RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL APPS
Key Findings on EdTech for Children
This section describes key findings of research on educational apps for children's literacy development and learning. They are divided into (1) general articles that are news reports and commentary and (2) academic research articles on educational technology.
General Articles
AMID CORONAVIRUS, STUDENTS FLOCK TO KAHOOT! AND DUOLINGO. IS IT THE END OF LANGUAGE TEACHERS?
Summary:
This article discusses the affordances and constraints for apps for learning.
PANICKING ABOUT YOUR KIDS' PHONES? NEW RESEARCH SAYS DON'T
Summary:
This article discusses about research studies that have found small and inconsistent links between smart phone, social media use and mental health problems among adolescents and teenagers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/17/technology/kids-smartphones-depression.html
COMMENTARY: THE REAL CULPRIT MAKING OUR CHILDREN DUMB ISN'T E-LEARNING
Summary:
This article suggests ways in which educational apps and digital technology can be integrated for pedagogical purposes.
WHAT 126 STUDIES SAY ABOUT EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Summary:
This article suggests how digital technology can be used to support learning in schools for children using reminders, personalised learning, and connecting with parents.
http://news.mit.edu/2019/mit-jpal-what-126-studies-tell-us-about-education-technology-impact-0226
FACT OR FICTION: ONLINE GAMES COULD BE THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION
Summary:
This article reports how learning apps and educational games can be used to motivate learning.
Academic Research on EdTech
USING VIDEO GAMES FOR LEARNING: DEVELOPING A METALANGUAGE FOR DIGITAL PLAY
Authors: Weimin Toh & Fei Victor Lim
Summary:
This paper argues that with technological advancement, digital play is increasingly popular as digital games appeal to all ages but are particularly attractive to youths and children. It aims to develop a deeper understanding of digital play and explores how caregivers can guide young children in their play by developing a metalanguage for digital play based on social semiotic theory. From the metalanguage, a set of principles of using digital play for learning in the classroom context are discussed.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1555412020921339
CHILDREN'S DIGITAL MULTIMODAL COMPOSING: IMPLICATIONS FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING
Authors: Fei Victor Lim & Weimin Toh
Summary:
This paper examined the YouTube video productions of three children around the world and argued that children's digital multimodal composing practices demonstrated their creativity, critical thinking, and a semiotic awareness. From the case studies examined, the paper discussed how educators can respond to students' out-of-school literacy activities by integrating media platforms such as YouTube for learning in schools.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439884.2020.1823410
A PEDAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR DIGITAL MULTIMODAL COMPOSING IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
Authors: Wei Jhen Liang & Fei Victor Lim
Summary:
This paper argues for the need to develop a pedagogical framework to teach and support students' digital multimodal composing practices, such as video production, in the classroom. A lesson package was developed, comprising four lessons, which was implemented in a secondary school English Language classroom in Singapore. This paper highlights the importance of developing and using a pedagogical framework to guide students' development and demonstration of digital multimodal composing skills rather than assuming that students are intuitively capable of digital multimodal composing skills.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17501229.2020.1800709
FRONT LINERS FIGHTING FAKE NEWS: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON MOBILISING YOUNG PEOPLE AS MEDIA LITERACY ADVOCATES
Authors: Sun Sun Lim & Kai Ryn Tan
Summary:
This article provides a snapshot of selected government and corporate initiatives that rally young people as media literacy champions to combat fake news. It also delves into the genesis of a teen news instagram service - XS News @xsnews - and the motivations and experiences of its founders and production team. It unpacks why news produced by young people for young people has particular resonance and how content creation provides invaluable learning opportunities for young news producers.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17482798.2020.1827817
SEMIOTICS, MEMORY AND AUGMENTED REALITY: HISTORY EDUCATION WITH LEARNER-GENERATED AUGMENTATION
Authors: Kenneth Y. T. Lim & Ryan Lim
Summary:
The project reported in this paper aimed to broaden the application of AR in education, specifically to history education, by exploring the affordances of such technology in mediating student‐led learning activities, using an approach known as learner‐generated augmentation. Students used a free AR mobile application—Just a Line—to sketch out memory palaces of key information from a prose passage. This activity was trialled on student‐teachers who are majoring in History at the National Institute of Education, Singapore.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjet.12904
PLAY AND CREATIVITY IN YOUNG CHILDREN'S USE OF APPS
Authors: Jackie Marsh, Lydia Plowman, Dylan Yamada‐Rice, Julia Bishop, Jamal Lahmar, & Fiona Scott
Summary:
This study is the first to systematically investigate the extent to which apps for children aged 0–5 foster play and creativity. The study makes an original contribution to the field in that it offers an account of how apps contribute to the play and creativity of children aged five and under.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjet.12622
PUTTING EDUCATION IN "EDUCATIONAL" APPS: LESSONS FROM THE SCIENCE OF LEARNING
Authors: Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Jennifer M. Zosh, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, James H. Gray, Michael B. Robb, & Jordy Kaufman
Summary:
This article shows how the design and use of educational apps aligns with known processes of children’s learning and development and offer a framework that can be used by parents and designers alike. Apps designed to promote active, engaged, meaningful, and socially interactive learning—four “pillars” of learning—within the context of a supported learning goal are considered educational.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1529100615569721?journalCode=psia
RETHINKING TECHNOLOGY & CREATIVITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: EMPATHY THROUGH GAMING - PERSPECTIVE TAKING IN A COMPLEX WORLD
Authors: Liz Owens Boltz, Danah Henriksen, Punya Mishra & The Deep-Play Research Group
Summary:
Digital games are increasingly being recognized for their educational value, and their potential to provide immersive experiences that allow players to build empathy and inhabit perspectives different from their own.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11528-015-0895-1
IPAD ANIMATIONS: POWERFUL MULTIMODAL PRACTICES FOR ADOLESCENT LITERACY AND EMOTIONAL LANGUAGE
Authors: Kathy A. Mills & Len Unsworth
Summary:
In an age of mobile technologies, digital animation creation can be an important tool for teaching adolescents how to communicate emotions multimodally. This article draws on appraisal theory and original research to illustrate the power of digital animation for multimodal literacy learning.
ttps://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.717
THE SEMIOTIC ECOLOGY AND LINGUISTIC COMPLEXITY OF AN ONLINE GAME WORLD
Authors: Steven L. Thorne, Ingrid Fischer and Xiaofei Lu
Summary:
Multiplayer online games form complex semiotic ecologies that include game-generated texts, player-to-player communication and collaboration, and associated websites that support in-game play. This article describes an exploratory study of the massively multiplayer online game (MMO) World of Warcraft (WoW), with specific attention to its qualities as a setting for second language (L2) use and development.
LITERARY ANALYSIS USING MINECRAFT: AN ASIAN AMERICAN YOUTH CRAFTS HER LITERACY IDENTITY
Author: Rick Marlatt
Summary:
This article describes a recent teacher researcher's investigation of digitized literature study at a Midwestern U.S. high school during the 2015–2016 school year that explored the use of digital literacies to support student‐centered literary analysis. Digital literacy practices position literature students to connect with texts in authentic ways. https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jaal.747
"TO BE, OR NOT TO BE": MODERNIZING SHAKESPEARE WITH MULTIMODAL LEARNING STATIONS
Authors: Miles Harvey, Adrianna Deuel, & Rick Marlatt
Summary:
In an eighth‐grade English language arts class, 100 students used virtual reality headsets, augmented reality–capable smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, online scavenger hunts, and print‐based texts as an introduction to William Shakespeare's life and works. The authors highlight the need for educators to offer multimodal instruction that responds to literary appetites of adolescent readers.
https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jaal.1023