Educational Apps as a Sustainable Tool for Learning: Turning “Lemons” to Lemonade

Apps (software applications) offer the potential to support learners especially for foundational skills taught in both schools and the home. However, the persistent poor quality of commercially available educational apps for young children has been an ongoing concern. Understanding factors that encourage and discourage development of high-quality apps is key to ensuring apps meet learners needs effectively. We apply research from economics indicating that educational apps marketplace suffers from two drawbacks: an adverse selection problem that arises from unreliable information about the quality of available apps and an atypical market in which educational apps exist as both free goods and priced club goods. After considering the complexity and challenges presented in the apps marketplace, we highlight critical steps required to address the quality issue and call for interdisciplinary collaboration to develop practical solutions to minimize the "app gap" in quality between free and paid educational apps.