31 new quality labels for outstanding learning apps awarded
To provide teachers and parents with a quick overview and assistance regarding innovative and pedagogically excellent learning apps the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) has created a quality label as part of its 8-point plan for digital education. Austria's education agency OeAD developed the certification procedure and implements it. The Foundation for Innovation in Education (ISB) is a partner and funding provider. 31 new apps have met the rigorously checked pedagogical criteria since 1 June 2023, increasing the number of certified learning apps to 66. The 31 new apps result from 114 evaluations. Feedback from 2,626 pupils was also taken into account. At www.guetesiegel-lernapps.at all certified learning apps are clearly presented with a lot of target group-specific information.
Call for submissions: new certification round starts
App developers and providers are invited to submit their learning apps between 1 and 30 September 2023 for the certification process 2023/2024. "Quality assurance is one of the keys for education in the classroom of the future. The quality label for digital mobile learning applications provides a proof of quality that helps teachers, pupils and parents to find their way around the learning apps on the market. They can rely on the fact that a standardised evaluation and certification process has been carried out," emphasises Jakob Calice, the OeAD’s managing director and chairman of the board of the Foundation for Innovation in Education.
Learning apps as digital tools for innovative teaching
A learning app is a digital tool that supports independent and interest-driven learning activities as well as learning in the context of school lessons. Pupils can work on, practise, deepen, repeat, structure or apply learning content independently of time and place and pursue their own areas of interest. Furthermore, learning apps must comply with the GDPR and may not contain advertising. What is new since June 2022 is that it is not only possible to submit store apps (available for iOS and Android in the respective stores) but also platform-independent, web-based applications. What they must not be, for example, is organisational apps (calendars, to-do lists), apps for designing the learning environment or reference books (collections of formulas, dictionaries). Learning apps for learners from secondary level (5th form) onwards can be submitted for the certification procedure.www.lernapps.oead.at.
Learning apps conference and awarding of certificates on 1 June 2023 in Vienna
The certificate award ceremony for this year's certified apps took place on 1 June 2023 at HLMW Michelbeuern. The certificates were presented by the group leader Martin Bauer on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), the head of the Foundation for Innovation in Education (ISB), Teresa Torzicky, and the head of the OeAD Reference Point for Quality Assurance in General and Vocational Education and Training, Franz Gramlinger. At the first learning apps conference at the University College of Teacher Education Vienna in May 2022 a total of 35 learning apps were awarded quality labels. All information about the two conferences is documented online at https://lernapps.oead.at/de/events.
About the certification procedure
All learning apps submitted in September will first be checked for whether or not they are suitable to be included in the procedure. To be admitted to the standardised evaluation and certification procedure a learning app must fulfil certain requirements. Evaluators are selected or specifically trained teachers from practice. They use the learning app with their pupils and evaluate the learning app on the basis of educational and didactic criteria, functionality and media design, learner orientation and the role of the teacher. Moreover, pupils will give feedback on the use of the learning app. This feedback will also be included in the overall evaluation as descriptive information. If an app passes the evaluation process, the certificate will be valid for two years, after which recertification is possible (as often as desired). In the current school year the apps certified in the pilot phase were successfully recertified for the first time.
Results
The development of the certification process for learning apps started in the autumn of 2020 with a mini test phase. The pilot phase started in the summer semester of 2021 with 60 evaluations and 13 certified learning apps. In the certification procedure 2021/22 102 evaluations were carried out, resulting in 25 certifications. The certification procedure 2022/23 resulted in a further 31 certified learning apps from 114 evaluations; 2,626 pupils provided feedback.
Community of evaluators
To ensure that the teachers who test the learning apps with their pupils are prepared for their task in an optimal way they will attend a course beforehand. The approximately 250 registered users in the Moodle course are also informed about current issues in the certification process. To strengthen the community they will also find a space for exchange there.https://lernapps.oead.at/de/evaluatorinnen
Scientific support
The learning apps team is supported by a scientific sounding board, a group of experts and practitioners from the fields of media education, learning with digital educational media and schools. The expertise of this sounding board has been and will be used for the development of the certification procedure, the review on a regular basis and the further development.