Article Review 2

Article Review 2

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/piyush-mangukiya/mobile-apps-education_b_1250582.html

After reading this article, I feel a bit more empowered (I guess it's a balance eih?).  As Mr. Mangukiya suggests, more and more schools are moving away from the traditional idea of school, and coming closer to a mobile, online, digital structure.  The possibilities with iTunes U and digital textbooks are endless.  From the practicality standpoint, the age old question, what do we do about students who don't have access at home?  We cannot assume everyone will have access, and we cannot expect those without access to "go to the public library" or "come before or after school to the library" (both phrases I've used before, and quickly realized they are not options sometimes). 

I do feel that a world where students all have mobile devises (iPads or other), zero textbooks, and paperless assignments will be a fun place.  After spending a day (or it might have been two) learning about all of the cool new apps (2 years ago) that existed for our use, I thought, "Wow, how cool will it be to "beam" the homework assignment to the students or have the student click a QR code to download the worksheet!"  Yes, very cool indeed.  But if any of you have actually spent time in a classroom (and I'm talking actually teaching, not just observing), you'd quickly realize that when using any technology, there is always something that will fail, always students who just can't get it, and always the unique time constraints of a teacher (students signing in/out for the day, sick students, disabled students, etc). 

 In all honesty, I love the possibilities of what out 21st Century advances can do for us in the classroom.  The excitement of something new is inspiring, but we all must temper this with practical execution.  How can this really work in an average classroom?