Links For June 3, 2015
The Fallacy of Consumer Educational Gaming App Business Models
In revenue terms, [DragonBox was] stuck in the low six figures, so they slapped on some school district sales staff; but without pursuing this as a primary focus, institutional revenue was even more limited.... Even with sufficient venture funding to try and grow out of an CAC-LTV imbalance, any scaled publisher would immediately balk at paying the 30% commission to Apple. And so, successful players like JumpStart drive their players to browser games and subscriptions, paying a far smaller commission to PayPal.
Research Cautions Many Apps Risk Losing What’s Truly Educational
One benefit that apps have over other types of media (e.g., television) is that apps have near instantaneous responsiveness to every swipe, tap, or even shake. But one thing app developers need to keep in mind is that this physical activity is not enough to promote learning. Research tells us that learning is maximized when children (or adults) are “minds-on” and are actively working through problems and possible solutions rather than passively watching or typing without much mental effort.
Computer Stamps - topical collection of postage stamps on computer science
This is a site for beginners and philatelists that are building their own topical collection on computer science. The goal of computer-stamps.com is to become a good reference for this philatelic topic, it offers images and useful information about hundreds of stamps from all over the world.
Nationality had a surprisingly small influence on the play between children that I observed except for types of ball games. Social class had little affect within countries, although there was a stark difference of facilities, between schools and countries. Gender was a huge influence. I witnessed girls playing the same games or boys involved in identical horseplay in all 17 countries I visited.