Q&A: Education app developer
App development is an increasingly popular career path. When you consider its rising salary levels and significant skills gap, by all accounts, it’s an excellent profession to be in or become a part of.
At Twinkl, what’s especially interesting is the widespread growth in the education apps market. A report by Technavio predicts that this sector could grow by as much as $46.9 billion from 2020–2024. Education apps are in growing demand as schools invest in the latest tablet technology and parents look for new and effective materials for aiding their children’s development.
But with more and more people finding themselves drawn to this space, it’s important to hear from the experts already in the field about their experience. We sat down with one of our very own in-house app developers, Josh, to hear about him, his work, and his perspective on today’s educational app development landscape.
Who are you?
“I’m Josh, one of the software engineers on Twinkl’s App Development team and I’ve worked with them since 2012. I’m also a fully qualified teacher specialising in Primary Education and hold an MA in International Education.
“During my time in education, I have held a number of senior and middle Leadership roles including Head Of Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), English as an Additional Language (EAL) Coordinator and Literacy Coordinator. I am also a certified Jolly Phonics trainer, and have provided extensive Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in this area.”
What’s one thing people don’t realise about app development until they start?
“I think this largely depends on the type of app you’re making and the complexity of this. But you will undoubtedly be surprised how an app evolves through each iteration of testing, and thus how many changes you will make to your initial wireframe.
“It’s really important that you’re able to adapt your work when things don’t work out as well as you planned. New app developers need to accept that the idea they start with almost certainly won’t be the exact way it turns out — and that’s fine. It’s all about flexibility and being prepared to tackle challenges when they arise.”
What do devs need to know when creating a children’s app for the first time?
“I would say that you always need to remember why you’re creating an app. In my opinion, you should start with the learning objective or objectives and then work out how best to achieve these with the technology available.
“I’d also say that you should never rely on one method of delivery e.g. consider that if you can do it in augmented reality, can you also do it in another way? The more creative and differing ways you use to meet your objectives, the greater the accessibility and engagement of your users.”
What’s your biggest tip for creating a great app?
“I don’t think there’s any one tip for creating a great app, as there are so many factors which influence this. However, from my perspective as an educator, I believe that an app must be based around a core set of learning objectives, and have the intention to facilitate learning — whether that’s at home or in the classroom.
“If an app helps to do this, then I think it has the potential to be great. The same can also be said about other genres of apps; if they help solve a problem then you have the basics of a good app.”
What’s the most interesting project you’ve ever worked on?
“I find all our projects at Twinkl interesting, as each one comes with a new set of challenges. One of my favourite apps though (and the one which is my main focus at the minute) is the Twinkl Phonics Suite, which we just recently relaunched on iOS.
“The story surrounding its development is quite long, but to cut it short, I wanted to make an application to help my students further consolidate their phonemic knowledge.
“I started the initial concept back in 2011 by making a very basic version in Adobe Flash, and then contacted Jonathan, the founder of Twinkl, about using the lovely Twinkl Artwork within it; and that’s how our working relationship, and the app you see today originated.
“Unlike many apps, it wasn’t created with the intention of making money, but to help people to learn phonics. Since we launched it in 2012, it has had over 750,000 downloads, helping pupils in the UK and across the world.”
What was your biggest challenge when creating the Phonics Suite?
“The biggest challenge we had in developing the Phonics Suite was ensuring that the activities were pedagogically accurate. Since phonics teaches the building blocks of reading and writing, it’s always been essential that we ensure all the activities are accurate. This meant paying close attention to both the enunciation of phonemes as well as the skills that it taught e.g. blending (for reading) and segmenting (for spelling).”
What feature in the Phonics Suite are you most proud of?
“I wouldn’t say that there was a particular feature that I’m proud of. What I’m most proud of is that we have and continue to support children’s learning of phonics both within the UK and in an international context.”
What tech development are you most excited for right now?
“As a team, we have been working on a number of apps which make use of Augmented Reality. This has been exciting as we have been working on ways to use this to enhance learning in a meaningful and non-gimmicky way, which unfortunately for many AR Apps is the case.
“We’re currently working on a top-secret project which we hope will help bring augmented reality to the forefront of educational learning.”
Twinkl is an international educational resource publisher on a mission to help those who teach. Offering over 625,000 original, teacher-made resources alongside several world-first education apps, Twinkl is there to help along every step of a child’s learning journey.
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