Montazami et al, 2022b). Since the original apps contained these specific terms (ie, feedback and learning theory), parents may have been attributing these negative connotations to them (ie, unbeneficial feedback, confusion).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…The intervention and control videos A nine-minute intervention video provided information on how to find quality educational apps by (a) describing benefits of using educational apps and explaining challenges with the app store (eg, many apps but lack of standards, Papadakis & Kalogiannakis, 2017), (b) defining the five educational benchmarks (Dubé et al, 2020) and explaining how they can contribute to better learning outcomes, and (c) modelling how to spot the benchmarks in example apps. The content of part (b) was based on a prior literature review of the five educational benchmarks focusing on how these features impact learning with apps (see Montazami et al, 2022aMontazami et al, , 2022b. The video was designed to include 11 of Mayer's (2021) 14 principles outlined in the introduction (eg, images and text together, outline key concepts, including the presenter's face) (see Table 2 for a list of principles included).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To address the lack of standards for quality apps, researchers propose that parents look to five educational benchmarks as indicators of quality (Dubé et al, 2020;Montazami et al, 2022aMontazami et al, , 2022b. These include being created by a development team consisting of educators, providing feedback and scaffolding, and being based on a guiding curriculum and learning theory.…”

Section: Educational Benchmarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 1 1 These are the same stimuli used for prior studies on parents' and educators' app selection. For an in‐depth description of the creation of these stimuli, see Montazami et al, 2022a, Montazami et al, 2022b. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Why this app: Can a video‐based intervention help parents identify quality educational apps?

Pearson

Montazami

Dubé

2022

Brit J Educational Tech

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Researchers recommend that parents look for five benchmarks as indicators of quality educational apps (ie, scaffolding, curriculum, development team, feedback, learning theory), yet results show that parents undervalue some of these benchmarks. The current study examined if a short video‐based intervention would enhance parents' value‐judgements of apps featuring the five educational benchmarks. In original and modified app experiments (n = 100; n = 101), parents of children 4–11 years old were randomly assigned to watch either a 9‐minute video that detailed how the five benchmarks augment learning, or a 2‐minute control video. Parents evaluated 10 simulated apps containing either benchmarks or buzzwords. The original app experiment shows that a brief intervention can help parents identify quality educational apps via the benchmarks, but the modified app experiment suggests it only works if developers are using specific keywords in app descriptions. Helping parents select quality educational apps is more complicated than simply telling them what to look for. What is already known about this topic Parents have a main role in selecting apps and deciding on how often children use them; however, they have difficulty evaluating an app's educational potential in a market mixed with high‐ and low‐quality products that lacks a standard for including educational apps on the App Store. There are five research‐based benchmarks that are indicators of quality educational apps. These include apps created by an interdisciplinary development team, having a guiding curriculum with a clear purpose, including scaffolding and feedback, and being based on a learning theory. However, parents are not valuing all of these educational benchmarks equally. Educational videos disseminated via YouTube have become an established medium to enhance people's knowledge. Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning, which suggests that people learn better when there is both auditory and visual information given together, is a framework used to design educational videos. What this paper adds This study leveraged a useful, accessible medium (ie, educational YouTube videos) to make research on educational apps accessible enough such that it could influence parents' app selection. Parents of children aged 4–11 years‐old viewed either an educational intervention‐ or control‐video and assessed educational apps through measures that replicate how consumers evaluate apps on the App Store (ie, their willingness to download the app, how much they would pay, their rating, and ranking). Original and modified app experiments demonstrate that a brief, educational video designed using key features from Mayer's multimedia theory can improve parents' app selection. In the original app experiment, parents in the intervention group are valuing the guiding curriculum and development team benchmarks over others, which may be due to the structure of the intervention video (ie, worked‐examples immediately after pre‐training of benchmarks). In the modified...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Educational Benchmarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Why this app: Can a video‐based intervention help parents identify quality educational apps?

Pearson

Montazami

Dubé

2022

Brit J Educational Tech

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“…EdTech design can disrupt this balance with features that provide or constrain the space for adult-child shared and independent interaction. Parents (Montazami et al, 2022a) and teachers (Montazami et al, 2022b) are cognizant of the qualitative differences in EdTech and the choices they offer to children and have expressed the need for more guidance on the types of EdTech that optimally support children's learning and development. Our article taps into that need and considers the implications of children's agency for selection and implementation of EdTech in classrooms, with attention to EdTech design that is most conducive to children's active participation in learning.…”

Section: Educational Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Agency in Educational Technology: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Implications for Learning Design

et al. 2023

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Advancing learners’ agency is a key educational goal. The advent of personalized EdTech, which automatically tailor learning environments to individual learners, gives renewed relevance to the topic. EdTech researchers and practitioners are confronted with the same basic question: What is the right amount of agency to give to learners during their interactions with EdTech? This question is even more relevant for younger learners. Our aim in this paper is twofold: First, we outline and synthesize the ways in which agency is conceptualized in three key learning disciplines (philosophy, education, and psychology). We show that there are different types and levels of agency and various prerequisites for the effective exercise of agency and that these undergo developmental change. Second, we provide guiding principles for how agency can be designed for in EdTech for children. We propose an agency personalization loop in which the level of agency provided by the EdTech is assigned in an adaptive manner to strike a balance between allowing children to freely choose learning content and assigning optimal content to them. Finally, we highlight some examples from practice.

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Optimizing Learning Outcomes of Educational Applications Enhanced with Multimedia and Interactive Features: A Review

Bali,

Zsido

2024

Integrated Science

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Why this app? How educators choose a good educational app

Cited by 18 publications

References 36 publications

Why this app: Can a video‐based intervention help parents identify quality educational apps?

Why this app: Can a video‐based intervention help parents identify quality educational apps?

Agency in Educational Technology: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Implications for Learning Design

Optimizing Learning Outcomes of Educational Applications Enhanced with Multimedia and Interactive Features: A Review

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