Why can’t I find quality apps for my child? A model to understand all stakeholders’ perspectives’ on quality learning through digital play

Young children’s digital play environments comprise an increasingly large part of early learning experiences, and are likely to have ongoing and enduring impacts throughout life. Research on early childhood educational (ECE) apps has been predominantly considered from researchers’ perspectives, with little consideration of all stakeholders. At the same time, these perspectives bear little influence on app developers, who continue to produce apps with short and unsustained uptake. In this paper, the authors consider how ECE app quality is perceived from four categories of stakeholders’ perspectives: top-down, bottom-up, outside-in and inside-out. In doing so, they offer insight into discrepancies in what and how demands for quality are viewed. This insight provides preliminary explanation for why ECE app quality is not meeting each stakeholders’ demands, and how a negative feedback loop might be redressed and more stakeholder demands met.