Wanted: The Five Most Sought-after Educational Apps to Enhance Learning of Oral Traditions in a Digital Age

Abstract

The best practices of pedagogy, curriculum and instructional design in the West have primarily evolved from textual traditions. With the use of digital technologies becoming indispensible in education, there is an opportunity for our educational enterprise to share and apply its best practices more broadly including ethnocultural educational settings. Doing so will not only foster new partnerships but will also empower educators who work with non-textual knowledge resources such as oral traditions. In this paper I will discuss how my experience of working with ginans, a collection of sacred religious hymns of the Shia Ismaili Muslim community, has informed my practice and perspective as a practitioner-researcher. More specifically I will describe the five most sought-after educational technologies or apps identified by young ethnic learners in today’s digital age.