Individual Evaluation of Multimedia App – Duolingo

The application that I have chosen to evaluate is “duolingo”. Duolingo is a multimedia learning application that educates its users on learning new languages. This app has over 35 languages available to learn and it is very user friendly. Personally, I have used this app in a previous university course and I thought it was very beneficial and instructional. This application is great for all ages, and allows you to learn based on your prior knowledge and skill level.  When I used this app, I thought the “lessons”, were very game-like, and they would be perfect for students because you don’t necessarily feel as though you are doing an intense French lesson. Every language course is free on this application, but you do have the option to purchase the “plus version” if you desire, but it is not necessary in an educational setting.

One of the principles that this app does not follow is the “redundancy principle”. The creators may have chosen not to follow this principle because some users may need the same information presented in multiple ways in order to fully understand the concept. For the students who do not need this extra support, they can just use the format that works best for them, but for those who it will benefit, it’s important they have that option. Another principle that is not followed at all times is the “coherence principle”. Throughout this app, there is a few animations that do not correspond with the lesson being taught. I think the creators may have done this because it makes the app more exciting and student-friendly, for younger users.

On the ladder of the SAMR Model of technology integration, this multimedia tool falls in the “Augmentation” category. This category states that the “technology acts as a direct substitute, with functional improvement.” I think this enhances the student experience in many ways. The first way being that “teaching voice” in this application is extremely clear and pronounces the words correctly, whereas if I was teaching a French lesson, my pronunciation skills would not be as accurate as the voice on the app. Furthermore, duolingo provides the users with unlimited opportunities to repeat a lesson in order to master a skill. Unfortunately as a teacher, there would not be enough time in a lesson to ask every student if there is a specific section they want to repeat. I definitely think that the additional benefits that duolingo provides are worth the investment of time that it takes for students and educators to learn how to operate this app.

Below I have attached a link to the filled out rubric I used in order to evaluate this multimedia application.

rubric-for-elearning-tool-evaluation-2Download

References:

Mayer, R. E. (Ed.). (2014). The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139547369