Looking for Teacher Approved apps for your children? Wish you could align Google Play store apps to a teacher-approved checklist? The Google Play store has made them easier to find. In this blog entry, we’ll peek at what you will find in their new section.
Did You Know?
TCEA provides you with a list of student-friendly apps online. Be sure to check out the Must Have List of Android Apps. TCEA helps educators find the best apps for their students and their curriculum. Our professional development team tests and reviews apps, sharing recommendations in curated lists that are helpfully categorized by subject and purpose, so you can find exactly what you need. See more apps for your device.
Finding Kid-Friendly Apps
Are you at your wit’s end, keeping your children engaged? You are not alone. Some parents toss their children an Android tablet to buy time while they try to prepare a meal, care for another child, or get a moment of peace and quiet. But how do you know that what you are encouraging children to “play” is educational? That’s where Google Play Store has taken some steps.
Did You Know?
Sign up for one of our Google Certified Educator certifications. You’ll learn about more than Google Meet, as well as earn 12 CPE hours per course. Use these courses to get Google Educator certified. Find out more online.
Teacher Approved
For parents, seeing a badge stating “Teacher Approved” may make all the difference. Google certifies that apps sporting this label are “enriching and entertaining.” They’ve even contracted with educators to make the decision:
To share the best apps for kids on the Play Store, we’ve teamed up with academic experts and teachers across the country, including our lead advisors, Joe Blatt (Harvard Graduate School of Education) and Dr. Sandra Calvert (Georgetown University). Apps that have been rated by teachers and meet our quality standards receive a “Teacher approved” badge. (Source)
Each app sports a simple badge.
How to Find the Teacher-Approved Apps
While it would have been cool for Google to create a “Teacher-Approved Apps” button, they instead did this:
At the top, tap Kids. All apps in this section are teacher approved.
For Movies and TV, tap Family.
For Books, tap Children’s Books.
When you tap on Kids, you will see only the apps that are teacher approved. Go to the Kids tab to see “Teacher approved” content. Google Play Pass subscribers can find it at “Apps and games for kids.”
If you are scratching your head and wondering, “Is this that easy to find?” you are not alone. Google could have done a better job for students and parents to locate content.
Selection Process
Wondering how Google decided what is “teacher approved” and what is not? They asked trained teachers to rate apps based on a framework that evaluated things like:
Design quality
Appeal to children
Enrichment potential
Ads and in-app purchases
Age-appropriateness
Teacher-approved apps appear in the Kids section on Google Play, are featured in banners or collections, and display the badge. Most important, they show what teachers found valuable in the app details page.
Don’t be afraid to give this app a try with your young reader. It may be the type of engagement your child needs. Read along with your child to improve engagement.
While it would have been cool for Google to create a “Teacher-Approved Apps” button, they instead did this:
Sign up for one of our Google Certified Educator certifications. You’ll learn about more than Google Meet, as well as earn 12 CPE hours per course. Use these courses to get Google Educator certified. Find out more online.