Why it matters: Spending school time at home these days means even more opportunities for kids to use smartphones and tablets as e-learning gets increased adoption. To that end, Google has announced a new Kids tab for the Play Store that will feature a collection of educational apps approved by Teachers, with added information on age-rating and learning skills to help parents pick suitable apps for their children.
Eligible apps on the Play Store will now get a new "Teacher approved" badge and will be conveniently located under a new Kids tab. Google acknowledged the challenge faced by parents in finding suitable apps for their kids and has announced that this new section will host curated apps that have been rated by teachers and meet the company's quality standards.
Google says it partnered with academic experts and teachers across the US, including advisors from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Georgetown University, in the app curation and approval process.
Multiple factors are taken into account to let parents know why an app has a high rating and wears the teacher approved badge. This includes information on age-appropriateness, quality of experience, enrichment and delight, and is displayed within the app listing to ease decision-making.
Google also notes that users might not find their favorite apps in this section, and that's because the feature has been launched earlier than planned due to increased demand from parents in the current lockdown situation. The company is, however, adding new content as quickly as possible and plans to roll out the feature in the US over the next few days, with international availability expected in the upcoming months.
https://www.techspot.com/news/84849-google-play-gets-kids-tab-featuring-teacher-approved.html
