The education industry is currently focusing firmly on the use of technology in facilitating learning in the K12 education sector. With this, popular traditional methods of teaching have undergone a sea change. The usual methods of imparting learning have been bolstered by newer, alternative approaches that make judicious use of the latest available technologies.

With the focus shifting from learning by rote, to making learning a fun, engaging and interactive experience, a number of companies have started successfully developing computer and mobile apps for education. These apps are meant to enhance the transmission of knowledge and aid in student-teacher-parent inter-communication. These make the overall learning process a much more interesting and immersive experience to facilitate better absorption and retention for K12 students. Here are some of the most important education apps meant for use in the K12 education sector –

1. Edmodo – Viewed as the next generation learning tool which will enable both teachers and students to stay connected and share information, Edmodo has been a sought after learning management solution for quite some time. Easy to use and accessible over the web and on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, this app is a platform where teachers can manage their classes, interact with students, set up lessons and perform student evaluation procedures. Setting up multiple classes, sharing documents and creating different kinds of project are easy for teachers, while students can access lessons and complete assignments online. Parents of students also have the option of monitoring their ward’s activity and performance.
2. ShowMe – Used extensively in the K12 education sector, ShowMe is a free app which allows teachers to create dynamic, enthralling presentations for students. With tablet versions and web-based access available, ShowMe does not just allow teachers to create presentation. It also maintains an exhaustive range of free presentation in their database which teachers can access and use.
3. Notability – A popular note-taking app that has found favor among teachers and students for its excellent potential in the education sector. The workflow makes it easy for teachers and students to coordinate, retrieve important class notes, make annotations and share with peers. Integration with popular web-based storage services make things easy, as teachers can create shared folders for class notes for every student in a particular class.
4. Grammar Up – Grammar is one of the most important subjects that student in the K12 sectors need to master. Grammar Up provides students with detailed and comprehensive multiple-choice question sets, with instant evaluation and a system of tracking student performance and progress. The tests are customizable in a variety of ways.
5. Yuzu- With this app, students can have access to a large number of high-quality and interesting textbooks available in various online formats. The vast amount of digital education content will be of great help to any student, and the in-built feature of being able to highlight, annotate and segregate portions of the e-text make the learning process intuitive and focused. This app can be a great replacement for physical textbooks in the K12 education sector.

See any of these apps on your or your family member’s smartphones? Write in to us and let us know.

In the K12 education sector, the focus for quite a while now, has been on learning in an enhanced, intuitive manner which helps with understanding and retention of a particular subject. For learners, it is important to grasp the essence of a topic, go in-depth with its understanding of the subjects and develop good retention, association and recall about those subjects. Creating exciting and interesting courses is now of paramount importance, and that is where gamified learning comes in. The K12 education sector is thought of by many as the most vital and significant period of learning phase for an individual and therefore, for this sector, gamified learning presents an opportunity to deliver education which remains relevant over the years and makes a difference in terms of enhanced engagement when imparting education.

Why Gamified Learning Works

Playing games is always a rewarding activity. In any scenario where a game-like situation is involved, there is the prospect of a challenge and a consequent reward when that challenge is surmounted. It has been found by researchers that this activity stimulates the body and mind and releases the endorphin hormone. Endorphins are essentially neurotransmitters and they make the mind more receptive and ready to accept, analyze and retain information of different kinds. Gamified learning makes use of this stimulus-response and makes learning a fun, engaging and immensely fulfilling experience for those in the K12 sector.

The Many Benefits of Gamified Learning

Gamified learning can be judiciously used to improve the quality of education imparted at the K12 level. It has a number of important benefits that make it one of the best routes to take while devising courses, curriculum and teaching methods. Here are a few important and resounding benefits –

• More Engagement for Learners – Gamified is essentially an “experience-based” learning process which has the power to fully engage and hold the attention of learners. It inspires a positive and conducive frame of mind about the learning process, and by forming the important association of particular pieces knowledge to particular rewarding or fulfilling experiences, enhances absorption and long-term memory.
• Fun and Interactive Learning – The interactive element present in gamified learning ensures that learners feel involved at all times. It brings the participation element to the table and ensures that learners become more invested towards the learning process. The immersive experience also makes things fun and exciting for learners.
• Better Absorption and Retention – By blending the release of endorphins with alternative, interesting ways of presenting information, gamified learning servers to dramatically enhance knowledge absorption and knowledge retention among learners. Not only do learners learn quicker and better, they are also able to easily retain and recall relevant knowledge when they need it later.
• Simulation-based Experience – In gamified learning applications, the environment is usually one of simulation where rewards come consistent with the performance. Better performances bring more rewards, and this inspires learners to try harder and put in more focused effort.
• A Better Learning Experience Overall – For the K12 sector, it is important that the knowledge imparted makes a lasting difference. With gamified learning, the whole learning experience receives a facelift. Learners can take advantage of the experience and situation-based learning to develop themselves better.

Mobility In Education

Miracles are rare these days. One miracle we keep wondering about is how mobile apps have transformed education.

Let us explain how!

On one hand you have the app, geeky, cool, and students just love them. On the other hand you have exams, study and lots of learning; things that students are not so fond of. However, when we combine the two, students become more open to the idea of learning.

The profound influence of mobile in our lives today is no news. It has permeated almost all spheres of our lives – allowing us to be better, faster and save time and money. It is no different for the education sector. Its far reaching impact can already be felt as mobile prepares for the third wave of revolution – the Internet of Things.

The Education Industry Today

For the education sector, mobiles and smartphones provide a better and more engaging way of imparting education. Newer avenues of teaching and learning are opening up through mobile apps, which in turn is tremendously enhancing education like never before. Countries like US are already leveraging the power of the mobile app, be it changing the traditional way of ’going to school’ or doing away with ‘bringing books’ (thanks to iPad). Technology the world over has become a significant disruptive force for the education segment. The impact of mobile apps on education industry has been deep. We are seeing live examples in today’s world of how education industry is being revolutionized by some fabulous innovations in mobile apps catering specifically this industry.

How mobile apps can contribute effectively

Within the classroom or outside it, using mobile apps helps accomplish a higher degree of precision and efficiency, while making it a fun way of learning or teaching. Making a case for increased penetration of mobile apps into classroom and for virtual learning, we look at some of the key benefits mobile apps have had on the education industry.

1. Range of options – Right from Duolingo for learning languages, Google Earth for geography or even entire course programs on iTunes U,  the sheer variety of options available for learner right on his/ her smartphone or tablet is mind boggling.
2. Ease of access of knowledge/ administrative resources – Learning Management Systems and e-learning apps concentrate on providing a visually lasting way of designing educational courses.
3. Learning without boundaries – Be it any or program, there are quite a few apps that have really made it possible for a smartphone user to do any course at any speed at any time. An example is GoodWorkLab’s very own Funzi app, that helps you gain knowledge the fun, easy and convenient way
4. Enable collaboration between students, teachers and parents – Innovative apps like ‘Attendance’ and ‘TeacherKit’ helps teachers keep track of various aspects like performance assessment, grade records or attendance. Apps like Dropbox and Evernote help in seamless collaboration between teachers, students and parents.
5. Improve engagement of student – Science 360 helps students to learn from audio-visual medium and thus keep a long lasting memory of all types of sciences. Watching videos and listening to audio files helps student to retain a science concept better than textbooks. Another example is the use of eClicker by teachers for polls or real-time feedback from clients.

If education systems need to break out of the traditional yet inefficient mold of dispensing education, they need to collaborate with organizations in the M2M ecosystem, ICT development specialists and government, to bring about a radical change in the way students learn and teachers teach. Mobile apps need to emerge as a critical part of the education system if students need to learn effectively in this age of innovative technology.

Case Study

The Curious Case Of Duolingo.

There are a lot of anecdotal and marketing claims about the effectiveness of different language learning methods through mobile apps, but there is usually little scientific evidence to back the claims. Duolingo as an app change all the norms by introducing free language learning to everyone.

Some interesting points that were observed by the users of Duolingo explains why it works as a source of education:

1. On average, it takes 34 hours of Duolingo to learn the equivalent of one semester of college. An actual semester course generally takes a lot more than 34 hours of work . On an average, the expectation is that a semester course takes 9 hours per week for 14 weeks.

2. It is gamified in a way that has been found very efficient and addictive. You get “sublevels” (lessons), “worlds” (units), trophies (when you finish a unit), points, player levels  Plus you are allowed to compare yourself to your friends on the leader board. Unlike some gamified apps which literally try to imitate game tropes, Duolingo does it in a way that is barely noticeable.

3. It is fun, you get sucked into using it then start to get curious about the next level, try to level up, try to finish an exercise perfectly, etc. I actually find myself procrastinating from other things I should be doing by firing up Duolingo. It is smart, it can detect areas where you are weak and give you extra content in those areas. The lessons adjust along with you.

Mobile Applications make learning more fun by the concept of gamification. A perfectly built app can make education much more fun for the students, as the success of Duolingo has suggested. Times have changed and combining technology with teaching methods is the way forward for the education industry.

GoodWorkLabs has adapted gamification over the years and applied its profound knowledge to educators such as Sesame Street and EkStep. We understand the role of mobile apps in imparting quality education. We know how to make it more fun as we enjoy building these innovative apps ourselves.

You can join hands with us for am educative mobile app and take this booming trend forward.

Get in touch with us today!

Last week (https://goodworklabs.com/avoid-cross-platform-app-design-mistakes-by-knowing-more-about-these-distinct-android-elements-part-1/) we had an interesting look at how the spurt in demand for Android operating system has spawned a whole new generation of developers seeking to gain expertise in this challenging yet captivating domain. We continued by looking at how developers tend to re-use iOS app design elements in Android app design and how the common design element unique to Android need to be considered in order to provide an enriching user experience to Android app users.

Some of the common design elements that are found only in Android ecosystem and not in the same form in iOS will include

1. Distinct back navigation
2. Spinner choice selection element
3. Tab navigation
4. Flexibility in screen size

While we covered point1 in our earlier blog (https://goodworklabs.com/avoid-cross-platform-app-design-mistakes-by-knowing-more-about-these-distinct-android-elements-part-1/), we will now continue with other Android-specific design elements that developers need to be careful while porting iOS design elements to Android –

2. Spinners – In Android, selection out of multiple options is enabled by the spinner element. They are extremely easy and versatile to use, and can be used across a multitude of functionalities within an app. One common usage is for data selection in form. For instance if you’re looking to fill up ‘State’ information is US, you might be presented with a spinner that reads a list starting from ‘Alabama’ and ending with ‘Wyoming’. Of these states, you can select one that pertains to your details. In iOS, this is taken care of by iOS action sheet. An example is the calendar that shows different design for Android and iOS.

3. Tab navigation – The key difference between iOS and Android in tab navigation is the placement. While iOS recommends placing it at the bottom of the page, Android suggests keeping the tabs at the top. Remember the different tabs that come up in Google Play Store – ‘Top Free’, Top Paid’ or ‘Featured’? These are the tabs placed on top in Android that allows relevant navigation.

4. Screen size – Since iOS develops apps only for Apple devices, the screen sizes are pretty much standardized (though the advent of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, change just change all that in Apple). Thus, when using iOS elements, developers need to ensure that they also work on a mind-boggling variety of Android device screen sizes – from 3.5 inch to 7 inch. This huge fragmentation of screen size and device capability brings is own set of design challenges. Android developers need to ensure that their designs are fluid and supple to suit all screen sizes on Android.

Our take on this – Of course development costs do matter, but it should never be at the expense of UI/UX needs of the Android user. When it comes to deriving top class user experience, it is not an option but rather a necessity. Android itself has a great user experience to offer, and extracting the maximum from these unique Android-only elements/functionalities is a good way to enable this. Let us know if you know of any other element that is singularly unique to Android and which needs to be altered specifically if taken from iOS environment.

As of Q3 2013, Android commanded a staggering 81.3% of global smartphone shipments¹. With such a huge market, it is certainly a rewarding career opportunity as an Android app developer. An Android app development company has a challenging task of keeping up with industry evolutions and shifts in customer preferences.

Also, iOS and Android together commanding a mind-boggling 94.7% of market share in Q3 2013¹ in terms of operating systems. Considering this fact, it is no surprise that companies will look to port their existing Android app development proficiencies in making iOS app too or other way round. Many developers tend to begin their app development project by assuming that they will devise an app for iOS too concurrently. While this does work to some extent in bringing down development costs, what if the expenses of cross platform app design mistakes is higher than the benefits provided?

This is precisely what we witness when we try to do too many things at one time. It is a common pitfall to try using a previously designed iOS and simply trying to tweak the iOS experience to suit the Android ecosystem. Though there are similarities in navigation or basic elements of UI, the actual modality in achieving native UI/UX experience is what convinces us to treat Android as a separate development project altogether.

Our take on this – If we know the common mistakes that occur by using iOS designs for Android, and take care to avoid/repeat the same, we can still achieve a distinct look for both iOS and Android app by using most of the elements/components from one platform to another. Today, in this first part of a 2-part blog, we look at some such unique elements in Android that is completely different from iOS and should be accounted for specifically, when porting iOS elements.

1. Back navigation – The iOS comes with its unique and quite visible ‘back’ button. It usually appears on top left corner when user navigates one level above. The rectangular box with left side in form of an arrow shows the name of the ‘one-level-below’ folder as label. Tapping on this takes the user to the previous page or to the earlier level. In Android the same effect is achieved by a curved ‘back’ arrow usually appearing on the bottom left corner. In addition it also has a similar top left placed ‘up’ button on action bar where the main app icon is located. So what do these buttons do exactly?

The ‘back’ bottom button navigates to previous screens and continues doing so till it reaches the Android home screen, even it means traversing across multiple apps in the process. In the ‘up’ arrow however, it will go back one level only till the time it reaches the main view / first view of the app.

Next up in the 2^nd and concluding part, we continue with some more Android-specific elements that need to be looked into when executing cross-platform app design to achieve a fabulous native Android app experience.

1 – http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2013/10/31/strategy-analytics-android-smartphone-shipments-81-3-q3-2013-ios-13-4-windows-phone-4-1/