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Poster #236 - A picture sells 1000 apps: How the App Store uses images to market educational apps

Fri, March 22, 12:45 to 2:00pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Context: There are 80,000+ educational apps in the Apple App Store (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015) and math apps are the most common (Shuler, 2012). Based on this prevalence, it seems math apps are popular with children, parents, and educators. Yet, how specific apps are chosen is a critical but unstudied part of this growing educational practice. A recent analysis of the written descriptions available in the App Store found that developers are providing little to no information on key benchmarks of educational quality (Dubé et al., 2018). This suggests that developers are relying on pictures of their apps to market them to children, parents, and educators. The importance of pictures in app selection is further signified by the recent App Store redesign, in which picture size was substantially increased while the written descriptions were hidden behind a dropdown menu. However, no study has analyzed how pictures are being used to market math apps to users.

Research Question: The present study investigated how pictures of apps in the Apple App Store are being used to market educational math apps to users. Specifically, the study set out to R1) determine the extent to which pictures convey meaningful benchmarks of educational quality (Vaala, et al., 2015), R2) describe the style and complexity of the pictures, and R3) compare whether the benchmarks, style, and complexity of the pictures differ by the age of the target user.

Method: The app search process was designed to resemble how users search the App Store. For every search, the word “math” was entered as the keyword and the app category set to education. The app search process was conducted 9 times using the 3 different filter options (popularity, relevance, rating) and 3 age ranges (<5, 6-8, 9-11) provided by Apple, with the top 10 apps being selected from each search (90 apps total). Excluding duplicates, the final data set contained 73 apps. The pictures available for each app in the App Store were captured and coded for the presence of educational benchmarks (Vaala, 2015), picture style (Knotko, 2018), and visual complexity (see Table 1).

Results: R1) App pictures are conveying some educational benchmarks more than others, with the scaffolding (34% of apps), feedback (40%), and math subject (80%) benchmarks being the most dominant, X2(5)=132.49,p<.05. R2) The classic and features styles were used by the majority of apps (66% and 55%, respectively) while the remaining styles were used infrequently, X2(5)=146.723,p<.05. R3) Both scaffolding and math subjects were conveyed less in pictures for apps aimed at the youngest audience (<5yr; p<.05). For picture styles, the classic style was used far more frequently for 9-11yr apps (p<.05). For complexity, complexity was the greatest for <5yr apps, F(2,70)=3.584,p<.05.

Conclusion: Developers are relying on simple screen-captures with bullet-points to convey the specific math subject (e.g., addition) but not how it is taught (learning theory, curriculum) or who made the app (educators vs programmers). These key benchmarks are even less common for apps aimed at young children, which seem to rely the most on using complex, eye-catching images to attract users.

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