Televisions, smartphones, computer screens, tablets and other devices are in the faces of our youth on a day-to-day basis. It is a sad truth that gone are the days of going outside for entertainment and using imagination to create experiences. What needs to be envisioned here is the engaging possibilities that technology brings to educate and influence children, young adults and even older adults and seniors instead of putting negative connotations on the current trends that are shaping modern interactivity.

Let’s give an example.

We see a lot of children using their parent’s smartphones to play games such as Angry Birds or Candy Crush Saga but very rarely do we see them open an application that is highly educational or pushes them to learn new things. Games do have a knowledge base to them and they also heighten a lot of skill sets but the fundamentals of learning at a young age are being overlooked.

Educational games exist but they are not fun or interactive enough to really engage an individual. This can be said about applications directed towards any age group. There is a chance here for developers to create unique experiences for young children by introducing engaging applications that are educational at their core.

Public School/High School

It seems that students of all ages are being given smart devices of some sort. Face-to-face conversations are not the social normality any longer. Unfortunately, texting and voice calls are the only elements of a smart device being used on a regular basis.

There is a big market of opportunity to be discovered here. Schools have the ability to distribute custom apps to students with smartphones to help them further their education. Communication between teacher and student can be more engaging if there is one hub for focused discussions on projects, tests, and assignments.

Google Classroom is a great example of engaging students to learn while having their devices on them. In addition to Google Classroom, schools can provide links or direct application downloads to further educate students on a daily basis. Applications need to bring the student back day after day with incentives.

College/University

Blackboard Learn has been a staple in most post-secondary institutes. It has created a central hub for students to access their work, view their progress and have discussions with other students and professors.

Blackboard rolled out their mobile application a while back and it is finally being supported by most institutes. Unfortunately, there is still something missing and it is a major concern for students who live in a mobile world: engagement.

Think of this in terms of “Gamification”: the use of game thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context to engage users in problem-solving. Students want to be pushed and they want something that will keep them interested every day. We live in an age of technology that has us begging for more things to do with little room for relaxation. These schools need to create applications for each class or at least each program to connect students on another level.

If there is any application that has the right idea it would have to be ClassCraft. ClassCraft is a free online educational role-playing “game” that teachers and students work with together in a classroom. It takes gamification and wraps it around an existing curriculum. It truly transforms the way a class engages in subject matter by giving incentives and keeping students up to date and communicating on a regular basis.

Overall, there needs to be an emphasis on bringing engaging content to educational applications. The content exists in thousands of applications but the true learning experience is missing in a captivating manner. Students want to learn but a lot of students lose control of their ability to stay focused because the material is not engaging enough. Teachers and professors can only do so much during the day to try and keep students on task. Let’s do every student a favor and use the tools we have readily available to create something that will brighten their futures.