In today’s modern Internet era, the device is becoming less and less important, as many website and services are now being made easily available on any device. All you need is a web browser and you’re set to go. Whilst some websites still require specific devices to work, mainly sites requiring Adobe Flash Player (running on Windows, Mac & Linux only), many are moving towards HTML5 standards to enable their users to access their site, on any device they choose, at any time.
A device you could use in the classroom is an iPad. iPads have been around since 2010 and enable students to interact with content more easily than ever before. There are thousands of apps for the iPad on the Apple App Store that students can use to learn about anything from how the human body works (The Human Body) to what stars they can see in the night sky tonight (Star Walk HD).
Whilst iPads are extremely useful, one major disadvantage for educational use is the lack of support for Adobe Flash Player on iPads. Adobe Flash Player is used by many sites and applications to offer interactive animations or content, such as additional resources that come with a textbook/eBook. The lack of support for Flash Player means these resources can’t be accessed by the iPad, requiring teachers and students to either find alternative resources or use a desktop/laptop computer for access instead.
Despite this, iPads have changed the way students interact with the subject content. No longer are they simply reading the textbook or watching the video, but they can now manipulate the data and interact with their learning in a more hands on, kinetic manner than previously possible in the classroom.
When Apple first designed the iPad, it wasn’t initially designed with the educational market in mind, but over time Apple and other developers have created apps and added functionality to the iPad which have allowed it to more easily be used in educational environments. Some features I’ve found and tried include:
- iTunesU – A dedicated place on the iTunes Store where anyone is able to access university podcasts, lectures and other materials on a wide variety of subjects.
- iOS 9.3 – This update will bring classrooms and multiple user profiles to iPads in education, allowing teachers to create and manage a class of iPads as well as helping to better manage shared iPads by allowing individual profiles on the iPad, helping students keep their works and settings, separate from other students.
- iCloud Drive – Allows you to store your Pages, Keynote and Numbers files in the cloud. This allows you to easily invite other users to contribute to your works as well as ensuring it is backed up, helping to prevent headaches if your iPad fails, as well as keeping your document in sync if you use multiple Mac devices (such as iPad and Mac laptop).
All of these features help to position the iPad as a more affordable device in the educational environment. The ease at which many students are able to use the iPad also helps to strengthen it’s affordability for educational use, by reducing the learning curve required by students to use the device, allowing the teacher to focus more of their time on the content of the lesson, rather than how to do something.
Word processing is possible on an iPad using the free Pages app from Apple, although learning touch typing is a bit more challenging as there is no tactile feedback if using the on-screen keyboard as students won’t be able to feel the little bump present on the F and J keys.
Students should be starting to learn word processing skills from mid Primary, along with learning how to touch type. These skills will help them throughout their schooling and adult lives, by allowing them to quickly and easily write anything they need, whether it’s in a word document, email, social media post, online forum or website. By learning to touch type, students will be able to more easily and quickly turn their thoughts and ideas into words, ready for manipulation and transmission, as compared to one fingered typing (Lam & Pennington, 1995, pp. 75-79).
Whilst word processing is useful, students still need to be able to handwrite, as many times a electronic device may not be a viable option for recording their thoughts or ideas. Whilst handwriting is no longer as important as in the past and word processing has contributed to a rapid decline in handwriting skills, many aspects of school are still handwritten, such as the HSC and school exams. You may have all the best ideas in the world and have memorised the perfect essay, but if you can’t get all this information down onto the paper in a logical and understandable manner in the time limit allowed, then you’ll fail. Handwriting is still an essential skill for all students to master.
With word processing, students no longer need to be able to properly plan their work, as word processing has allowed them to easily and quickly rearrange their entire assessment task in a matter of minutes, with no typing required. Some could view this as both an advantage and disadvantage (Cochran-Smith, 1991, pp. 107-111).
Another disadvantage of word processing, is it has enabled students to more easily plagiarise and copy and paste information for their assessments than before.
Auto correction of spelling is also a problem as it doesn’t allow the students the chance to recognise and fix the spelling mistakes themselves, thus not teaching them the correct spelling and hindering their learning of the right way to spell words.
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