Why this app? How user ratings and app store rankings impact educators' selection of educational apps

IF 8.9 1区教育学 Q1 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS

Computers & Education Pub Date : 2024-05-20 DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2024.105080

Emma Liptrot, Heather Ann Pearson, Armaghan Montazami, Adam Kenneth Dubé

{"title":"Why this app? How user ratings and app store rankings impact educators' selection of educational apps","authors":"Emma Liptrot, Heather Ann Pearson, Armaghan Montazami, Adam Kenneth Dubé","doi":"10.1016/j.compedu.2024.105080","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Research indicates that educators value certain benchmarks of educational quality when choosing educational apps from app stores (i.e., curriculum, feedback, scaffolding, learning theory, and development team). However, it is unclear how other users' ratings of the app, or the app's ranking on the app store's list of “top” educational apps, might impact educators' evaluations. The present study examines how educational benchmarks, ratings, and rankings influence educators' selection of educational apps. One-hundred and fifty elementary educators viewed 18 researcher-created educational app pages and indicated their willingness to download, pay for, and rate each app. Results from a repeated-measures MANOVA and non-parametric tests revealed that educators preferred benchmark apps to buzzword apps, with a medium sized effect. However, they also had a strong preference for apps with positive user ratings, with a large effect, and preferred apps with a bottom ranking, with a medium effect. To improve app selection, educators should rely on their own knowledge to choose apps rather than relying on user ratings or company rankings. Companies running app stores should improve their user ratings and rankings systems to facilitate selection of apps that include evidence-backed benchmarks of app quality.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10568,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Education","volume":"218 ","pages":"Article 105080"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131524000940/pdfft?md5=f9c68f062d00ce40ccc37aeb972c2b1d&pid=1-s2.0-S0360131524000940-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Computers & Education","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131524000940","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Research indicates that educators value certain benchmarks of educational quality when choosing educational apps from app stores (i.e., curriculum, feedback, scaffolding, learning theory, and development team). However, it is unclear how other users' ratings of the app, or the app's ranking on the app store's list of “top” educational apps, might impact educators' evaluations. The present study examines how educational benchmarks, ratings, and rankings influence educators' selection of educational apps. One-hundred and fifty elementary educators viewed 18 researcher-created educational app pages and indicated their willingness to download, pay for, and rate each app. Results from a repeated-measures MANOVA and non-parametric tests revealed that educators preferred benchmark apps to buzzword apps, with a medium sized effect. However, they also had a strong preference for apps with positive user ratings, with a large effect, and preferred apps with a bottom ranking, with a medium effect. To improve app selection, educators should rely on their own knowledge to choose apps rather than relying on user ratings or company rankings. Companies running app stores should improve their user ratings and rankings systems to facilitate selection of apps that include evidence-backed benchmarks of app quality.

查看原文本刊更多论文

为什么选择这款应用程序？用户评分和应用商店排名如何影响教育工作者对教育应用的选择

研究表明，教育工作者在应用商店选择教育应用程序时，会重视某些教育质量基准（即课程、反馈、支架、学习理论和开发团队）。然而，目前还不清楚其他用户对应用程序的评价或应用程序在应用程序商店 "顶级 "教育应用程序列表中的排名会如何影响教育工作者的评价。本研究探讨了教育基准、评分和排名如何影响教育工作者对教育应用程序的选择。150 名小学教育工作者浏览了 18 个由研究人员创建的教育应用程序页面，并表示愿意下载、付费和评价每个应用程序。重复测量 MANOVA 和非参数检验的结果显示，教育工作者更喜欢基准应用程序，而不是拗口的应用程序，效果中等。不过，他们也非常偏爱用户评价积极的应用程序，影响较大，而偏爱排名垫底的应用程序，影响中等。为了改进应用程序的选择，教育工作者应该依靠自己的知识来选择应用程序，而不是依赖用户评价或公司排名。运营应用程序商店的公司应改进其用户评级和排名系统，以便于选择包含有证据支持的应用程序质量基准的应用程序。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Computers & Education 工程技术-计算机：跨学科应用

CiteScore

27.10

自引率

5.80%

发文量

204

审稿时长

42 days

期刊介绍： Computers & Education seeks to advance understanding of how digital technology can improve education by publishing high-quality research that expands both theory and practice. The journal welcomes research papers exploring the pedagogical applications of digital technology, with a focus broad enough to appeal to the wider education community.