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Apps, Apps and More Apps!

Over the last couple weeks I’ve defined social emotional learning, took a look at a great resource, CASEL, and explained how Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is being used to help manage all emotions including anxiety. This week I wanted to use the theme of our technology class to specifically look into what apps are available for SEL and mental health.

I often see a lot of advertisements for different apps targeting social emotional learning and anxiety. I did a web search and asked for ‘social emotional apps to use on my iphone’. This is the list that was generated from that search:

Apps seem to be a popular tool for a lot of individuals. There is such a wide range for all types of support and all types of ages. The apps available for younger children look at identifying emotions, self control, understanding mindfulness, stress management, how to stay calm (calm bodies), focus, problem solving and how to communicate. Some apps target the individual, some engage parent participation, and others are tools for teachers to use with their classrooms. The apps that target youth and more middle school aged learners begin to speak more about the social emotional learning connection, mood, behaviour, tools and strategies, zones of regulation and a deeper understanding of all the same topics that were listed with the younger apps. The apps that are for adults tend to focus more on breathing, meditation, stress management and again, all the same topics as above but more age appropriate.

What I really like about all the different apps is their ability to link the content and the language to the target audience. I was also really surprised to see how many apps are available for classroom use.

When asked for ‘apps that teachers can use to teach social emotional learning in the classroom’, I got this list:

The biggest difference with the second list is some of these apps are classified as educational technology and offer more suggestions such as virtual reality. There is also a bigger focus on social stories, cooperation, communication and geared towards helping teachers target the social emotional learning curriculum.

Needless to say, there is no shortage of options and I have no doubt there is something out there for everyone.

After this search and looking at all these different apps, I wanted to find one for myself to use as a tool for managing anxiety. What I found really frustrating about many of these apps is that they are not free. Some offer a free trial but most come with a monthly, annual or lifetime subscription. Although I appreciate the free trial to see if I’d like the app, I still find I’m pretty turned off by the cost. This is something to keep in mind if I planned on using an app as a tool for either myself or my future classroom. Because of the cost, at this time I will take some of the suggestions I found in the apps such as using music, meditation and breathing strategies to help manage my anxiety but I won’t be downloading any apps for myself at this time. It’s possible that as a teacher candidate I may be a part of a school that funds and supports similar apps to use within the classroom and I look forward to learning and discovering more as technology continues to grow and develop.

And I feel the need to point out that although use technology and tools such as apps is a great addition to social emotional learning, I believe it should remain just that…..a tool! I believe humans still learn these skills best through human interactions within their environments. Technology should not be the only form of education that we engage with. Social emotional learning depends on human interaction within a supportive, kind and nurturing environment. It will be a form of trail and error and can be situationally dependant. Our children need to engage, collaborate, play, learn and live in order to develop these skills that are very dependent on connection.

Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash