Group items tagged

Makers and users of mobile apps for children, take note!

The actual report itself is excellent, "Mobile Apps for Kids: Current Privacy Disclosures Are Disappointing." [The link is embedded in the article.] Improvement in this area is critical. When apps came on the market, they were like "valet parking"... where a user could get directly to a software without roaming the web. This was an attractive feature (and avoided unwanted advertising, a plus for parents.). Now, not only are apps collecting data that we are unaware of (PRIVACY!), but many are engaged in advertising, some that we are aware of and some that we are not (click through to a website, etc.) "Staff found that about 7% of the 400 app store promotion pages indicated that the app contained advertising. As above, this number is likely to understate the number of apps containing advertising because app stores do not appear to require developers to disclose in-app advertising on their promotion pages, and because advertising is a common way to monetize apps." Free? Not so much.

In light of this week's reading around equity, I question the impact apps such as these will have on low-SES communities. Also, this app may have the unintended consequence of creating an additional requirement for the teacher and as a result more pressure.

With a bank of 40,000 educational apps that have been cataloged, reviewed, and approved, a Tennessee initiative hopes to make it easier for educators to use apps in the classroom and beyond. Sometimes, finding the right app can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Apps that will help you learn a new language.

Rather interesting (and humorous) blog post on the "rockstar" motivation to create Apps. According to the author, "Back then peoples heroes were the likes of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant or Bob Dylan. Today it's Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, or Reid Hoffman. An entirely different breed." Maybe he's right?

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop studied almost 200 education apps for Apple's app store. Good insight into what's in the market right now and what the current trends are.

Thanks Chris! I am looking forward to reading this thoroughly. It covers so many important topics/questions from: creating standards for apps marketed as educational (right now the developers just need to say it is "educational") to a call to academia to dive into research and help design effective, high quality material for digital age learning.

MindSnacks leads the way in "Gamified" educational apps for learning new languages. Some of these look pretty cool...

App market in China 

Virtual Patient App that is being presented at the HGSE Social Innovation competition. It was developed at HMS and is described in the video as a "game" for patient diagnosis and treatment. I downloaded the app and am not so sure I consider it a "game" but found it to be a good tool at developing differential diagnoses and treatment strategies. It also says the app is applicable for med students, residents and attending physicians (in addition to other healthcare professionals), though I don't know if attending physicians would find it very useful.

A review of what this writer thinks constitutes a good math app, and where many apps/educational games go wrong.

Apps illustrate emphasis of education developers

ipad not fundamentally different from the ipod/iphone, though may create platform for advertisements in a way that was not possible with the iphone.

New apps/New opportunities with Apple's Tablet

A new Facebook game aims to motivate low-income high school students to apply to college and provide them with the necessary tools to gain admission.

Interesting game on getting kids interested in aviation and math.

"Oregon became the first state in the nation to offer Google Apps for Education in K-12 classrooms"