GRIP Presentation Kathleen Roxborough

 Why focus on iPods/iPhones?  Apple® currently has market share of 87% among teens  Apps – over 150 have been designed for educational purposes  Release of iPad in 2010, industry insiders call it “Year of the Mac”

 Those students born after 1992  Most scheduled generation than ever before  Tend also to be more sheltered  Many teachers see students lack of motivation to learn for its intrinsic benefit…..looking for the carrot

 Use of cell phones, mp3 players ubiquitous in teen life  Most techno-savvy generation to have ever existed  ‘Requirement’ for instant access to information  Spend 72 hours per week using electronic media – but not in the classroom  Why not???

 Common question from teachers – how to engage students with the material??  Edutainment – trying everything to get students to buy-in to the lesson  Technology needs to be purposely integrated into lesson NOT simply for novelty or showmanship

 Should we allow use of iPods during seat work time in the classroom??  Teens on average listen to music 3-4 hours a day – usually while doing homework  Would it be beneficial to allow students to simulate their home-study environment in class?

PROS  Shown to actually increase concentration and performance of practice of already learned task  Largest benefits of ‘on- task’ with hyperactive and ‘attention seekers’ CONS  Difficult to oversee content  “I can’t hear you” syndrome  Shown to distract students from novel or new tasks

 Diagrams, graphs, lecture notes all downloadable from teachers laptop  Podcasting- no excuse for missed work  Educational apps (CNN iReporter, Museums 411)

 The digital classroom?  Environmental efforts to eliminate paper could be enhanced by extinction of text books, note paper, hand-outs etc.  Hopefully…..acknowledging the importance of these devices to students through purposeful use in teaching and learning

 Professional development needed to familiarize teachers with use of these devices  How many students actually have these devices? School wide initiatives?  Large initial investment to provide devices to students – of money, and time  The trade off of technology – love it when it works, infuriated when it doesn’t.