New and affordable technology is starting to transform classroom practice in more and more schools. But are schools and young children prepared to use smart technology for education? It looks smart devices can be used not only for their educational apps, but in a better, smarter way.
Tablets and other smart devices have been seen until recently as devices for playing games and communication between pupils and often disliked and even banned. In the best case, some schools use them for their educational apps which can make the transfer of information from teacher to students faster and easier. At the same time, the devices are still expensive, compared to traditional educational methods – notebooks, blackboard, etc. However, touch-screen technology is spreading rapidly into more and more colleges, schools, and even kindergartens. As of February 2013, according to statistics, 4.5 million iPads had been purchased for use only in the U.S. K-12 academic environment. The reason for this craze is not only the constantly dropping price, but also the fact that teachers are beginning to discover and understand more benefits of the technology.
Many still argue that schools should not let pupils get distracted by touch-screen tablets. But it turns out that the quality of education doesn’t depend on what technology you use, but how you use it. Over the last several decades governance reforms, tech innovations, standard revisions and series of testing have changed the structure of schools around the world. But teaching practice hasn’t changed a lot, with some exceptions. Bringing iPads in schools doesn’t magically change teacher’s practice, but rather opens new avenues for creating new, better methods for teaching, communicating and even supporting students.
For example, a few years back at Repton Dubai an Irish teacher was providing lists with the names of websites from which the students should study at home, while the classes at school were filled with reading books, eating doughnuts or movie screening activities. So the availability and use of websites to help the education process was only suggested, but not utilized, which for the students is not really working out as a learning option.
Elsewhere, a private school in Switzerland, the Zurich International School (ZIS), has distributed 600 iPads to pupils from first to eight grades, but not for playing. It’s not even about delivering the lessons in more interactive and interesting way. Teachers at ZIS use tablets for audio and video recording, as well as for multimedia notebooks for various creative tasks. First- and second-graders, who usually have reading and writing problems, used tablets to record themselves and their peers explaining different concepts. It turns out that the little children are learning quicker this way, instead of reading from traditional books or other methods. Having digital portfolio and even a blog also proves successful for students, because they can record and compare their achievements, and decide what to do to improve them.
Self-teaching is very important for students, but the appropriate apps should be selected for the different grades. Apps for the lower grades are mostly used for creating and expressing ideas – Explain Everything, MyStory, iMovie, Book Creator, Google Earth, Animation AD and others. Of course, teachers should teach pupils how to use the different apps, but when done right, it’s absolutely worth it. It’s important to encourage students to create their own ways of learning and exploring the world and technology allows us to do that.
The thing about iPads and smart technologies is that they won’t improve the teaching and learning process. It’s the teachers, principals and parents who can improve education by exploring the best ways to use technology. Before integrating blindly tablets into classrooms, schools should first find smarter ways to use them.
