Choosing and disusing educational technology: Examining parents’ decision making about math and literacy apps for their young children

Abstract

Many parents are interested in using educational apps for their young children. Evidence indicates that well designed apps can promote children’s literacy and math skills.  However, many commercially available apps are poorly designed.  This highlights the importance of understanding how parents decide which educational apps they make available for their child and also why they may disuse them.  Sixty-five Canadian parents (58 mothers) completed a survey assessing literacy and math knowledge, and decisions about literacy and math apps. Parents’ naturally self-generated features for app selection yielded similarities e.g., (ease of use, age appropriateness) and differences (e.g., advertisements, games) to rubrics typically generated by researchers.  Highly endorsed features were similar across app types.   App quality and potential for independent use were key reasons for disuse. Parental knowledge of foundational literacy and math concepts such as phonological awareness and cardinality was low, which could pose a challenge for their assessments of apps.