Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Developers, Educators, and Learners (Wiley and SAS Business Series)

by Scott McQuiggan

Adoption

Usability

Purpose and Alignment

Pedagogically Sound

Detailed Action Logging

Rich Mobile Data

Transmitting the Data

App Improvement

engagement without having a detrimental effect

Users and Personalization

Mobile data analytics also allow you to understand more about your users. Just as Amazon collects data about shopping habits and preferences and makes suggestions for future purchases,9 so too can educational apps collect data and tailor educational experiences towards users.10 One interesting set of analyses is to identify patterns belonging to users who use the app frequently. These users' patterns could be used to guide the behaviors of less knowledgeable users. For example, imagine you have a note-taking app and you notice that regular users of the app tend to organize their notes in a specific way. You could use this information to provide hints to other users that may help them learn more and better use the app. App developers can also tailor information to a specific user's interests, abilities, and learning preferences. Suppose an app provides leveled reading materials to young readers on a variety of subjects. If the app can detect that a particular user tends to read books about animals, the app can continue to recommend more books on animals at higher levels of difficulty to allow individual user interests to guide academic growth. Analytics also allow for powerful understandings of student misconceptions and learning needs. Detailed data on student actions, such as correct and incorrect answers, can be used to build robust models of what students know and do not know. For example, cognitive tutor systems have been used to teach a variety of topics and are based...

SAS Reading Records app, an app that is used to measure reading proficiency in students throughout the year,

When designing a dashboard for teachers or users, it is important to consider both what information is most helpful and how it can be displayed clearly.

Apps that allow students to demonstrate new knowledge, make learning connections, and even cross disciplines are increasingly popular.

How to Sell Your App: Pricing Models

Here we discuss the three most prominent pricing structures for educational apps and their limitations and allowances: free, freemium, and premium

Free

Apple says in their Developer Guide. Also, Kids apps must include “parental permission or use a parental gate before allowing the user to link out of the app or engage in commerce.”23 These restrictions aim to limit children's exposure to advertising that could impede the user experience. At the time of this writing, there are no restrictions on ads in apps for children in the Android operating system.

Freemium

In most app categories, freemium, as a business model, is surging in popularity, eclipsing paid or free with advertisement models.24 This essentially means the user is offered a free version of the app, with certain additional functions or content available for a fee. There are different opinions on the appropriateness of this model. Some say it exploits the customers, getting them hooked and then coming in for the credit card, while others see it as an opportunity for consumers to buy only what they'll use and to try the product before purchasing anything at all. As the prevailing moneymaking model for mobile apps, it has implications for the educational app market.

Endless Reader app,

Deciding on a price is a big decision, but not a permanent one; prices can vary over time. Experimenting and being flexible with the price is a good idea to stay competitive. Offering promotional pricing, even offering the app for free in the app store for a few hours, is a good way to stimulate sales and gain new users.

mobile device management (MDM) system

App Store Experience

What users see when they find your app in the app store is what we call the app store experience. While most of what is allowed in this avenue is imposed by the operating system and its regulations, these allowances are changing often. We suggest developers make use of all the allotted features within the app store listing, as these help users find the app and will be used to compare it to competitors. For instance, the Apple App Store allows for a video preview of the app;42 Google Play has had this functionality for a while. This preview functionality is an example of a new feature that gives apps an additional avenue to make a positive impression on a potential user. As the app store experience continues to be refined and enhanced, developers need to stay in tune with these updates and increase their own offerings. Once an app preview becomes the norm, as it will, an app that only offers screenshots will quickly be passed over for one that offers a more thorough preview.

Outside Marketing

So, how do teachers hear about apps? How do teachers judge apps? With the limited time and resources teachers have, the most common way for new apps to be discovered is through word of mouth. In our interviews, it seems common for schools to establish a de facto app guru, a peer who is good at finding good apps. This person will recommend apps to other teachers. When one good app is found, it is quickly adopted across the school, as searching and testing apps is seen as a burden. Social media is also very useful for increasing the profile an app. Hashtags (for Twitter chats or industry conferences, for example), infographics, and blogs are good tools to be discovered and shared on social media outlets. Using social media to promote an app and engage with users is a best practice. Be aware of these channels, and create materials to market and use them. There are also entire conferences devoted to educational apps and the use of mobile devices in the classroom, and schools often send their app guru to these events. Teachers share their experience with apps at these conferences, which can

drive downloads and buzz around an app. Developers should monitor these events, at...

like The Elements, Dictionary.com, Wolfram Alpha, Speak & Translate, MyCongress, or MathRef.

For example, CNN's student news, Go Go News, and NewsELA are wonderful resources for younger learners. For ESL/ELL students, 22 Frames takes a more visual approach to current events by helping students' comprehension through picture support.

apps include Leafsnap (flora and fauna), Merlin Bird ID (birds), Shazam (music), QR code scanners, Google Maps, and even Compass. For general inquiries, Google Goggles pulls from Google's expansive database and allows users to point their device toward a painting, landmark, barcode, QR code, printed foreign language, and even Sudoku puzzles to receive information about the object (or solutions to the Sudoku puzzle!).

Nonetheless, this mass posting of information provides an excellent opportunity for teaching students about who is an expert on a subject and, consequently, where to find sources for credible information. Students can be encouraged to follow experts or leaders in a certain field, conferences aligned to students' interests or class material, or even their instructor for immediate feedback during homework. Additionally, through the use of hashtags and user comments, students can often find a variety of perspectives on a single topic or details about the daily lives of individuals from other countries or cultures.

Alternatively, instructors have the option to repurpose popular entertainment games for educational purposes. As seen in the example below, Kristianna Luce, a high school math teacher, uses Angry Birds in her algebra classes to teach parabolas and the quadratic formula.34

The Little Writer app

Great mobile apps need to incorporate and support the interesting, creative thoughts of preschoolers. This includes everything from idea formation and refinement to supporting collaboration and dissemination. Widely, today's mobile apps provide tools for creative art exploration, learning, play, and practice. Students can play instruments, both real (such as the guitar, piano, and bass found in Apple's GarageBand) and fantastical instruments (such as those from Smule, like Ocarina which turns your iPhone into a musical instrument). Numerous photo, drawing, and painting apps are also available to scaffold student creativity. SAS Gloss provides drawing starters to help teachers demonstrate to students their own creativity and how creativity can lead to different results from different students.

For instance, Toca Tailor lets children choose fabrics in various colors and patterns, dressing their model in whatever way they want. When they're done, they can take a picture (a screenshot) within the app and save it to share with others, preserving their creative endeavor.

What Do Preschoolers Want to Learn in Your App?

What Makes an Engaging Preschool App?

Apps and app developers have an additional responsibility in aiding parents who want to know how to best guide and teach certain skills to their preschool-aged children themselves. When you ask parents how to teach a very young child mathematical thinking, for instance, they may not be sure where to start. However, through use of an app, parents might pick up that number sense encompasses simple addition, numerical comparisons, counting, and numeral recognition, and see specific activities within the app that are teaching these skills to their child. Endless Numbers is an app that teaches these skills in a fun setting, verbally reinforcing the skills. Now the parents can continue this learning outside of the app, further developing a positive educational home environment.48

Passback

Teachers as Gatekeepers

Screen Time While we know

Privacy

and confusing for many users (and in this case,

The “parental gate” is a common way to prevent a young user from straying within the app (often to an area of the app where purchases can be made, sensitive data accessed, or information shared through social networks).