Scholarly Article link.
For my 20% Project, I plan to focus on how apps on mobile and tablets improve or limit how students learn in the classroom. In "iLearning: The Future of Higher Education? Student Perceptions on Learning with Mobile Tablets", the author conducts a study where college students use an iPad with educational applications installed and measured the advancements and limits of how the technology and students interact in a classroom setting. Their conclusion came as no surprise, but it did involve some negatives about how technology can influence the students and their learning capabilities. But I believe that the good outweigh the bad, and the article supports this belief.
This article was the closest one I could find that related to my topic and it used a research study to support my point. The article stressed that the biggest limitation in using tablets and applications in classrooms was the easiness of students to become distracted on other non-relevant tasks. This distraction can lead to being unproductive and a waste of valuable time that could be used for learning purposes. A way to limit this potential distraction that may take place on tablets would be the installation of an app that restricts the use of the internet web and other non-related applications during class time. My main concern about using technology for learning is the different ways that it can be interpreted by students and teachers. But are tablets or iPads really a waste of time?
The main difference I found with this article to my initial question is that the participants used for the study were college students rather than grade-level students. It is quite obvious that middle schoolers are at a different intelligence and learning level than college students. College kids are more tech savvy and know more applications than grade-level children. College students are more likely to veer off on other websites and apps during lecture while middle schoolers would be more engaged because they are not used to using technology in classrooms compared to college kids who use laptops and tablets everyday. I hope to find more articles that help support and answer my question.
For my 20% Project, I plan to focus on how apps on mobile and tablets improve or limit how students learn in the classroom. In "iLearning: The Future of Higher Education? Student Perceptions on Learning with Mobile Tablets", the author conducts a study where college students use an iPad with educational applications installed and measured the advancements and limits of how the technology and students interact in a classroom setting. Their conclusion came as no surprise, but it did involve some negatives about how technology can influence the students and their learning capabilities. But I believe that the good outweigh the bad, and the article supports this belief.
This article was the closest one I could find that related to my topic and it used a research study to support my point. The article stressed that the biggest limitation in using tablets and applications in classrooms was the easiness of students to become distracted on other non-relevant tasks. This distraction can lead to being unproductive and a waste of valuable time that could be used for learning purposes. A way to limit this potential distraction that may take place on tablets would be the installation of an app that restricts the use of the internet web and other non-related applications during class time. My main concern about using technology for learning is the different ways that it can be interpreted by students and teachers. But are tablets or iPads really a waste of time?
The main difference I found with this article to my initial question is that the participants used for the study were college students rather than grade-level students. It is quite obvious that middle schoolers are at a different intelligence and learning level than college students. College kids are more tech savvy and know more applications than grade-level children. College students are more likely to veer off on other websites and apps during lecture while middle schoolers would be more engaged because they are not used to using technology in classrooms compared to college kids who use laptops and tablets everyday. I hope to find more articles that help support and answer my question.