The efficacy of educational apps for teaching in the humanities: Adopting the PICRAT model

The efficacy of educational apps for teaching in the humanities: Adopting the PICRAT model

• Wang, Lixun The Education University of Hong Kong
• Taylor, Timothy William The Education University of Hong Kong

• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GF Humanities & Arts
    • GFC Teaching Methods & Their Outcomes
• F Learning & Teaching
  • FD Application of Communicative Media, IT in Learning & Teaching

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Post-Secondary Education

The use of educational apps in teaching the humanities in higher education is increasingly widespread and commonplace. Understanding the efficacy of using such apps, however, presents a challenge due to the proliferation of countless different apps, each with unique and overlapping functions, often used in courses with very different content and objectives. The PICRAT model provides a framework to compare the educational efficacy of integrating various education apps, even when used in a variety of different courses. This paper presents the results of a project conducted at the Faculty of Humanities at a Hong Kong university. The objective was to develop examples of effective technology-enhanced teaching in the humanities that could be shared as models with other instructors teaching in the humanities. The PICRAT framework focuses on the students’ and teachers’ roles in using technology. All the project courses aimed to change the students’ role from one of more passive to more active and ultimately more creative engagement; and to advance the teachers’ use of technology from merely replacing traditional pedagogy to providing a more amplified and, whenever possible, transformative approach to its use. Examples from three of the twelve project case studies will be described; teacher and student perspectives of the efficacy of using the apps will be analyzed; and the PICRAT model will be used to analyze the overall conclusions that can be drawn from the range of diverse exemplars developed in the project. Copyright © 2023 ICLT.

Paper presented at International Conference on Learning and Teaching for Future Readiness 2023 (ICLT 2023): “Learning and Teaching in the Eve of Metaverse”, Hong Kong, China.

• English

Conference Papers

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/1072f782

2023-09-19