Like everyone else in the universe, I love Apple. With all four members of my family now iPhone addicts, I was curious to see the response to a proposal by our (state) secondary school to introduce iPads as a one-to-one in class learning resource for all pupils.
After months and months of consultation with parents amid concerns over a host of issues from possible loss of pupil/teacher interaction and fears of class time disappearing into a black hole of Facebook obsession, not to mention the additional cost for parents and potential risk to pupils carrying valuable kit to and from school, the initiative was eventually accepted. From the start of Christmas half term, all 1,000 plus pupils went to school armed with an Apple, enabling them to access online textbooks and education apps.
The kids, of course, seem to be totally in favour of this latest advancement in digital literacy. Apart from meaning that they have another cool gizmo to add to their collection, it seems alien to them not to have immediate internet access in every aspect of their lives, including the classroom. My thirteen year old son guffawed when he heard that there was a teachers’ training day so that the staff could ‘learn’ how to use the iPads – he pointed out that they’d never be as good as the kids and said how funny it was watching adults pause and stare perplexed at their smartphones/computers, why didn’t they just know what to do?
It does seem that there has been a gadget revolution over the past ten years in particular and it makes sense for education to embrace the latest technology in order to enhance learning – if iPads give pupils access to the largest knowledge library in the world, not to mention engaging them via a tool that comes naturally to them, then why not? Apparently even primary schools are turning to iPads as a learning aid.
A self-confessed ‘digital migrant’, I can only sympathise with the teachers as they face classes full of teenager technology addicts. As someone who missed out on IT at school (a couple of computers the size of a classroom were introduced for pupils in the year below me), it’s a little out of my comfort zone. However, with the recent announcement of the iPad Mini (expected to prove particularly popular with schools) it seems more likely than ever that the future of education is round and green…
