We’ve learned over the past few years that separating our learning and thinking into silos is not an effective way to problem solve and push the limits of real learning.
Real world problems are multi disciplinary, crossing the boundaries of many people, their expertise, places and time. We need a variety of people, with different skill sets to pull together as collaborative teams in order to deeply understand and think about real world issues.
Knowing that I wonder what’s up with the popularity of Ipads and apps in classrooms?
Most apps, generally speaking, are focussed on a single task. Multiplication tables. Continents and countries. A single game. Most of these apps allow the user to focus on a single task or skill. They don’t generally reach for higher order thinking such as synthesis and evaluation. Of course there are exceptions. Calendar apps that allow people to work together. Evernote allowing us to collect information about topics and share that with other people. But overall, I don’t think it would take an indepth evaluation to see how most apps are structured.
This has left me wondering lately if the Ipad the “ultimate” NCLB machine? Is it proving to be so popular in classrooms and districts not because it is the best device for learning, but because it is the best device for focussing on small, discrete skills that are in turn the focus of standardized tests?
Are these locked down, easy to manage devices the best, easy to use computing device, or are they simply the best device for promoting a certain kind of learning at the expense of a much more open possibility?
Hello Clarence
Everything you just said, I thought so too… My introduction to 1:1 was Apple laptops. When I heard of iPads, I thought…”mew”. Then, I went to an educational technology conference and I attended 3 seminars about iPads. I learned that the strength of iPads is actually as a creating and sharing tool; and not isolated skill practice (as I used to think too.)
“Creating” meaning creating a digital project with multi-media effects. It’s easier to run around and get video clips and sound bytes with an iPad than a laptop. “Sharing” meaning the children can easily share what they are doing by throwing it up on a big screen with Apple TV. Anyway, I’ve written out what I learned in 2 blogs. Please have a read as it may give you more details.
iPad 101 at the BETT Show
No More Death by Powerpoint
Here is one of the iPad speaker’s website iPad Nuggets
This website is the educational board for another of the speakers Swansea Education
Vivian
Thanks for stopping by and sharing all of these resources.
As I visit the schools in our district this time of year, I could say that the “regular” computers are the ultimate NCLB machines. From now through the end of May, most equipment will be dedicated to test practice followed by seemingly never ending batteries of standardized tests. It’s sad that all the power and potential is dedicated to such a simplistic process as answering multiple choice questions.
To your assessment that most “educational” apps for iPads are of limited instructional value, I agree. In fact, I would go so far as to invoke Theodore Sturgeon’s assessment that 90% of everything is crap. Which makes it all the more important that we as educators filter through all the mediocre stuff to find those few tools that students can use to address those higher level thinking skills.
I’m not trying to defend the iPad, only to return to the basic idea that it’s not the technology that’s good or bad. It’s what we do with it.