Why This App? How Educators Choose Good Educational Apps

• In Event: Selecting and Reimagining Technology for Curricular and Equity Goals

Abstract

Prior research identifies five benchmarks as being indicative of quality educational apps (i.e., scaffolding, feedback, curriculum, development team, learning theory; Dubé et al., 2020), yet it is unknown if educators value them. Educators viewed and evaluated app store pages for 10 simulated apps while gaze data were collected using an eye-tracker. Educators value apps with educational benchmarks over buzzwords, while judging apps with development team, scaffolding, and curriculum higher than those with an integrated learning theory and feedback. Also, educators scrutinize app images featuring educational benchmarks more than ones with buzzwords. Professional development should target educators’ views of learning theory and feedback while app developers should leverage educators' use of app images as a source of information on benchmarks.

Authors

• Heather Ann Pearson, McGill University

• Armaghan Montazami, McGill University

• Adam Kenneth Dubé, McGill University

• Gulsah Kacmaz, McGill University

• Run Wen, McGill University

• Sabrina Shajeen Alam, McGill University