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Schools again

I don’t always understand Wes Fryer’s stuff about technology…but that’s because I’m from the 17th century…ish. What I do like about the man is that he keeps questioning just what good education is in the year 2011. He recently had this to say:

‘School leaders around the United States continue to spend HUGE amounts of money on interactive whiteboards for classrooms, despite the fact that these devices universally FAIL to empower students to become more independent, self-directed and engaged learners in the way mobile learning devices (like laptops, tablets or other personal digital learning tools) can. Please do not misunderstand me: It definitely IS a big deal for a teacher and his/her students to have access to an LCD projector connected to a computer in the classroom if previously, the “normal” technology in the room was an overhead projector.

What is a POOR deal for students as well as teachers, in many of our schools today, is a capital outlay of at least $5000 for an interactive white board (IWB) when those same dollars could purchase a projector or large format television AND individual mobile learning devices for teachers and students in the same class. My experiments this evening with the Air Display ($10) application for iPad confirm what I’ve suspected for some time: Inexpensive mobile applications (relative to the cost of an IWB) can transform these devices INTO functional IWBs with many more benefits as well as capabilities.’

This matters. So do check out the rest of what he has to say:

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2011/03/24/ipad-as-an-interactive-white-board-for-5-or-10/

 

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