Users can search for reviews of resources by subject, grade level, cost (free, “freemium,” or paid), and type (app, game, or website). An option at the top of the page, called “Top Picks,” reveals the best-reviewed resources on the site.
When you click on a review, it tells you the price, the grade levels the app is most appropriate for, setup time, platforms (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, or Nook HD), and subject areas—with a link to specific standards the app meets. There’s also a list of skills the app meets, too (such as “memorization, thinking critically”…), and the review indicates whether the resource includes a teacher dashboard and who the maker is.
For each review, users will see a “Graphite Rating” and a “Teacher Rating,” each based on a five-point scale. These ratings use a rubric with three dimensions: Engagement, Pedagogy, and Support. The maximum score within each dimension is five points as well.
With learning apps being released at an exponential pace, Common Sense Media is focusing its reviews on which apps are most popular within the Apple and Google app stores, as well as apps that are submitted directly to the organization for review.
Graphite launched in beta version with about 1,500 reviewed apps, and within three years, its database “will easily grow to 5,000 apps,” said Common Sense Media’s Mike Lorion. A full rollout is planned for the fall, and it will include a space for teachers to collect and share reviews of their favorite apps.
If teachers’ reaction is any indication, the resource could prove quite valuable. A recent online survey of teachers and administrators conducted by Harris Interactive for Common Sense Media shows 89 percent of teachers agree that using ed-tech tools improves student outcomes, but far fewer are using these tools consistently. Among those who are high-volume ed-tech users, more than half (53 percent) spend an hour or more a week researching which products to use.
“My students love using technology,” said Teresa Bodenmiller, a sixth grade teacher and technology coordinator in Milpitas, Calif. “But finding the right app or website that fits my lesson and my students’ needs from all of the options out there is like finding a needle in a haystack. Graphite lets me filter my search for exactly what I need, and gives me the best-rated options with examples of how other teachers have used it. It takes away the guesswork.”
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