The above article is about schools switching from textbooks to the Apple iPad. It illustrates a brand new step into the evolution of the way knowledge is presented. We can say that early humans passed on lessons through word of mouth, and then by hand written books, when Gutenberg invented the printing press, knowledge became available to the masses and no longer to just the privileged. Now, for the first time, knowledge has become digitized and interactive.
The article does list many, but solely positives of this transformation. Interactive apps geared towards teaching by doing instead of seeing a picture or chart, note taking, online testing, videos, and tutorials. It also has a capability to help special needs students too with pictorial learning, which is sometimes more effective that traditional lecturing. Also, it is stated that average textbook cost savings for an order of books would be almost $4,000.
Personally, I see this as a smart change to the way that knowledge is presented. I would be much more inclined to learn if I could see actual examples of the way that the circulatory system works in the body as opposed to reading about it and visualizing in my head what that would be like.
When I first saw this article, I thought to myself, "Well what's going to keep the kids off of Facebook during their class", until I read on and saw that they can limit what can be used on the iPad much like one can limit what websites can be viewed in a controlled environment, such as TMC.
Surely time will tell if this is the future of school or not, however most school districts feel as though the investment is worth it in the long run for the students. This is definitely a good example of how technology is constantly evolving in order to make life easier for humans, in this case learning. What are your thought on this topic?
1 comment:
iPads would be great it schools. As an education major I think having technology readily available in front of each student is ideal. Even though technology may not be seen as progress always, children need to be up-to date with the technology. This opens them up to many new ways to learn and explore knowledge. Schools always have the power to block certain websites as well so there could be regulation on the use of the iPad.
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