Some pointers on Edu-Tech apps for parents and educators
Education is one of the many fields that the internet helped democratize. With increasing mobile and internet penetration, a plethora of apps made by Edu-Tech firms have been finding increasing acceptance among Indian parents. It may be argued that there are two forces at play here. First, parents want to make use of any and all opportunities to give their child/children any form of competitive edge they can provide. Second, parents do not really want to their children to ‘miss out’ on this band wagon. (Some of what is happening now is very reminiscent of the rush caused by the abacus classes in the late 90s). The COVID 19 pandemic has only served to accelerate the adoption of the miracle apps.
Given that these apps are here to stay (at least for the time being), I thought it would be a good idea to check some of them out. My intention here to both satisfy my curiosity to find what kids these days are being subjected to and to explore possibilities of integrating some of these apps with one or more of the courses I teach. At the onset, it was clear to me that these apps tried to convert complex ideas into ‘bite’ sized chunks. Furthermore, they added a layer of gamification/quizzes help young learners follow the idea. When students get the answers correct, they get rewarded with some virtual point and move along to the next bite. They then move on to the next bite, and the next, and so on. Should they get an answer wrong, the user was urged to revisit the relevant material with some additional explanations and illustrations that sought to simplify the concept even further. The best among these apps cover an impressive array of topics that included basic mathematics, statistics, calculus, advanced computer algorithms and machine learning among others. As an educator myself, I was quickly wondering how they managed to create content about such wide-ranging ideas. Clearly, creating content of that magnitude was a task that no single individual could accomplish.
After a little bit of digging into the ‘about us’ pages on the websites of such apps, I discovered that some of these apps had as over fifty contributors, many with just undergraduate degrees. A degree that would not enable someone to teach in the schools and colleges of India (and most western countries). This may not be a problem if the quality of the content put out by some of these firms has been vetted. Upon a preliminary glance, that does not seem to be the case. There appear to be three key problems that I think are important to highlight.
First, no topic in the world can be boiled down to bite sized units without compromises. In the case of Edu-Tech apps, this compromise is the lack of perspective on the subject that is covered. I have to admit, many of the apps do try and link together various concepts through interactive means, but I truly think a classroom would have approached some of these topics in a much more comprehensive way. Let me offer a disclaimer here. None of the apps in the market today actually claim to be a substitute to a formal school education, however, the currently context has forced them to become close substitutes. Parents too assume that such apps (especially the pro version of the apps for which they pay a monthly or annual subscription fee) are beyond mistakes. With that having been said, the apps in the market today do not really do justice to the curriculum and are by no means a substitute to classroom teaching. In my view, regulation must catch up and explicitly inhibit app makers from promoting themselves as ‘comprehensive learning programs’. While being far from comprehensive in their approach, they are also not really learning programs. What they offer is a question bank (if you call it that). Period. True, some of the questions are really interesting, and now that I have had years of learning I can appreciate how some of these questions/illustrations do clarify the thinking progress, I do not think this alone would have helped me learn. Furthermore, if apps would like to make that claim, I think it is only fair that they too begin accepting regulatory oversight and other standard quality check methods.
Second, their approach is to get users to ‘win the game’, and not learn. Let me explain this in some detail using another example. One of the questions that was asked was “Which of these numbers is prime?”. The options provided were 4, 9, 13, and 15. I am certain that the answer to this question is as clear as sunlight for anyone reading this article. 13 is the answer. Because 13 has only 2 factors, 1, and itself. If there are more factors, the number becomes composite. However, the explanation to the answer makes use of the ‘elimination method’ rather than the logic we just discussed. i.e. the answer goes on to say 4, 9, and 15 have multiple factors, and therefore “ by using the process of elimination” is 13. I agree, such elimination techniques are of incredible use to us during exams, but when learning? I don’t really think so. More often than not, learning (especially math) involved putting pen to paper and solving. That however is not the case with most apps, and much has been left to be desired in this regard.
Third, many of these apps are ridden with inaccuracies, bugs, and other forms of errors. A Google search for reviews on each app would quickly take you to pages and pages of content discussing instances where inaccurate explanations to various concepts are explained in great detail. Furthermore, I feel the apps self-select easily solvable, watered down versions of the problems and grade students on that basis. In addition to giving students a false sense of understanding the concept, such explanations may require to be unlearned later on in life. Also, I personally had highlighted many inaccuracies in the explanations of certain apps while I tested them out to give my kids. The fact that these errors were silently patched with no acknowledgement whatsoever, highlights that such apps are very much a work in progress.
In summary, I think it is important for consumers of Edu-Tech apps to be cognizant of the fact that the apps are by no means a magic wand that would provide students with concept clarity. In many instances, the explanation the apps provided for the right answer was either under explained, poorly communicated, or outright wrong. Some explanations may also be outright tautological. Given that such apps continue to be a work in progress, there is no denying that through trial and error, they are inching towards perfection. My advice to parents and other educators here is two-fold. First, do not completely rely on such apps. Whenever using them, please offer students some much needed parental guidance. And therefore, when choosing an app, you may be better off picking up a more reputed provider who has had the time and energy to make mistakes and edit them out. It may also be a good idea to speak to your child’s class teacher for some insights into the matter. Second, educate the child. Explain to them that sometimes, even textbooks can be wrong and present factually incorrect information. This will help them blossom into critical individuals who question before they accept. And If that is not the point of education, I don’t know what is.
