A Pedagogical Approach Towards Curating Mobile Apps in an Educational Context

Abstract

Mobile apps vary in functionalities. The more apps are developed, the process of determining whether an app is effective in an educational environment can become next to impossible. The purpose of this chapter is to propose a curation rubric with a specific focus on evaluating mobile apps by utilizing three pedagogical frameworks as guidelines. Existing pedagogical frameworks for categorizing apps have been proposed by Allan Carrington based on Bloom's taxonomy for learning and the SAMR model by Puentedura. In this study the researchers are widening the lens by proposing the inclusion of the levels of instruction by Gagne as a third pedagogical framework as part of a curation rubric for mobile apps. The rational for adding the third framework is supported by the notion that technology should be regarded as “mindtools” which do not only focus on learning with technology, but also rely on effective facilitation and implementation thereof in an educational context.