Although I do not own a personal Apple device, I have experimented with friends' iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. My conclusion? I find them extremely accessible and entertaining to use, and I believe we should incorporate technological devices, such as the iPad, to our advantage when it comes to teaching students. I read an article recently about using iPad apps in the classroom, and I have attached a link if you want to check it out!
As a hybrid between an iPhone and a laptop, iPads are becoming more popular and accessible in today's world. What better way to use an iPad than with students in middle and high schools who are obsessed with technology? The beauty of incorporating iPads into the classroom is that this technology gets adolescents more excited to be involved in learning. The iPads are both easy to navigate and visually stimulating for students.
iPads provide teachers with specific applications that push students to interact with texts, information, and concepts they are trying to grasp during class time. These applications provide more than consumption of information because the touch screen gives students the advantage to explore and take ownership of their learning. A few examples of iPad apps that aid students in their learning are flash cards, graphing calculators, vocabulary word games (like Word Warp), and polling applications (like eClicker).
Unfortunately, the hardware for these devices are not inexpensive, and there are limits to the apps that work well on iPads. But, despite these downsides, as iPads evolve, apps will improve as well. I am not proposing that iPads replace physical texts, such as novels or textbooks, entirely. I am proposing the use of iPads in addition to curriculum already set in place in hopes that education and entertainment can overlap to produce greater student learning, understanding, and growth.
Check out this article below!
iPads can be a great way of engaging students of all ages. Last semester in MSSE 470 we made claymation videos of science concepts using the iStopMotion app. The idea was that this was something we could have our students do to teach the class about a concept - very similar to doing a jigsaw activity with passages of text.
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