Friday 9 September 2011

iOSDev UK: Design Considerations for Educational Apps

Fraser Speirs, Head of Computing & IT, Cedars School of Excellence, @fraserspeirs

http://speirs.org

  • last year gave every child an iPad
    • only 100 pupils
    • had 220 people come to visit the school…
  • when you give people the internet the whole time, you sometimes get unexpected results
    • Fraser showed a slide of coursework on cell nuclei, decorated with a background showing the Statue of Darth Liberty
  • sitting around iPads — everybody faces each other rather than all facing the screen at the front
  • avoiding the ceremonial computer lab — moving to casual computing
  • beautiful artwork created by kids on iPads, within a month of receiving them
  • it’s not just the iPads, it’s the 1:1 — the 1:1 is more important
  • Fraser’s daughter is 4.5 — just started school
    • will graduate from university in Summer 2029
    • “we are already teaching the citizens of the 22nd century”
  • looking at investment as kids’ chairs & tables
    • not as a guarantee that scores will go up

Do’s and Don’ts for apps in schools

  • don’t assume the internet works correctly
    • schools change what internet is available through frequent policy changes
    • youtube is often turned off
  • teaching fashions come and go regularly
  • in-app purchase doesn’t work in schools
    • central purchasing or gifting
    • e.g. PCalc has a full version that can be purchased at once
  • don’t assume your users can (will) read
    • use conventions wisely (keep the back button in top left corner)
  • use push notifications sparingly
    • no good advertising to kids in school — they don’t have the app store password anyway
  • watch out for number of devices nearby
    • could be 20-30 devices around
    • infrastructure may cope, but leave room in your UI
  • limit or prevent app store interactions
    • no good in schools
    • confuses kids; annoying for teachers
    • that goes for “review me now” too
  • teachers need access to content
    • support the photos app
  • don’t promote facebook
    • facebook can be a major source of anxiety for many children
  • watch out for shaking gestures — not good for
  • don’t use bad language (and try to avoid double-entendres and local slang too). Some examples:
  • be very careful with user data — especially with location
  • talk to teachers and test with actual children
    • Fraser’s school does not have the scale to be a beta tester…
  • watch out for different curricula in different countries
  • walk through guide in the app
  • kids can use loads of apps to edit graphics, passing the image through the photos app
  • use sharing effectively
    • use “Open In…”
    • avoid huge sharing option lists
  • show proof of completion
  • avoid (penalise) random hits
  • structure + headroom = creativity
    • app idea: make toontastic for creative writing
  • show user activity
    • e.g. Brushes lets you record all your strokes and play them back as a quicktime video
  • localisation is useful even if your app is UK-specific
    • e.g. Iraqi boy with a 1:1 iPod touch switched it to Farsi and used Google Image Search to show pictures of what he wanted to the teacher
  • support projectors & AirPlay
    • don’t offer resolutions for external display — just pick one and do it well
  • there is a control to turn off Game Center at a policy level
    • so go ahead and put it in the app but make the rest of the app work without it
  • gap in the middle for 7-10 year olds
    • need more apps like toontastic — structure provided, but space for creation
    • older kids can use general content apps
    • younger kids don’t need so much freedom
    • using iThoughts HD for mindmap, then writing in Pages

example apps

Q&A

  • research?
    • study with university of western scotland
    • two lessons back to back: one with iPad, one with paper & pencil
    • same teacher, same children
    • with paper & pencil, boys and some girls had less emotional engagement
    • with iPad emotional engagement of all pupils was brought up to same level as best kids
    • being submitted to BJET, but may not be published yet
  • separate educational version of an app?
    • kids want the real thing
    • universal design is best
    • Fraser tries to buy things off the shelf rather than waiting for educational specific versions
  • damages?
    • only had one — parent ran it over with Land Cruiser!
    • kids are careful — the iPad has their name on it
  • teachers adapting to technology?
    • about half of the teachers had iPhones/iPod Touches before the programme started
    • the iPad is significantly more approachable than other computers
  • how do you find apps?
    • school subscribes to Tap! magazine…
    • more popular than the TES :-)

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