Wednesday, February 17, 2016

#6. Article Read - What does research really say about iPads in the classroom?

This article talked about how the research they found says a broad result, but has a different result in practice. The largest portion says that digital natives can use iPads in the classrooms better than non-digital natives. This is only true if those people took the time to learn the programs and hardware to operate and maintain such technologies. As for causing student engagement and "leveling the playing field", these results turned out to be half-truths. Students can be engaged within the classroom by proxy of them, but only when the technology is applied in a way that stimulates their mind and not distracts them. It sort of evens everyone's access to resources, but only if the student is willing to learn how to access such resources with said technology.
I have this sense that people try to force technology on everyone whether they believe it will benefit them immediately or not. I get this every time I read articles like this about how tablets were thrown into hands of people who knew nothing about them and were expected to utilize them in the classroom (and other situations involving technology as well). Using tablets is a useful tool if applied in a correct manner. A correct manner can be by using it to have an I spy game where a student can move and zoom on the touchscreen to find an animal in an extremely large photo (geography). There will always be pros and cons to using this kind of technology in classrooms and we as teachers must handle it as best as possible.

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