Apps are great in the classroom…mostly. While Apple has provided a huge variety of possible downloads specifically for teachers, students, and classrooms, not every app is right for every classroom. Figuring out which to use and which to reject can be tricky, especially if a teacher is new to using iPhones or iPads in their curriculum. So how can you determine whether you should download that app and give it your students? We’ve highlighted six questions below that can help you figure it out.

1. Does the App Contain Truly Educational Content? 

Naturally, this is the first question, and probably one many teachers already ask. Apps in the classroom should teach by providing information and allowing students to interact with it in a meaningful context. As a result, the first thing a teacher should check is the app’s content.

This includes checking it for accuracy as you don’t want your educational app to provide misinformation! However, this also includes making sure that the interactivity within certain apps makes sense. One great example of this are apps that are meant to mimic real-life procedures, such as dissection or owning a business. If the mimicry is overly simplified or inaccurate compared to the real procedure, then it may not be as educational about the process as the app claims.

2. Is the Content in the App Appropriate?

This question can be a little more difficult to answer, and requires the teacher to consider the app in light of their students and their curriculum. For example, I love the Geogebra app for high school math students, but would not recommend it for an elementary school teacher to give to their kids. Likewise, an app that gives news stories (such as DOGOnews or the NPR app) would be great for a social studies class, but not very useful in a computer science class.

Of course, this question can also mean making sure that the app holds with your school’s values. If you test an app and find content that may be morally inappropriate or not in line with your school’s culture, it is probably wise to steer clear that content, or of the app altogether if the offense is pervasive.

3. Does the App Work Well?

This can break down into two sub questions: whether the app is easy for your students to operate without a lot of trouble, and whether the app delivers content in a way that helps students. The easiest way to determine this is by downloading a copy of the app and testing it both by yourself, and with a student. Play through the functions of an app itself to make sure it lacks bugs or doesn’t crash performing a critical task. Then hand the device over to a student (perhaps as an extra-credit task, or a job for a TA) and have them attempt to perform a set of tasks within the app. When they’re done, ask them how easy it was for them to complete, and what they learned while performing these tasks. If they didn’t find the tasks too difficult to perform and learned what the app was intending to teach, you’ve found a useful app!

4. Can Your School Afford the App?

In many cases, this question won’t even be necessary to ask. A lot of fantastic educational apps are completely free and thus clearly within a school budget. However, there are many uniquely wonderful paid apps as well, and many of them provide services free apps cannot provide.

In this case, it’s a matter of crunching numbers, multiplying the cost of the app by the number of devices that would need it downloaded. Bringing this final toll to your principal or tech coordinator, along with a description of the benefits this app can bring to the classroom, can help your school determine whether the app is a good investment.

5. Which Devices Can Use the App?

While many apps are made specifically with one type of device in mind, even more are equally compatible with multiple types of Apple devices. This can be handy for teachers, especially if they either don’t have a classroom set of iPads or have a student population with ready access to their own technology. Choosing apps that students can use at home, as well as in the classroom, can help a student’s study skills and make your classroom more flexible. When I was teaching in a school, one of my favorite examples of this was a simple app known as iCell, which provides 3D simulations of plant and animal cells for study. Since the app was designed for the iPad but compatible with the iPhone, students who had a phone could continue studying the app at home, making it a useful study tool outside of the classroom.

6. How Can You Integrate this App into Your Curriculum?

While a well-constructed app can be a huge asset in the classroom, it’s important that a teacher think carefully about how to use the app before presenting it to the class. Even the best-constructed, most-educational app can be a hindrance or a distraction if the classroom is not prepared to handle it, or does not know how to integrate the use of the app into classroom procedures.

As a result, this question comes about AFTER you’ve decided the app should join your classroom. Once you’ve decided on an app, teachers should enter their curriculum and start planning where and how this app will be introduced to their students. Make sure to include some time to teach your students how to use the app, in order to prevent confusion! This tip also comes with a side note; introducing too many apps to a classroom at once can be overwhelming for both teachers and students, so pick a few that will be the most immediately useful to you both!

Many of these questions are best answered with in-depth testing on the part of the teacher. As a result, Teq’s best recommendation is this: If your school has a set of iPads, ask your principal to set one aside for your own use. Download any app that looks interesting, and test it extensively with these questions (and your classroom!) in mind.