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This week, the discussion was around the use of Fablets in schools.  My team gathered information on their presence and the novelty of this device.  We put together a website, found here.   We did generate discussions for the class.

These discussions were around the design of activites to include the new devices.  Should we design new and improved lessons for our learners or just use what was there already?  These are the questions presented to the group:

Phablets provide a potentially intriguing middle-ground between cellphones and tablets / laptops in terms of their ability to make an impact on mobile education or mlearning. But what do you, as an educator, need to do in order to make sure your students derive as much benefit as they can out of this new technology…?

• Isn’t it enough to introduce a new technology into a classroom? Won’t students derive a benefit from simply being exposed to it?
• Is “design” something that everyone needs to think about when they are considering how phablets might be used in their own educational context? Isn’t this just something for fancy web developers?
• Is good learning design for phablets a luxury? Do we need to figure out the basics of mlearning before we figure out how to maximize the impact of phablets?
• Can you really “design” for phablets not knowing, especially in the post-secondary context, whether every student will have one?

I believe that introducing new technologies in our classrooms does not bring success and doesn’t necessarily benefit all.  Before bringing new stuff in class, rethinking the way we teach is necessary.  As discussed along this week’s discussions, we are at a point where we know.  Now, we need to push forward and do what we know.  We need to stop looking down the cliff and just jump.

Phablets are a novelty and like all novelties, it might fade out or it could get some grasp and grow.  I suppose it will depend on the learning design created to be supported by the devices.  i think we are not going in a “same tool for everyone” anymore.  With the venue of BYOD in our schools, the learning experience will be more diversified and individualized.