This from the San Angelo Standard-Times :
More than 120 employees of Angelo State University — professors, lecturers, advisers and office staff — are testing the world’s hottest technology device, the iPad.
“Many of the schools in our area have laptop programs (to provide every student with a computer) but I think this probably is the device of the future,” said John Miazga, dean of the College of Education.
He called it a device for the “Post-Information Age” and said the challenge for teachers and students in the future will not be accessing information but managing it as it grows at an increasingly rapid pace....
Introduced in April by U.S.-based Apple Inc., the device is billed as a tablet computer and has the same “touch screen” as Apple’s iPhone cell phone. It uses “apps” — applications written for the iPhone or specifically for the iPad — that enable the device to serve in a rapidly growing number of ways....The starting price for the iPad is $499. Accessories and software applications known as apps are extra...apps cost about $2 to $3 each. The apps are what make the device more than a tablet for recording information....
The iPad connects to the Internet through Wi-Fi, a wireless broadcast from an Internet hub, or through cellular technology like a cell phone. It has no real hard drive as it works through the Internet, drawing down information as needed and storing new data in cyberspace....
Miazga said the interactive aspect of the iPad allows for new possibilities in the classroom, such as creating a “back channel” for students to ask questions or give answers during a lecture. He said this means that a student who might be shy about raising a hand in a classroom can communicate with the lecturer through text message, e-mail or services such as Twitter....
1 comment:
I had the opportunity to use an Ipad this summer as a teaching device. I worked with my cousin with severe Autism everyday during this past summer. He is non-verbal which makes it very hard for him to tell people what he wants and/or needs. His parents purchased him the Ipad along with an app by the name of Proloquo2Go. The app alone cost around $200 but it basically aloud him to tell us anything and everything he could and or need by him pressing a picture. For example: If he wanted to go swim in his pool, he would go to his Ipad and touch the picture of a person swimming. The device would say, "I would like to swim." It took the entire summer to teach him how to use it, but after getting the hang of things the Ipad really helped his communication. He was getting less frustrated everyday. He even enjoyed school a lot more after being able to communicate with the Ipad.
Now with saying that, I do not believe that Ipads should be used in classrooms for every teaching method, but there are some circumstances that these technology devices will improve some lessons.
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