Digital Assessment Tools Using Animation Features to Quantify Alcohol Consumption: Systematic App Store and Literature Review

The use of digital literacy tools and training platforms powered by artificial intelligence (AI) has increased and has the potential of transforming education. This paper examines the impact of digital literacy assessment tools and AI-powered training platforms in higher education. Relevant studies were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The systematic search was conducted using PubMed, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and Google Scholar databases. It seeks to: Identify the Dimensions of Digital Literacy (DL) Skills for University Faculty; Assess the Degree of uniformity in the selection of Digital Assessment Tools; Evaluate the Convergence in practice about Faculty Assessment practices; Explore the Development and reliability of Digital Literacy assessment tools; Review the variety of Training interventions for DL and their relevance; Identify Pedagogic approaches to Digital Literacy, their scope and effectiveness, and Derive Implications for the future of digital literacy in tertiary education. Several digital literacy assessment tools and AI-powered training platforms were analysed, and the findings summarize their implications in University Education. To fully and effectively utilize these tools more sensitization and training should be done.

This paper presents the results of research aimed at identifying and assessing the impact of the innovative educational program "Teaching Chemistry in Secondary Schools: Fostering Digital and Scientific Literacy." The programme aimed to help chemistry teachers develop digital competence in accordance with the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) requirements. The research sample consisted of secondary school chemistry teachers combined (N=15) from three Slovak regions. The research was conducted during the first term of the 2024/2025 school year. The innovative educational programme consisted of 6 modules, covering a total of 50 hours. This innovative educational programme aimed to provide teachers with access to knowledge on teaching chemistry, with a focus on fostering digital competence through activating methods such as inquiry-based teaching, digital technology-supported teaching, and the use of digital summative and formative assessment tools. The research instrument was the DigCompEdu Check-in Questionnaire, completed by the teachers before and after finishing the educational programme. A comparison of the pre-test and post-test results indicated an overall improvement in teachers’ digital competence, moving from explorers to integrators. The analysis of their results in the area of Teaching and Learning indicated an increased frequency of teachers using digital tools to implement various teaching methods focused on developing students’ independent learning and group cooperation. The analysis of their results in the Assessment area indicated an increase in teachers’ monitoring of students’ progress and their analysis of information and feedback gathered about students. However, teachers still opted to use digital assessment tools less frequently. Therefore, it is necessary to make various digital assessment tools, addressing specific chemistry topics, accessible to teachers.

BackgroundDespite the rapidly growing number of digital assessment tools for screening and diagnosing mental health disorders, little is known about their diagnostic accuracy.ObjectiveThe purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to establish the diagnostic accuracy of question- and answer-based digital assessment tools for diagnosing a range of highly prevalent psychiatric conditions in the adult population.MethodsThe Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) will be used. The focus of the systematic review is guided by the population, intervention, comparator, and outcome framework (PICO). We will conduct a comprehensive systematic literature search of MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Embase, Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Library, Applied Social Sciences Index and s (ASSIA), and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) for appropriate articles published from January 1, 2005. Two authors will independently screen the titles and abstracts of identified references and select studies according to the eligibility criteria. Any inconsistencies will be discussed and resolved. The two authors will then extract data into a standardized form. Risk of bias will be assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2) tool, and a descriptive analysis and meta-analysis will summarize the diagnostic accuracy of the identified digital assessment tools.ResultsThe systematic review and meta-analysis commenced in November 2020, with findings expected by May 2021.ConclusionsThis systematic review and meta-analysis will summarize the diagnostic accuracy of question- and answer-based digital assessment tools. It will identify implications for clinical practice, areas for improvement, and directions for future research.Trial RegistrationPROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42020214724; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020214724.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/25382

The integration of digital assessment tools into the educational process emphasized the significance of assessing the knowledge and skills of teachers and teacher candidates in designing, utilizing, and benefiting from these tools. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the competencies of final-year teacher candidates who will serve as teachers in visual arts education, an essential area within education. This study aims to reveal the experiences of senior visual arts teacher candidates in designing digital assessment tools. Designed as a case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods, the present study employs a single-case design. Participants were selected through criterion sampling, a purposive sampling method. The criteria for participation included being a senior undergraduate student, volunteering to participate, and having completed the courses “Visual Arts Education Programs”, “Material Design in Visual Arts Teaching”, and “Assessment and Evaluation in Education” within their degree program. This study was carried out with 26 visual arts teacher candidates (21 female and 5 male) studying in the Department of Art Education at a state university in Türkiye. Data collection was performed using digital assessment tools designed by the participants, besides the structured interview forms. Before the application, participants received an introductory briefing on the identified digital assessment tools and their integration into visual arts education, based on a review of the literature. Participants were given the freedom to choose the digital platform they would use and were tasked with designing a digital assessment tool. After a three-week preparation period, the visual arts teacher candidates who had designed digital assessment tools were asked, “Would you use digital assessment tools in Visual Arts lessons when you become a teacher? Why?” The collected data were categorized under specific themes and subcodes, with participants coded as K1, K2, K3, …. Data analysis was conducted using the qualitative data analysis software MAXQDA, resulting in tabular, visual, and descriptive interpretations. It was observed that participants designed digital assessment tools aligned with the learning areas and achievements of the Visual Arts Course Curriculum. It was found that participants predominantly preferred 5th-grade middle school level in their digital assessment tool designs. Among the learning areas in the Visual Arts Course Curriculum, the most frequently addressed achievements were related to “Cultural Heritage”, and the Wordwall digital platform was the most commonly utilized tool. Grouping was the preferred question type for the assessment tools. All participating visual arts teacher candidates expressed their intention to use digital assessment tools as teachers but noted facing challenges due to a lack of technical knowledge during the preparation process. This research highlights the need for similar studies involving larger groups and deeper investigations. Accordingly, the present study recommends conducting long-term studies to monitor the development of a higher number of participants, investigating the challenges visual arts teacher candidates face in technology usage, and exploring additional digital application examples for use in visual arts education.

BackgroundFor many mental health conditions, mobile health apps offer the ability to deliver information, support, and intervention outside the clinical setting. However, there are difficulties with the use of a commercial app store to distribute health care resources, including turnover of apps, irrelevance of apps, and discordance with evidence-based practice.ObjectiveThe primary aim of this study was to quantify the longevity and rate of turnover of mental health apps within the official Android and iOS app stores. The secondary aim was to quantify the proportion of apps that were clinically relevant and assess whether the longevity of these apps differed from clinically nonrelevant apps. The tertiary aim was to establish the proportion of clinically relevant apps that included claims of clinical effectiveness. We performed additional subgroup analyses using additional data from the app stores, including search result ranking, user ratings, and number of downloads.MethodsWe searched iTunes (iOS) and the Google Play (Android) app stores each day over a 9-month period for apps related to depression, bipolar disorder, and suicide. We performed additional app-specific searches if an app no longer appeared within the main searchResultsOn the Android platform, 50% of the search results changed after 130 days (depression), 195 days (bipolar disorder), and 115 days (suicide). Search results were more stable on the iOS platform, with 50% of the search results remaining at the end of the study period. Approximately 75% of Android and 90% of iOS apps were still available to download at the end of the study. We identified only 35.3% (347/982) of apps as being clinically relevant for depression, of which 9 (2.6%) claimed clinical effectiveness. Only 3 included a full citation to a published study.ConclusionsThe mental health app environment is volatile, with a clinically relevant app for depression becoming unavailable to download every 2.9 days. This poses challenges for consumers and clinicians seeking relevant and long-term apps, as well as for researchers seeking to evaluate the evidence base for publicly available apps.

BackgroundDigital assessment tools in health care are increasingly used to aid clinicians in diagnosing mental health conditions. Particularly since the quarantine and isolation guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic moved much of health care online, there has been an accelerated adoption of digital assessment tools. The diagnostic accuracy of digital mental health assessment tools for a range of psychiatric conditions has yet to be fully explored, especially for their use in populations of older adults and children.ObjectiveThis systematic review aims to (1) summarize recent studies on digital self-report question-and-answer–based mental health assessment tools for use in all ages across a range of psychiatric conditions (eg, the type and number of questions, if available; reference tests; timing; and blinding procedures), (2) present their validity (ie, diagnostic accuracy), and (3) assess study quality and applicability.MethodsThe PRISMA-P (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols) guided the development of this protocol. The protocol has been registered with PROSPERO. The searches were guided by the PICO (population, intervention, comparator, and outcome) framework. A systematic search was conducted of the following databases of literature published since 2021: MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, ASSIA, Web of Science Core Collection, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Searches of clinical trial databases and hand searching of reference lists will be completed. Two authors have independently screened titles and abstracts of identified papers and selected studies according to eligibility criteria, resolving inconsistencies through discussion. Full texts were screened following the same process. The authors extracted data using the Covidence data extraction tool (Veritas Health Innovation Ltd; eg, sensitivity and specificity). Two authors will use the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) tool to assess risk of bias for each full-text inclusion.ResultsScoping for this review began in December 2024. Searches of databases were completed in January 2025. Full-text screening and identification of the relevant gray literature were completed by the end of August 2025, and the final review is expected to be completed by December 2025.ConclusionsThe review aims to present the validity and quality of the diagnostic accuracy of digital mental health assessment tools across different ages (including children and older adults), particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic due to the exponential increase in development and use of such tools. This review will provide evidence for the wider deployment of digital mental health assessment tools across a wide age range. There will also be a discussion about future research for digital tools and avenues for policy around digital mental health assessments.

This research aims to determine the experiences of educators, who apply the educational approach and use a digital assessment tool, towards the digital assessment tool they use and their views on these experiences. Within the scope of this purpose, the study was designed in phenomenological research, one of the qualitative research methods. Within the scope of this study, phenomenon was determined as the digital assessment tools used by educators in education settings. The study group consisted of 14 educators, 3 of whom were working in Barcelona and 11 from an official and private school in Istanbul. The data collection of the study consisted of personal information form and individual interviews conducted by the researcher with educators through online interview systems. When the data gathered as a result of these interviews were analyzed, it was seen that the digital assessment tools were considered as a phenomenon with different dimensions by the educators who participated in the research. These dimensions have been ease of use and necessity, parent, Montessori education. In addition, it was determined that educators explained for the tools they use, apart from the digital assessment tool. The non-digital assessment tools dimension was also examined in the study in order to reveal the educators' perceptions of the digital assessment tool holistically. As a result of the study, sixteen sub-themes related to four themes were formed. The findings were discussed within the framework of the studies in the field.

BackgroundMobile health services are thriving in the field of maternal and child health in China due to expansions in the field of electronic health and the introduction of the two-child policy. There are numerous maternal and child health apps in computer stores, but the exact number of apps, number of downloads, and features of these apps is not known.ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the use of maternal and child health apps in Android and iOS app stores and to describe the key functional features of the most popular apps, with the purpose of providing insight into further research and development of maternal and child health mobile health products.MethodsThe researchers conducted a search in the 3 most popular Android app stores (Tencent MyApp, Baidu Mobile Assistant, and 360 Mobile Assistant) and the iTunes App Store in China. All apps regarding family planning (contraception and preparing for pregnancy), pregnancy and perinatal care, neonatal care and health, and development for children under 6 years were included in the initial analysis. Maternal and child health mobile apps with predominant features of product marketing, children’s songs, animation, or games were excluded from the study. The 50 most frequently used apps in each of the Android stores as well as the iTunes store (a total of 78 deduplicated apps) were selected and downloaded for an in-depth analysis.ResultsA total of 5276 Android apps and 877 iOS apps developed for maternal and child health care were identified. Of the 78 most frequently used apps, 43 (55%) apps focused on one stage of MCH care, mainly targeting child care (25 apps) and before pregnancy care (11 apps), whereas 35 (45%) of the apps covered 2 or more stages, most of which (32 apps) included both pregnancy and child care services. The app features that were commonly adopted by the popular apps were health education, communication, health status self-monitoring, a diary, reminders, and counseling. Within the app feature of “health status self-monitoring,” the researchers found 47 specific tools supporting activities such as pregnancy preparation, fetal heart monitoring, blood glucose and blood pressure monitoring, and doctor visits. A few apps were equipped with external devices (n=3) or sensors. No app with intelligent decision-support features to support disease management for conditions such as gestational diabetes and pregnancy-induced hypertension was found. A small number of apps (n=5) had a Web connection with hospital information systems to support appointment making, payments, hospital service guidance, or checking of laboratory results.ConclusionsThere are thousands of maternal and child health apps in the Chinese market. Child care, pregnancy, and before pregnancy were the mostly covered maternal and child health stages, in that order. Various app features and tools were adopted by maternal and child health apps, but the use of internal or external sensors, intelligent decision support, and tethering with existing hospital information systems was rare and these features need more research and development.

The current research aims to introduce the degree of using digital assessment tools in light of distance learning standards from the viewpoint of Islamic studies supervisors and teachers in Al-Ahsa Governorate. It has adopted the descriptive approach. The data was collected in a questionnaire includes three criteria: (Diversity - Justice – Assessment), from which (25) phrases are divided. It is applied to a sample consisting of (333) male and female teachers and (18) male and female supervisors. The findings show that: Islamic studies male and female teachers use digital assessment tools to a moderate degree in light of distance learning standards, from the viewpoint of Islamic studies teachers and supervisors. It is also found there were statistically significant differences at the level of (0.05) between the sample members’ point of view regarding determining the degree to which Islamic studies male and female teachers use digital assessment tools in light of distance learning standards according to the job title variable, and the differences were in favor of male and female teachers. The research ends with several recommendations and proposals; The most prominent recommendations were: The necessity of providing awareness workshops for teachers about quality standards and how to use digital learning. The most prominent proposals were: Creating codified standards to measure the quality of applying digital assessment tools.

The capacity for effective utilization of technology is increasing in importance in the scholarship of teaching and learning practice in agricultural education. There is scarce literature exploring students’ perceptions of the use of digital assessment tools (DATs). This study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of graduate students enrolled in a teaching and learning course towards DATs while investigating how the experimental active learning space impacted the way participants experienced DATs. Participants were divided into two focus groups, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were conducted via Zoom. The research used phenomenology as the qualitative approach to answer the research questions. Thematic Analysis was utilized as the method of data analysis. DATs were experienced by participants as new opportunities to enhance their assessment practice in educational settings. While recognizing the advantages of DATs, participants perceived new challenges in implementing them, particularly concerns over technology requirements. Participants reported a mixed educational experience in the new classroom. Whereas some participants felt the space was overwhelming and confusing, some students considered that the experimental classroom features made the space more collaborative. Finally, utilizing DATs in an experimental classroom was experienced as a new and enhanced way to adopt assessment tools.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Social Series Available online or wherever you download podcasts Description: The NCAA Social Series is a weekly show featuring host Andy Katz and a variety of experts in the college sports world who provide an in-depth look at issues and current events impacting college sports. The program's first episode was in March 2020 and the podcast has focused largely on the athletics environment during COVID-19 and how the sports world continues to navigate the pandemic. It is a good resource to stay up to date on current events facing the NCAA, especially regarding the impact of COVID-19. Shows run on official NCAA social, video, and podcast channels each week. Links are available at the web site. http://www.ncaa.org/about/ncaa-social-series Cost: Free Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine Podcast Available wherever you download podcasts Description: The Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine (CJSM) blog serves as a community platform for discussion, sharing, promotion, and dissemination for all things sports medicine. It offers topical and timely blog posts as well as podcasts highlighting current "hot topics, cutting-edge practice, and ideas looking toward the future." CJSM is a well-respected source for ongoing issues and areas of research in sports medicine, and their podcasts are typically released on a monthly basis. Cost: Free The Sideline Guidelines App Available on the iOS and Android app stores The Sideline Guidelines App is a fantastic tool for any sports medicine provider who treats athletes on the sidelines. It is an easy to use, easy to navigate compendium of sports medicine sideline conditions and treatments. Conditions are categorized broadly (i.e., "Medical," "Upper Extremity," "Pediatric," etc.), and include pertinent history, physical examination, workup, treatment, and return to play guidance. The tool cites its information when possible and is otherwise the summary of a "national faculty's" expert knowledge. The information is highly structured and searchable, and the content is quickly and easily accessed, allowing the provider quick access to critical aspects of management to aid in an informed medical decision. Cost: Free The Peter Attia Drive Podcast Available wherever you download podcasts Peter Attia is a former ultra-endurance athlete and surgical oncology fellow at the NIH, and has spent years seeking mentorship in such fields as lipidology, endocrinology, and sleep physiology. He currently focuses on the applied science of longevity and hosts a weekly podcast dealing with wide-ranging but interconnected topics, such as nutrition, exercise physiology, sleep medicine, and emotional and mental well-being. This podcast is a must for any sports medicine practitioner, or anyone interested in the science of longevity, health, and wellness. It can be found on his web site or anywhere you download podcasts. https://peterattiamd.com/ Cost: Free WeatherFX Available on the iOS and Android app stores WeatherFX is an app that helps estimate the effects of warm weather on human physiology. The data it provides includes current international weather conditions, a map with location and closest weather station, a heat flag condition, and fluid consumption and work rest ratios. The app uses GPS to retrieve temperature, barometric pressure, and relative humidity, and importantly provides the wet bulb and wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT). Any sports medicine provider would be happy to have this helpful sideline tool in their pocket at any time when determining if practices or athletic events are safe to take place. It gets 3.7 out of 5 stars on the App Store. Cost: $0.99

BackgroundAlthough the past decade has witnessed the development of many self-management mobile health (mHealth) apps that enable users to monitor their health and activities independently, there is a general lack of empirical evidence on the functional and technical aspects of self-management mHealth apps from a software engineering perspective.ObjectiveThis study aims to systematically identify the characteristics and challenges of self-management mHealth apps, focusing on functionalities, design, development, and evaluation methods, as well as to specify the differences and similarities between published research papers and commercial and open-source apps.MethodsThis research was divided into 3 main phases to achieve the expected goal. The first phase involved reviewing peer-reviewed academic research papers from 7 digital libraries, and the second phase involved reviewing and evaluating apps available on Android and iOS app stores using the Mobile Application Rating Scale. Finally, the third phase involved analyzing and evaluating open-source apps from GitHub.ResultsIn total, 52 research papers, 42 app store apps, and 24 open-source apps were analyzed, synthesized, and reported. We found that the development of self-management mHealth apps requires significant time, effort, and cost because of their complexity and specific requirements, such as the use of machine learning algorithms, external services, and built-in technologies. In general, self-management mHealth apps are similar in their focus, user interface components, navigation and structure, services and technologies, authentication features, and architecture and patterns. However, they differ in terms of the use of machine learning, processing techniques, key functionalities, inference of machine learning knowledge, logging mechanisms, evaluation techniques, and challenges.ConclusionsSelf-management mHealth apps may offer an essential means of managing users’ health, expecting to assist users in continuously monitoring their health and encourage them to adopt healthy habits. However, developing an efficient and intelligent self-management mHealth app with the ability to reduce resource consumption and processing time, as well as increase performance, is still under research and development. In addition, there is a need to find an automated process for evaluating and selecting suitable machine learning algorithms for the self-management of mHealth apps. We believe that these issues can be avoided or significantly reduced by using a model-driven engineering approach with a decision support system to accelerate and ameliorate the development process and quality of self-management mHealth apps.

In this review, we aim to summarize research findings and marketplace apps for women with perinatal mood disorders with the goal of informing clinicians and patients about current risks and benefits, as well as proposing clinical implementation advice and a harmonized agenda for both academic and industry advancement in this space. Multiple searches were run of academic databases in 2018–2020, examining literature on mobile apps for peripartum mental health. Multiple searches were also run of the iOS and Android app stores in 2019 and 2020, looking at apps for peripartum mental health. Results were compared within the academic dataset as well within the commercial app dataset; the two datasets were also examined for overlap. The academic search results were notable for small sample sizes and heterogeneous endpoints. The app store search results were notable for apps of generally poor quality (as assessed by a modified Silberg scale). Very few of the mHealth interventions studied in the academic literature were available in the app store; very few of the apps from the commercial stores were supported by academic literature. The disconnect between academically developed apps and commercially available apps highlights the need for better collaboration between academia and industry. More collaboration between the two approaches may benefit both app developers and patients in this demographic moving forwards. Additionally, we present a set of practice guidelines for mHealth in perinatal psychiatry based on the trends identified in this review.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00737-021-01138-z.

Research has shown that the use of digital assessment tools enhances learners’ engagement in their learning process outside the school environment. Unfortunately, the use of digital tools is contemptible in low-and-middle income countries. In this study, the researcher examined the digital tools used by teachers for assessing learners with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The study employs a qualitative, phenomenological approach. Using a purposive sampling procedure, six university teachers from three geographical regions in southern Nigeria participated in the study. The use of digital assessment tools was assessed through a structured interview. The responses of the participants were analysed thematically. The findings identified some of the digital assessment tools used by teachers as well as the associated challenges. Specifically, the study established that Google form, Socrative, and Kahoot form were the digital assessment tools mostly used by the teachers in assessing learners with ADHD. The study also revealed that the major challenges of using these digital tools include lack of device, network glitches, poor power supply and high cost of data. The implications of the study were highlighted and recommendations were made.

In this dissertation the effects of digital formative assessment tools on teaching quality and student achievement was investigated. An increasing number of schools use a digital system to process, organize, summarize, and analyze student assessment data. Such digital systems might support teachers in the process of translating student assessment data into informed instructional decisions. In this dissertation the term digital formative assessment tool refers to a digital tool that supports teachers during instruction planning by providing feedback to teachers based on student assessment data. The dissertation consist of three studies. In the first study a randomized experimental design was used to examine the effects of a digital formative assessment tool on mathematics achievement and motivation (n schools = 79, n students = 1808), and on spelling achievement (n schools = 69, n students = 1605) in grade three primary education. In the second study the relationship between differentiated instruction and student achievement was examined. Classroom observations (n = 144) were used to measure teachers’ differentiated instruction practices and to predict the mathematical achievement of second and fifth grade students (n = 953). In the third study the effect of digital formative assessment tools have been examined through a meta-analysis of the results of relevant experimental studies (n = 14). The results of the first study and of the third study show that digital formative assessment tools can have an effect on teaching quality and student achievement. However, the results of the second study and of the third study show that effects can not always be shown. Important characteristics of a DFAT for their effectiveness seem to be frequent and immediate teacher feedback, detailed and concrete teacher feedback and easily accessible and easy to interpret feedback to teachers. These characteristics may make a digital formative assessment tool suitable for improving teachers’ daily instructional planning and make it easier to integrate into teachers’ teaching practices.