A Kent State project to help professors find mobile apps they can use to teach students in the classroom is under way, thanks to a new grant.

Kent State professors Karl Kosko and Richard Ferdig lead the grant, called “Making Mathematics Mobile.” Kosko, an assistant professor in the College of Education, Health and Human Services, and Ferdig, a teacher in the Research Center for Educational Technology, wanted to improve the search for the best apps linked to teaching math.

The project, funded by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, aims to develop a website for K-12 teachers to locate, evaluate and recommend mobile apps for teaching and learning in the field of mathematics.

Kosko has made it a goal to make it easy for teachers to find apps to teach in class based on grade level and specific content standards.

“Teachers are very busy people,” Kosko said. “We wanted to provide a resource that made it a much easier process to find decent apps linked directly to the Common Core Standards for Mathematics.”

Currently teachers from a number of schools in Northeast Ohio are using the website to provide feedback, recommend apps and add reviews of previously used apps. The website also features information about the program and the partners who run it. All apps are available for download through links on the website, free to access here. 

“We’re using this feedback to try to simultaneously make sure the website is useful for teachers, build interest in the site as a resource and improve the content of the website,” Kosko said. 

Contact Andrew Bugel at [email protected].