Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Site Allows Teachers to Review Apps

Common Sense Media has developed Graphite, a free platform that collects and rates educational apps, games, and web sites. The site provides a way to sort through the thousands of educational apps being created each year with reviews from K-12 educators based on engagement, pedagogy, and support. Reviews also include information on how well the apps work in their classrooms.

An important additional feature is that instructors can make suggestions for improvements. While many apps encourage memorization, Graphite reviews should help developers gain a better understanding of what teachers need.

“Whether it’s a local school group of teachers or a large-scale platform like Graphite, educators are looking to find the best apps as quickly as possible,” wrote Tanya Roscorla, of the Center for Digital Education, in a blog post for teacherswithapps.com. “And when teachers uncover quality apps that engage students, they’ll help solve today’s problems of too many gems being buried in the dirt.”