Week 6

This week’s focus was mobile technologies such as the IPad, the mobile phone and the IPod touch. These sorts of technologies are very familiar, widely used and very accessible to the digital natives of today’s youth.

IPad

I have used my IPad both at prac as well as in my earlier career as an early childhood educator. I found it to be a great educational tool because of the man educational apps that are offered which are inexpensive, if not free as well as the fact that it is lightweight and portable as well as very simple to use.

This short clip is an excellent example of a very young digital native interacting with an IPad. 

Some ways that I have used an IPad in the classroom include:

·         Creating learning stories in accordance with the Early Years Learning Framework using apps

·         Taking pictures to record learning

·         Downloading e-books to suit classroom themes at the drop of a hat rather than searching for them

Ways that my students have used IPads in the classroom include:

·         Creating stories using apps such as StripDesign, BookCreator or Keynote

·         Consolidating mathematics knowledge using the LadyBird maths apps

·         Moderating their own noise level using the Too Noisy app

I recently attending the Early Years Catholic Education Conference and one of the workshops I attended was “Working with IPads in the Early Years” with Robin Finch, something new that I took away from this class was the fact that the IPad has a feature that allows the user to be locked into one app which would be incredibly helpful for ensuring that students remained on task as well as not allowing them to stumble across something unrelated on inappropriate.

Here is a simple clip to guide you into using this feature

Mobile Phones

I found it helpful to revisit the mobile phone wiki/DeBonos hats activity that I engaged in earlier this term when thinking about this topic.

·         Ways that I have used my mobile phone in the classroom include:

·         Taking photos of learning and outcomes being achieved

·         Taking videos of student learning

·         Taking audio and recordings of students

·         Using it as a timer

I have my doubts about letting early childhood students use my mobile phone or a mobile phone owned by the school mostly because they are an easily damaged and expensive item.  I think the IPad is much better as they are able to be used on a stable surface and the student wouldn't be able to carry it around and risk dropping and breaking the device.

IPod

I have never used an IPod in the classroom but here is a screenshot I took from the Apple website that shows the features of an IPod touch at a glance. I would think that an IPod touch would have the same capability of being broken by an early childhood student in the classroom but here is a clip of a very brave teacher that shows the benefits of using an IPod touch in the classroom.

ICloud

As an end note I would just like to quickly talk about ICloud. Apple (2013) states that “ICloud is seamlessly integrated into your apps so you can access your content on all your devices.” Watch this clip to learn more about the capabilities of ICloud.

I definitely think that I-devices have their place in the classroom because of the many educational apps offered as well as their ability to integrate through ICloud.

Happy Blogging everyone.

References

Apple (n.d.). IPod touch at a Glance. Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/au/ipod-touch/