"Children are growing up today [with] the iPad used as a device for entertainment. So when the iPad comes into the classroom, then there's a shift in everybody's thinking." And sometimes that shift is hard for everybody. Hobbs says this isn't the first time educators have tried to co-opt things that lots of people use for fun. "Back in the 1930s, there was a big initiative to use radio in education," says Hobbs. "It was the original distance education." But, Hobbs says, that all fizzled out. "Within a decade, we discovered that the commercial use of radio, for soap operas and music shows and game shows, actually eclipsed the educational use of radio. And the entertainment function is just so [dominant]. You can't compete," Hobbs says.
BalancEd Tech on 29 Aug 11The iPad (or iPod touch or iPhone) with its apps opens many new opportunities for learning. At the same time, it offers a slightly different wrapper for older learning opportunities. Both can be worthwhile, but it would be a shame if teachers missed the former for the latter. And, if past experience and research is any indication, educators are much more likely to co-opt the new technology to accomplish the status quo. This activity is designed to help teachers think through both opportunities and to categorize those apps that lend themselves to either or both. Teachers will start by exploring a variety of apps, some that lend themselves to learning content such as math facts or spelling words and others that can be used in open ended content creation such as storytelling or photography. Then, teachers will examine a set of lessons that use these apps. Finally, teachers will use a "taxonomy" such as Bloom's Taxonomy, SAMR, LoTi, ETaP, Prensky, etc. and attempt to classify/categorize where the apps fall. Most likely teachers will need to contextualize the app to a particular use/activity. Ideally, teachers will realize that in most cases it is not the app itself, but the use that detrmines where it falls and that the apps belong in multiple places.
