Top 10 Ed Tech predictions for 2011
I have choses to review Dawson and Garry’s 2011 predictions (with the hindsight of a year and half passing).
Devices
Both writers express their view of 1:1 device to student ratio but have dissimilar views of what that device will look like in public education. Garry, as a Dell employee promotes net books while Dawson sees the tablet market taking precedent. A year and a half later this battle is still one up for grabs. The implementation BYOD in an open market may have the final say but it will be be heavily influenced by software developers. Will apps be able to run on both types of devices? From my experience seeing kids interact with tablets, I would say they have the current advantage. The infrastructure however, in the schools I deal with, (teacher training, admin, parent approval, board approval ect..) is years away from making this transition. I think pilot schools that adopt such an e-learning 1:1 strategy will allow enrolment be the indicator for further growth. If the school is busting at the seams due to over enrolment then other schools will have to follow suit. We see this with Hockey and Dance academy schools now. Is there Tech academy schools in our near future in BC?
Boiling Chicken Eggs
So does software such as e-learning textbooks with personalized learning combined with authentic projects (seems to be the main vision for the future) come first, or do the economics of scale to get the right devices out to the masses need to come first? Water is still water (at sea level for all you science teachers) at 99 degrees Celsius. Computers are just expensive typewriters if they do not reach a certain threshold of use. Where will be the final few degrees come from to “turn water into steam” in our public system?
Comments?
Brian Hotovy
Posted in: Uncategorized
Deborah S 9:50 am on May 20, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Brian,
Thanks for the overview. I agree with your point about the infrastructure needing to make a significant transition. In my school board, students aren’t even allowed to use their cell phones in class! I see the great things my daughter’s university professors are doing with cell phones to engage learners and I’m a bit envious. Imagine what we could do with tablets! I think I’ll be close to retirement before my board makes the transition to the 21st century.
Deborah
sheza 10:55 am on May 20, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Brian,
I wonder whether the debate over tablet vs. netbook is still in progress. There was BYOD policy at the high school I was recently volunteering at and when we would give the students a research period, the majority still brought in their laptops and netbooks, however on a regular basis you would see students in class with their tablets i.e. iPads, Android tablets, Blackberry Playbooks. So, in some ways I see the 1:1 device to student ratio almost as 2:1 – the tablet is really an appliance tool whereas the laptop or netbook serves the primary purpose. I read the 7 Things You Should Know About iPad Apps article for my post, and it described the iPad as such, “The iPad was not designed to replace a user’s primary computer, so the applications that run on it often turn it into an appliance: a net- book, an e-reader, a calculator, or a student response device” (Educause). The students bring their tablets to class on a regular basis mainly because they are more portable, they contain their calendar, music and browser at the slide of a finger; but when it comes to word processing and proper researching, I think our students prefer and fall back on their laptops or netbooks because of the affordances like a keyboard it offers which the tablets simply do not.
References: Educause. “7 Things You Should Know About iPad Apps For Learning.” February 2011.