Interesting view on IPads in education

[bossman]

Hi All,

 

Just thought this may be of interest to some of you out there:

 

Made me think about mobile devices in a different way.

 

What do you all think?

[penfold]

Er not sure really. I think it just says the same thing that most of us on here have been saying? I dont see it as an article about mobile device and their uses, but the thought process of how does this improve the teacher/learning experience is what should be considered when introducing anything new surely?

[Guest Guest]

We are in the early stages of planning for a one-to-one programme. A lot of people bang on and on, like in this article about how this technology can radically change teaching and learning, and how we shouldn't be using 21st century tools to deliver a 20th century curriculm that actually is quite simmilar to the 19th century one. etc etc.

 

We plan to deploy devices and provide the tools but we are not planning on attempting a great big shift in how teachers teach. I think the devices will make a difference (as our newly aquired VLE is doing) long term, and that long term teaching will shift but it won't be overnight and we can't force it overnight either. We'll encourage "good practice" and let the change happen by itself.

 

The problem is that although technology can aid working in a different way, it doesn't make it easy to do; you've got to convince a large number of people to change how they work, and Teachers can be very resistive to change.

 

We are slowly making changes to how we teach, in a way that seems to be getting "buy in" from teachers.

[Mr.Ben]

Agree with all of the above, however I am currently involved with a SSAT group for iPad's within special education. We have 5 of them and the students can interact with them in ways that were previously unavailable to them in our sensory room.

 

In the general part of the school though they are no different/better than having a laptop available.

[elsiegee40]

Interesting article. The problem with all new technology is that many people lack the imagination (or the training) to see that that new technology can be used in different ways.

 

When I started at my current school, the (now retired) bursar really couldn't see that PCs were anything more than expensive typewriters and couldn't grasp why the school needed a network and PCs in every classroom. Teachers now get how to use PCs and laptops, but taking the leap with tablets and doing something different takes imagination and a degree of confidence that they have to learn.

 

It's always going to be a problem with every new technology. Even we, as IT literate staff, don't always see how this stuff could be used differently!

[Tricky_Dicky]

That article highlights one of the main points raised at yesterdays Apple Leadership convention.

Anyone can use Wikipedia to grab information but the entire ethos of teaching and in turn assessment needs to change to embrace the changing times we live in. The idea that we are preparing the children of today for tomorrow by giving them an iPad and just saying "Google" drive me mad, what we should be doing/saying is here's an iPad and I want a piece of work that is original, factual and interesting that has information gathered and displayed in new and different ways.

I watched a teacher print out 30 Keynote Presentations yesterday that were done by a class that are part of a 1-1 trial and they were identical in content. Such a shame that £12K is being wasted so badly.

[SYNACK]

That article highlights one of the main points raised at yesterdays Apple Leadership convention.

Anyone can use Wikipedia to grab information but the entire ethos of teaching and in turn assessment needs to change to embrace the changing times we live in. The idea that we are preparing the children of today for tomorrow by giving them an iPad and just saying "Google" drive me mad, what we should be doing/saying is here's an iPad and I want a piece of work that is original, factual and interesting that has information gathered and displayed in new and different ways.

I watched a teacher print out 30 Keynote Presentations yesterday that were done by a class that are part of a 1-1 trial and they were identical in content. Such a shame that £12K is being wasted so badly.

 

There's your problem

 

This is the big issue which makes iPads, phones for students, laptops for students etc. etc. all as ineffective as eachother. All this money is being spent to upgrade the technology and yet no effort is made to upgrade the weakest point in the system, the humans. This is how we still have IT teachers that can't use Word propperly or save stuff in folders.

 

Technology is seen as a dodge to make their jobs easier rather than a way to make their teaching better. I have seen this again and again across all sorts of technology and in every instance the tech is 'to blame' for the lack of real benifit at the end of the day.

 

I'm still horified about the frankly 1984 Orwellishness of some of the tools and methods proposed, used and justified just so that a teacher does not have to leave their desk while 'teaching' a class.

 

No technology, short of a true teacher replacement is going to make a definitave difference until they are used to improve teaching rather than avoid it, Apple made toy or not.