In a whole lot of ways, we’re living in a golden age for learning.  The web has made an incredible amount of knowledge and information available to us for free at the touch of a button.

That many of us fail to tap into this veritable treasure trove is a regular source of frustration, whether for managers hoping to develop their team or parents hoping to educate their children.

A part of the problem is the sheer volume of content, with information overload a considerable issue.  It’s estimated that there are over 80,000 apps that are tagged as educational in some way, for instance, with many of these aimed squarely at children.

Of course, not all are particularly educational, with many little more than mind candy.

“Many apps marketed as ‘educational’ are basically the equivalent of sugary foods,” says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek of Temple University, co-author on a new report investigating educational apps. “At best, most of these apps will do no harm; at worst, they add even more distraction to children’s deeply distracting lives.”

The report explores how we can get better at selecting the best content.  It reviewed the latest research into the science of learning, before identifying the kind of features that should prompt us to avoid an app, including:

• an excessive reliance upon passive activities, such as swiping
• a heavy usage of distracting bells and whistles rather than allowing the learner to focus on the task at hand
• the presentation of knowledge in a vacuum rather than helping the user make connections between new and existing knowledge
• the absence of any human element.  The app needs to encourage social interaction with others
• the provision of too rigid a style of learning.  They shouldn’t be telling the learner what they need to know, but rather helping to guide the exploration the learner embarks on

“We want parents to know that claims about educational content are completely unregulated, any app developer can slap the ‘educational’ label on their product,” the researchers say. “Using scientific research as a guide, we can help parents begin to evaluate the morass of stuff that exists in the app store.”

All of which places the burden for discovering this onto the user themselves.  Hopefully guides such as this one will help the user to achieve that successfully, especially as apps can appear educational on the surface, but actually offer little of real value.

This is typified by the use of so called enhancements, whether they’re games, sounds or hot spots that are great at grabbing our attention but offer little of real value.

“While these ‘bells and whistles’ might be fun, research suggests that these kinds of distractions actually take away from, rather than enhance, learning,” the authors explain.

With app usage on the rise, it is nonetheless important to ensure that this usage is of an effective kind and has tangible educational benefits.

As with most things in life, if something seems too good to be true, it often is.  I kind of feel the same may be the case with this paper.  The intentions are excellent, but at over 30 pages, I wonder how many parents will take the time to read through it.

If you’d like to have a go, you can do so here.