In a Facebook messenger group call, each of our pod members pitched our chosen interactive multimedia apps to the group with the hope in mind that one of our apps would stand out to the rest of us. I introduced us to the video game-style app called “Prodigy”. From the get-go, we were all very interested in hearing more about the wizarding world of math games because most of us had never seen or heard of this app before. What stood out for us the most was how the app seemed to be entirely a video game with the learning portion hidden within. 

The next app to be introduced was “Khan Academy Kids” proposed by Kirby. All of us had heard about the parent software of the app “Khan Academy” but some were surprised to hear about the kid’s version of the widely known educational tool. Kirby explained the fun elements of the app and how it was constructed to provide a personalized learning experience for preschool children. What stood out the most to the group was that the app could be specifically configured by the parent or teacher to suit the learner and their level. 

Alison next, introduced her chosen multimedia app “Duolingo”. We had all heard about Duolingo but were very surprised to hear that there were many statistics and scientific studies shown on the effectiveness of the app, and how the app is proven to increase the learner’s language ability. One study Alison showed us stated that “It would take an average 26-49 hours of study on Duolingo to cover the material for the first college semester of Spanish”. We were all pretty amazed and shocked by this information especially by the fact we had all spent hundreds of dollars on a language course in the past. 

The last app pitch came from Lauryn introducing us to “Reading Eggs”. As none of our pod members had heard about Reading Eggs before Lauryn we were automatically intrigued. Lauryn explained to us that she had come across Reading Eggs when she asked her elementary teacher mom about some of the educational tools and apps she and her colleagues were using as school was out of session. Reading Eggs is a reading program that specializes in phonics, meaning, fluency, and comprehension skills. The app is versatile in the way that it is available on virtually every platform, has the ability of a personalized learning journey through a placement test, and overall has very well-rounded multimedia and interactive learning experience for the learner.

After more talk about the four choices of apps, we based our decision off of seeking away from the known. Khan Academy (kids or not) we all had much experience with as well with the language app Duolingo where we had all met the green owl. So that leads us two choices, Prodigy, the magical math game, or Reading Eggs the colourful reading journey. We ended up deciding to go forward with Reading Eggs. The main reasoning behind this choice is that we felt the world of apps and programs is predominantly dominated by mathematics apps and games and that reading ones are hard to come by, especially ones that have research backing them up in effectiveness. Based on this we were all on board to discover more about Reading Eggs and the effectiveness, history, and research behind the app.Â