Dr. Peggy Lisenbee

Assistant Professor

of Urban

Education/Literacy

The University of

Tulsa

Who are we?

Former First Grade Teacher, now university

professor researching struggling readers at a

nearby elementary school

You?

Literature Review on Use of

Technology For Literacy

• Technology changes the way literacy can be taught in classrooms.

• Tablets, typically iPads, offer students access to software

applications, or “apps”.

• These apps offer interaction and engagement with technology in

appealing methods.

• Research has shown tablets and apps have the potential to

motivate, engage or encourage students to interact with

content and/or other peers to practice literacy skills beyond

teacher-led instruction in the classroom.

• Students interact within apps using the unique capabilities of a tablet’s touch screen

• Pinching, stretching and/or double tapping

• Quality literacy apps scaffold students’ understanding of literacy skills by offering immediate and corrective feedback in order to improve their literacy skills during independent practice.

• Skill and drill apps don’t provide feedback to students as they practice literacy skills which reinforces misunderstanding of literacy skills by students.

• It is vital teachers are able to quickly and easily identify quality literacy apps to offer effective independent literacy practice on a tablet.

• Ever increasing number of literacy apps available present a challenge for teachers to remain current on the most effective apps which extend literacy skill practice in the classroom.

• Changes in technology in education and society in the 21st Century

have been vast.

• IPads

• Exponential proliferation of types of tablets and availability of

apps.

The Secretary’s Conference on Educational Technology (2000),

National Reading Panel Report (2000), International Literacy

Association (2009) and International Society for Technology in

Education (2008):

Support the use of technology integrated into curriculum to

provide best practices for literacy learning in classrooms to

empower 21st Century Learners.

Apps identified and evaluated by teachers for targeted literacy

practice by students create rich and varied learning

environments in classrooms.

How do teachers evaluate quality, educational apps?

What criteria are used to identify quality apps?

Evaluate apps using three elements to determine quality:

(1) pedagogical elements of best practice

(2) effective app design features

(3) specific, literacy skills practiced in each literacy app

Literacy Apps Research

ISTE Teacher Standards Digital-Age Learning Experiences & Assessment—

This research focused on a design for teachers to enhance learning experiences in their classrooms. A rubric was created for teachers to use to identify and evaluate quality FREE literacy apps for students to use for supplemental literacy practice in order to promote student learning.

Digital Citizenship & Responsibility—

This research created a rubric for teachers to offer differentiation based on students’ needs in the classroom. The rubric addresses the needs of individual learners’ literacy needs using only FREE literacy apps so it provides equitable access, at school & home, for all students.

Professional Citizenship & Responsibility—

This research is focused on contributing to the effectiveness of the teaching profession. I hope to continue sharing my rubric with teachers who will help me refine it so they can use it to create a listing of apps. This listing would be shared among grade level teams and on school websites to promote the use of quality apps at school and in the homes of students.

Methodology A systematic content analysis of literacy apps available in the iTunes App Store was conducted.

First, the Education category was searched using the term, “Free”.

Second, the identified free apps were searched further using the terms “Phonics” and “Phonemic Awareness.”

Finally, interaction within each of the identified apps was conducted to determine the literacy skills available for practice and any other features which might distract students from practicing the literacy skills identified in each app.

Several free apps were only free for a “trial period.” Yet, the trial period didn’t provide enough repetition of the literacy skill before being required to complete an in-app purchase to continue practicing the literacy skill. These apps were excluded from further content analysis.

Free apps with trial periods and in-app purchases were included in content analysis if the literacy practice provided before being required to purchase an app seemed significantly focused on practicing the literacy skill.

Systematic Review

(1) pedagogical elements of best practice

Effective pedagogical practice provide scaffolding for students’ understanding of literacy skills by offering immediate and corrective feedback in order to improve their literacy skills during independent practice.

Literacy skill(s) effectively reinforced

Literacy skills practiced in an authentic, engaging manner

Specific feedback is provided allowing students to respond again, if incorrect

Complete autonomy to interact within content

Adaptations are easily made for student needs

Students are able to successfully complete activity independently (launch and navigate app)

(2) effective app design features

Tablets and literacy apps offer the potential for sustaining student interest when apps are designed with several factors, namely, developmentally appropriate content, fun activities, incentives, clearly defined goals, and abbreviated wait times (Smith, 2012). Features of app design offer a framework for selecting and evaluating quality literacy apps to support effective learning processes (Neumann and Neumann, 2014, p. 234?). These nine app features are recommended as a framework for identifying quality apps (Neumann and Neumann, 2014):

1. App is clearly aligned with developmentally appropriate curriculum targeting literacy skills at appropriate intervals.

2. App uses interactivity to engage the senses.

3. App uses background knowledge to scaffold students as they work through the app.

4. App provides opportunities to problem solve, use higher order questioning and supports creativity.

5. App uses print and meaning making to support students constructing knowledge of contexts when reading.

6. App clearly explains tasks to complete.

7. App offers peer collaboration opportunities.

8. App offers feedback immediately so students don’t proceed with incorrect information and can revisit content to confirm, clarify and construct accurate knowledge.

9. App utilizes scaffolding to encourage student-centered interaction instead of rote memorization of answers.

(3) specific, literacy skills practiced in

each literacy app

In reviewing literacy skill continuums available for teachers to organize developmentally appropriate literacy instruction, several phonological awareness skills continuums were found.

I merged the phonemic awareness guidelines suggested by the National Reading Panel Report (2000) with the Phonics Developmental Continuum (Literacy First, n.d.) to create a literacy skills checklist to embed in PAPER.

PAPER

The Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Evaluation Rubric, PAPER, was developed as a method for teachers to select and rate literacy apps for use in their classrooms when assigning supplemental literacy skill practice based on individual student needs.

The list of literacy skills embedded in PAPER is in the form of a checklist offers teachers an opportunity to identify which literacy skill(s) students can practice when they evaluate the quality of each app.

The six criteria teacher will use to evaluate quality apps from this alignment and merging of app design features and pedagogical practices using PAPER are: Literacy Skills, Engaging, Immediate Feedback, Flexibility & Adaptations, Independence with Technology and Distractions from Literacy Focus.

The apps are evaluated using the four point Likert scale embedded in PAPER offering a range of scores from 6-24.

Using Neumann & Neumann’s app design features and combining them with pedagogical best practices, they provided a framework for identifying and evaluating quality literacy apps.

Literacy Skills—Phonemic awareness and/or phonics skills offered for practice in apps are listed as specific skills so literacy practice can be selected based on student need. The phonemic awareness and phonics skills listed are requisite for becoming a fluent reader.

Engaging—Literacy skills practiced in apps are offered in an authentic manner for the context of the learning environment in each app. Tasks are appropriate for the learning environment and are able to keep students engaged in practicing the literacy skills.

Immediate Feedback—Feedback provided in apps is specific enough for students to confirm their understanding of the literacy skill(s) or respond again before moving on in order to correct any mistake in their understanding of the literacy skill(s).

Flexibility and Adaptations—Students interact within apps by making their own choices to discover literacy skills instead being forced to use prescribed options. An option for collaborating with peers is customizable in the settings of apps to provide adaptations needed for individual students.

Independence with Technology—Students launch and navigate through apps independently without assistance or frustration.

Remained Focused on Literacy—Students remain focused on practicing literacy skill(s). They did not have to avoid multiple ads/links requesting them to consider upgrading to a more complete version of the game.

PAPER

PAPER

PAPER

These 10 PA apps were evaluated by PAPER to

determine the quality of each app based on app

design features and pedagogical best practices

while using a checklist to identify specific literacy

skills offered for practice in each app.

10 Free Phonemic Awareness (PA) apps

These 10 phonics apps were evaluated by PAPER

to determine the quality of each app based on app

design features and pedagogical best practices

while using a checklist to identify specific literacy

skills offered for practice in each app.

10 Free Phonics apps

PAPER—Exemplary Score for PA Skills Practice

PAPER—Excellent Score for PA Skills Practice

PAPER—Adequate Score for PA Skills Practice

Let’s Play a PA App Together!

PAPER—Exemplary Score for Phonics Skills Practice

PAPER—Excellent Score for Phonics Skills Practice

PAPER—Adequate Score for Phonics Skills Practice

Let’s Play a Phonics App Together!

10 Literacy Apps evaluated by PAPER

with Exemplary or Excellent scores

The one exemplary phonemic awareness apps was Hear 2 Read Lite.

Sky Fish, Phonics Island, Build A Word Express and Phonics Awareness were the phonics apps evaluated as exemplary.

Prof Phonics, ABC Magic 1, Rhyming Bee and Letter Sounds apps were evaluated as excellent phonemic awareness apps.

The one phonics app evaluated as excellent was Tic Tac Toe.

Implications for Teachers

Evaluating quality apps offers teachers a method to extend individuated practice for reading skill needs related to phonemic awareness and phonics.

Use of iPads in the classroom offers students a chance to successfully practice phonemic awareness and phonics skills without being seen by their peers as a struggling reader.

PAPER offers the ability to collaborate with other teachers, as a grade level team and as an entire school, to share a listing of FREE apps with the parents of the students.

I am looking for teachers interested in collaborating with me to identify and evaluate FREE literacy apps. I plan to create an online space where we can work together to evaluate and post scores from PAPER to create a master list of FREE literacy apps aligned to specific literacy skills.

QUESTIONS?

THOUGHTS?

COMMENTS?