There's an App for that

While the laptop remains the tech tool of choice for most high school and university students, many are embracing portable and innovative tablets like the iPad. Since its release in 2010, the iPad has taken the tech market by storm and become a popular, educational and fun tool for both teach­ers and students alike. It is increasingly infiltrating education, with some schools such as the University of Western Sydney even offering free iPads for first year enrollees

Education is shaped by a lot of technologies and trends including by mobile apps, or applications. One aspect mobile apps are facilitating is access to information no matter where you are. Apps are pretty inexpensive, with prices ranging from 0 to a couple of dollars. A study from Maryland University found that mobile apps are indeed enhancing learning. Tablets are ideal tools for learning as they are lightweight devices, cheaper than computers. It’s no wonder that 86% of students who own a tablet say it helps them learn efficiently.

Today, students use iPods, iPads, phones, laptops, and different tablets to use the internet to help them with their homework. Don't know a word? There’s an app for that. Don't know the answer to this math problem? There’s an app for that. And so on. Seriously, when was the last time any of us opened an encyclopedia? And no, I don’t count Wikipedia.

Society has always been impacted on by technology. Each invention has affected how people relate to one another and how cultures interact to one another and how cultures have expanded or ended. Technology impacts how cities grow, where people live, and who owns what. They are the reason a few people are very rich, that people are more social, and that teaching and learning is changing. Our relationship with culture is cylindrical. We are shaped by culture as much as we contribute to shaping culture. (Wadham Pudsy and Boyd, 2007). Apps are cultural products that are produced by cultural producers as they are ‘source material’. They express messages using symbols, language such as written swords, speech or pictures. We are at a crucial time in history where we as educators can make a difference in how our students interact with one another and make a place for themselves in society.

In the past 20 years we have witnessed dramatic changes in societies, economies and our everyday lived experiences as a result of the ubiquitous presence of new technologies (Yelland, 2007,). Our personal lives have been transformed with the Internet, social media, and other new forms of communications and devices that enable us to stay connected to our families and friends in diverse locations. Access to information and people is ubiquitous, easy and available to all those who are fluent in the use of new technologies.

The impact is also apparent in the lives of young children. It seems today that you just simply hand a smart phone or tablet to a toddler and they immediately know what to do with it. Marsh, Brooks, Hughes, Ritchie, Roberts and Wright (Marsh et al., 2005) stated that young children (aged from birth to 6 years of age) are “ immersed in practices related to popular culture, media and new technologies from birth” (p.5). This enables them to become adept in operating machines and simultaneously develop a huge array of skills, knowledge and understandings about the world in which they live. Participating in media cultures has affected the ways in which children engage with others and impacts on what they can do, think and feel.

References:

Wadham, B., Pudsy, J., & Boyd, R. (2007). What is Culture? In: Culture and Education,(pp. 1-6). Pearson Education Australia. 

Yelland, N.J. (2007) Shift to the future: Rethinking learning with new technologies in education. New York: Routledge. 

Marsh, J., Brooks, G., Hughes, J., Ritchie, L., Roberts, S., and Wright, K. (2005) Digital Beginnings: Young Children's Use of Popular Culture, Media and New Technologies. Sheffield: University of Sheffield. Retrieved November, 2005, from Digital Beginnings Project Web site:http://www.digitalbeginnings.shef.ac.uk