Exploring the Intersection of Technology and Education: A Critical Analysis

The assignment content comprises a list of academic articles and book chapters published between 2014 and 2016, covering various topics in education research. The papers explore themes such as teacher development, individual practice, mathematics education, high-stakes accountability, school innovation, and vocational education. Additionally, the list includes a literature review on serious games in education and an online report by NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) on level up, highlighting the potential of video games in education. Overall, the content presents a diverse range of research studies and reports that can inform and shape educational practices.

Innovation of an application which
facilitates GCSE students
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW.....................................................................................................................4
To investigate the importance of educational or gaming application for the better engagement of
people...............................................................................................................................................4
To carry out the research to identify existing or current apps and information regarding GCSE
students............................................................................................................................................5
To compare and analyse various apps to determine the most excellent performing apps...............7
Theme 3: To assess the extent to which GCSE students use smart phones in UK..........................8
To identify various stages in order to create a final design of new android app............................10
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) is an international academic
qualification programme held by Commonwealth countries under educational programmes. In UK,
it is generally used for wide range of subjects in the secondary education for pupils. It was
introduced in the year 1988 that replaced earlier educational programme that are CSE and O-level
examination. The main aim of this is to allow pupils to finish their coursework during their study so
as to contribute towards maximizing their grades. With the changing period and fastest-growing
technologies, educational institutions started to incorporate use of advanced and upgraded
technologies so as to maximize the skills, knowledge and understanding level of the students
(Mainstream games sector with a strong UK presence, 2016). Emergence of advanced and
innovative tools and techniques helps to develop a quick understanding among students to expand
their skills and knowledge so as to build a bright career path.
Now-a-days, technology is everywhere and it totally transformed the way how people learn
diverse area of knowledge. Most important, in UK educational industry, it has a stronger influence
over young generation children as teenagers are greatly affected by playing games. Therefore, this
research project aims at examining the role of innovation and advancement so as to assess its
prospective impact upon teenagers (Games in education, 2015). This report will investigate that
how various apps or gaming application help teenagers to expand their learning, talent or
knowledge base. Moreover, the study will also shed light upon currently utilising apps that delivers
wide range of information to the GCSE students. Along with this, it will examine the real prevailing
situation by identifying the effectiveness of different apps on students learning. With the help of
such analysis, scholar will be able to determine the most excellent or well-performing that is using
by greater number of students. On the basis of this, a new app development plan will be prepared
comprising necessary stages and activities that will be needed to carry out to design a new app for
guiding and supporting teenagers of GCSE students. By creating an excellent app, educational
institutions will be able to develop diverse field of knowledge and understanding among younger
students, which in turn, maximize their skills and capabilities to assure brighter career.
Research objectives:
The aim of the present research is to examine the use and effectiveness of innovative
applications to facilitates GCSE students to make their career brighter or stronger. This aim will be
effectively addressed by conducting study upon following research objectives, presented hereunder:
 To investigate the importance of educational or gaming application for the better
engagement of people
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 To carry out the research to identify existing or current apps and information regarding
GCSE students
 To compare and analyze various apps so as to determine the most excellent performing apps
 To identify that how many GCSE students are utilizing smart phones in the UK and the
current platform
 To identify various stages in order to create a final design of new android app
LITERATURE REVIEW
To investigate the importance of educational or gaming application for the better engagement of
people
According to the study of East, (2016) which says that the student learn Through the process
of playing game as the student will understand the concept and logic and they must familiar with
new experiments and invention which help to acquire the knowledge. Through games the student
learns variety of new skills: There are number of skills that student can develop such as creativity,
Team work, thinking skills, sportsmanship. Games provide a source of engagement practice.
Students have to do lots of practice to get familiar with English vocabulary. By downloading the
apps in their cell phone students have a lot of practice with various exercises in the textbook. The
games grab the attention of student and engage them in the regular work (Mindel, 2016). Through
such technique student have a rapt attention on the games and content which improve their
concentration skill .Games improve the language skill of individual in the form of writing, listening,
speaking, reading. Vocabulary games increase the intellectual level of students and they acquire
competent skills in the schools.
Games have outcome and feedback: Games have positive result in the minds of student
through which various brainstorming session could be conducted .Appropriate feedback is provided
in case of following wrong rules and regulation of games. Games have representation and story:
Various story could be depicted to students in their classroom in which there is moral and
conclusion which help them to learn and familiar with new things in their life.
Games have interaction and problem solving objectives: Through games various students
interact with each other this help them to understand the games. If any problem occur through the
execution of that particular game they any intelligent student should guide and instruct to other
students.
Cognitive improvement: One of the importance additional advantages of this apps that it
increase the mental development of individual (Solomon and Lewin, 2016). This help in overall
development of individual.
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Self improvement: Through this app the students are able to develop intellectual development skills.
An educational app with content quality can help them to become a content writer.
Educational standard changing - Through these apps the living standard of student has
increased by using the new rapid technology and advancement.
The games can increase the fun and excitement among the student which helps them to gain
knowledge and to get familiarize with new trends. Through game's student have a positive memory
in their classroom and it helps in developing emotional relationship among students.
Interacting games helps the student in facing various challenges from outside world and it helps
them to resolve various conflict among all the students.
To carry out the research to identify existing or current apps and information regarding GCSE
students
According to the study of East, (2016) which has observed that GCSE which is an acronym
that stands for general certificate of secondary education is an academic qualification achieved by a
student in order to pass the level of exams. This is one of the grade given to an individual who
completed its two years of study in order to get this tag. The education plays a significant role in
today's society as this will enhance the existing capabilities of an individual in order seek external
market opportunities. The education is important phase of someone's life which raises their
importance in the whole society by giving an additional respect by giving the title of literate. The
rigid nature of study that create boredom and generates fear among kids and all other individuals to
stay away from the studies. The basic distractions which affect the interest of a person from learning
and seeking education is the technology. The technology plays a significant role in the current
systems of education by changing the attitude of an individual in different contexts.
From the point of view of Achinewhu-Nworgu, Azaiki, Babalola and Achinewhu,(2016)
which says that this particular technology will give negative direction to all the students by
distracting them by offering variety of games and all other applications which generates their
interest more in the games rather than in the learning new concepts and completing their studies.
The most complicated subject is the maths which created fear among the students due its
complicated numbers and different theorems. Another complicated subject which will not
understand by the majority of students is science. The Science is very difficult for all the students
who find no use of using these kinds of experiments and they feel bored. The games in turn
distracted the minds of all age groups whether it can be kids, teenagers as they feel more
comfortable whole playing games like Angry birds, Hot wheels car racing, Counter strike, Subway
surfing which is enjoyed by all age groups and male girls and boys.
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Mindel, (2016) has asserted that apart from distraction and showing negative direction to all
the students regarding education they also play a positive role in the lives of an individual. The
Modern business world who raises the scope of education in the current society by developing
different educational applications. The technology is properly utilised in order to provide unique
and attractive application in order to increase the interest of an individual in their studies (McCrone,
Hopwood, Wade and White, 2015). The biggest challenge accepted by the education sector by
improving their existing educational services by adding the touch of technology to simplify the
existing subjects. The primary aim of developing different variety of applications and the software
such as Android and IOS is to expand knowledge and learning base of the students. The selection of
the different platforms will facilitate all the clients to use the educational services to complete their
study. The education application developed by the businesses in the UK that is GOJIMO this
application is regarded as one of the leading revision. This application which will provides free
study material which can be accessed by all individuals for taking help in any exam given by them
(Korenova, 2015). The uniqueness of this software is that all kinds of material can be accessed by
all the students at free of cost. The questions will be presented in form of quiz questions that covers
the complete syllabus of GCSE, AS Level, A level and all kinds of entrance exams. The
presentment of the study materials in form of quiz questions which challenge the ability of an
individual. This quiz will help the students to prepare for their exams as the questions that can be
solved in less time will help a person in order to complete their paper in fewer periods. The basic
advantage enjoyed by all individuals using this particular application which allow an individual by
providing the detailed explanations about the questions related to any stream. The questions
incorporate in these applications which allow a person to understand completely (Ping, 2016).
The score allotted to each individual after completing quiz that motivates the students in
order to improve their score till it reach to the final score. The student can used this application for
their revision as all concepts learned by the students by heart. The application which can be said
that mobile library which consists of all kinds of subjects which will improved the existing
knowledge of an individual. The wrong answers will be improved by showing detailed explanation
in the screen of the users to facilitate them in order to increase their existing score. The important
element of this application is that the students can mentioned their doubts in the student review
forum in which all their questions and queries will be solved by the experts of various fields. This
application will provide the feeling of virtual classroom to an individual in which the study can be
completed from their own convenient place. This facility will offer to the variety of students to
reduce the barriers in the path of study and the student (Mindel, 2016). Moreover, another
importance of educational application is to provide specialised services of subject regarding
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physics. The toughest and complicated part of the whole science is the physics whose terminology
will create great chaos in the minds of all the students. This platform will provide variety of services
in order to test and increase the existing knowledge of students. This application will emphasize on
the GCSE physics in order to test the ideas. The refraction and reflection concepts are properly
explained by using examples for each and every question as the image of all the examples are used
in order to create visual impact on the minds of all the individuals. This application has transformed
in form of games by offering the variety of games in order to please all the students. The primary
aim behind the development of various games is to create friendly and interesting environment
which creates curiosity rather than boredom. The visual effects used in the existing applications by
using pleasing sounds. The experts believe that the visual impacts will directly created a large
impact on the minds of students as they will memorise the concepts for long time (Nehring and
Szczesiul, 2015). The practical approach is adopted by these applications to increase the memory
power of an individual as all these efforts made with a clear aim to provide assistance. The
assistance is provided to all the individuals in order to help all the users to get good grades in the
exam. This app will provide three types of games such as Best of 10, Sudden fail and Time trial. All
these types off games are presented in the form of multiple choice questions with short explanations
of each answer to facilitate the users to rectify their mistake. The questions over 300 are offered to
meet the needs of different individuals as they can take quizzes at any time according to their
convenient.
To compare and analyse various apps to determine the most excellent performing apps
According to the study of Atkins, and Flint, (2015) the selection of various educational
applications is to deliver diverse knowledge to the students according to their needs by accepting
the visual appealing request of the developer in developing their applications. The selection of the
best application selected by an individual is to meet the requirements of passing in the exam. The
market research has been conducted in the whole UK in order to identify the best performing app
currently operated in the application market which have higher base of customers. The results
obtained from the above mention analysis which states that an entity has produced different
outcomes in terms of variety of applications currently operating in the whole market (Solomon and
Lewin, 2016). The educational applications currently operating in the whole UK are offering variety
of subjects and all other categories to please the needs of the students. The different substitute’s
products current available in the market will complicate the existence of the developer. The wide
range of application will force an individual in order to amend their applications by adding
additional services to meet the higher expectations level of all the individuals.
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Thompson and Alex, (2015) has asserted that the best suitable approach which remains at
the top position in the race of excellent and the best performing applications in order to please the
demands of the students. The GOJIMO has remained at the top level among all other software
development companies. The primary aim of this is to develop different applications in order to
meet the educational requirements of all the students. This app provides free of cost material in
order to offer different number of materials to allow all individuals to prepare for various entrance
and the common school level exams. This provides detailed explanation about all the questions in
these particular applications. The doubts of all the individuals will be clarify by this entity by
allowing additional feature of providing expert advice to the students. The students use the variety
of applications in order to relieve their overall stress which are imposed by the external entities
which further transformed into boredom that increase dissatisfaction among all kinds of students
(Towns, 2015). Another important applications used by the students in which the Homework
application. This application will lessen the workload of all the students by reducing their load of
assignment given in the class. This application will also provide the benefit of making the time table
which allows in planning about their exam time table. The physics application is also useful for the
students in meeting their needs related to this particular stream. The physic concepts are presented
in the unique format of questions presented in MCQ format. The variety of questions are offered to
facilitate the different number of students by showing practical experimentation of all the activities
in the form of Videos. The history app is helpful for the students as it visualises the historical
timelines to enhance the memory power of a person. The history timelines and other important
events takes places in the London will create confusion in the minds of different individuals. The
students will learn about new and historical places situated in the London by showing area in the
map to facilitate all the students to visit the place personally. The personal visit made by the
individual in order to memorise all important places. The particular can be accessed by using
different platforms such as android and the IOS (Solomon and Lewin, 2016). The additional and
unique features of these applications will offer photographs of the historical places and the events.
The 3 D drawings about the historical buildings of the London paintings are presented in the form
of painting with the short commentary about its architecture and the year in which its builds.
Theme 3: To assess the extent to which GCSE students use smart phones in UK
According to the view points of Korenova (2015) usage rate of smart phone is increased
with the very high pace in UK. Now, using smart phones become the part of the lifestyle of each
person including students as well. The rationale behind this, smart phones have several apps which
develop familiarity of the students with several aspects. Hence, smart phones enhance the
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knowledge level of students to the large extent. However, on the critical note, Alas and et.al., (2016)
said that use of smart phones also has negative impact on the marks and performance level of
students to the large extent. Moreover, smart phones affect the concentration level of the students in
a negative manner. Usually, more of the students make use of smart phone in searching other kind
of activities rather than utilizing it for the study purpose. Thus, by taking into consideration such
aspect there are several universities which banned mobile phone within the institutions. Educational
institutions think that mobile hampers the study thereby grades as well as performance level of
students to the large extent.
By doing investigation Walker (2016) found that pupils studied in a phone free school
performs better in the examination as compared to others. In the present times, smart phones are one
of the main distraction points which affect the performance of GCSE students. Hence, schools
which do not allow students with phone found improvement in the result of their GCSE
examination. Such action of the schools has enhanced the grade level of the students in
examination who come under the category of bottom 60%. On the other side, Davies and et.al.,
(2015) criticized that this statement is not true that by banning the mobile phones performance of
students cannot be enhanced to the great level. Moreover, smart phones have several learning apps
which in turn provides student with the easy approaches of understanding the concepts. For
instance: Internet contains number of easiest approaches which in turn helps in getting
understanding about the concepts and models of mathematics. The reason behind this, internet has
variety of which provide deeper insight to the students about alternative methods of resolving the
maths related problems or issues (Do Smartphones Have a Place in the Classroom, 2016). By
considering such aspect it can be said that smart phones also assist in maximizing the grades of
students. In this way, mobile-free schools negatively affect the performance, understanding and
knowledge level of students in a negative manner. Hence, results performance level of GCSE
students can also be enhanced through the means of mobile phones.
In accordance with the views of Reida and Pruijsenb (2015) strict action which is taken by
the schools in relation to restricting the use of mobile phones has placed positive impact on the test
scores. In UK, schools which follow GCSE university has taken decisions in relation to restricting
the use of their phones. High concentration is one of the main requirements to perform better in the
test and final examination. Along with this, wide knowledge level and grades achieved is the key to
build bright future or career. Hence, study which is done by author clearly presents that grades level
of students are significantly increased which shows that mobile-free school strategy is highly
effective.
However, it is to be critically evaluated by Davies and et.al., (2015) that mobile-free school had not
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offered high level of benefit those who achieved grade higher than 60%. Hence, such strategy
benefitted only to the students who are in the bottom of 60% to the significant level. Thus, it can be
said that institution which follow GCSE University needs to employ the strategy that offers benefit
to all the students. There are mainly two types of students such as studious and individuals with
lower level of concentration. In this regard, strategy of mobile banning will provide benefit only to
the students who are suffered from the issue of lack of concentration and motivation. In contrast to
this, due to the mobile banning action performance level of studious individual is affected in a
negative manner (Mobile phone bans improve school exam results, research shows, 2016).
Moreover, internet is one of the main sources which provide students with the wide study material
or base. In this, by getting in-depth information regarding the course curriculum or study base
students would become able to perform outstandingly in the examination.
From their own investigation Teki, Kumar and Griffiths (2016) assessed those academic
institutions had undertaken the decision of banning the mobile phones. Along with this, several
strict and behavioural rules also have been introduced by the institution with the motive to get the
desired level of outcome or success. Author said that misuse or abuse of phone was one of the main
aspects due to which marks of the students affected negatively. Thus, by keeping such factor in
mind schools took decision in relation to banning the phones. Moreover, along with the study
material internet also contains several things which influence the mindset of the students.
In addition to this, multi tasking ability of students also has an impact on the performance
level of pupils of GCSE. Moreover, when students devote their time in relation to the searching of
various concepts then it may result into loss of productive time. Moreover, teachers also provide
students with the supporting teaching note by taking assistance of several books and internet. In this
regard, GCSE students can learn and perform better in the examination by taking into consideration
the notes delivered by tutor. On the contrary to it, Korenova, (2015) argued that performance level
of GCSE students do not increased significantly after taking strategic measure in relation to mobile-
free school. Moreover, there is small level of improvement has been assessed in marks and grades
of students approximately 2% which is highly lower. Hence, by taking into account all such aspects
it can be stated that educational institution affiliated from GCSE needs to framer competent
strategic and policy framework for ensuring the growth in student’s performance.
To identify various stages in order to create a final design of new android app
There are various stages of app development which needs to be followed by an entity in
order to develop its new android application which are given as below:
Planning- This phase includes the aim of the developer behind the preparation of the
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application. The plan will guide an individual in order to conduct all their business operations in
relation with the plan cum framework to frame its application (Marcus-Quinn, 2016). The rationale
behind the preparation of this app is related with the educational and learning app which provides
all kinds of data in order to help in studies along with the sound factor. A student can learn new
concepts by listening to the music of their choice which enhances their memory and learning power
according to the study conducted by the experts.
Analysis- This stage will focus on the existing performance of the business in order to
prepare the applications which will be able to meet the requirements of all the targeted audiences.
The analysis will be applied by the enterprise in order to test their unique idea with the application
of certain parameters.
Design- This is regarded as one of the important step as the visual impact created on the
audiences which in turn increases the sales and the revenue earned by an entity during the years.
The design of the overall application will be presented in the form of 3 Dimensional approach that
showcases the architectural design of this application (Wood and Butt, 2014). The design will
determine all the pros and cons of the application by explaining all the features an entity try to
incorporate in this application. The features will be added in this app will include customer
feedbacks, money refund policy, expert advice, admission counselling after passing in the entrance
exams, educational contests, rewards given to the students in completing tasks given in the
application.
Development and implementation- The design will be framed by an entity which will
further executed by passing the current product to the next level by giving this product to the pilot.
The development of the application is done by incorporating all the changes by connect all the
codes in one package in order to develop the application.
Testing- This approach will test the current products by applying different methods in order
to identify the existing errors lies in the product.
Maintenance- the discovered errors identified in the existing products will be improved by
sing appropriate technique in order to adapt with the changes takes places in the application in
relation with the external market changes (Wong, 2016). In this particular phase the changes will be
prioritised into different segment such as positive and the negative figures. The positive changes are
directly added in the existing application in order to get higher market advantage by offering that
kind of product which has gained the interest of wide number of customers or the users who are
downloading it in order to take benefit from this application.
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CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above report that the development of the educational
application has accepted the requirements of the students. The current report stresses on the variety
of factors that help an entity and its users in order to meet all their business obligations. The aim of
the report to identify the use of educational application in providing educational information related
to the GCSE has been achieved. The presentation of information provided by these apps will be
able to meet the needs and the expectations of all the students. The results have been shown that the
GOJIMO app has beaten all other applications currently operated in the external market among all
other applications lies in the United Kingdom.
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