The Emergence of Mobile Technology in the Classroom

          Mobile technology in education has become ubiquitous with modern day learners.  The ability to learn from anywhere in the world is a reality to our students, as they are born digital natives. Social media keeps our students connected to the world, and by keeping them in a traditional school, with old textbooks, we are not engaging them in the way they stay engaged outside of school.  Education has been trying to keep up with this phenomena by providing more technology to schools in the way of purchasing laptops or tablets, but many have not developed a plan for implementation and the technology is not being used to its potential.

            Many of the challenges with implementing mobile technology into a classroom  curriculum have to do with money and time, a common theme in education overall.  Mobile technology will cost educational institutions over 7 billion dollars this year.  Many schools do not have the budget to afford these devices, and if they do, do not have the time or money to provide proper Professional Development (PD).  Because of this many educators feel that they are ill prepared to utilize technology in their classroom, and either use the technology as a reward or don’t use it at all.  Students become disenfranchised with learning or bored with what little technology they are allowed to use.  Take the case of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

            In 2013 LAUSD rolled out a $50 million iPad initiative to 30,00 students in 47 schools serving students from grades K-12.  They locked down the devices, so students couldn’t roam the internet, and loaded them with software from the Pearson education group.  Within one day several students had hacked the iPad lockdown software, and district officials panicked.  Rather than using this breach of security as a lesson to be learned, this district pulled its contract with Apple, sighting unusable content delivered by Pearson. 

            As more school districts begin to offer mobile technology to their students, a strategic plan for implementation is essential for success in providing students with technology.  Asking questions about the purpose of adopting technology and its uses should be first in developing such a plan. Some questions to ponder: What do we want students to learn?  How will they learn it?  What resources will be needed (App, digital curriculum, cloud storage, etc...)?  How will these resources be implemented.  Professional Development for teachers, in the use of the technology, must be at the center of this plan, as teachers who are unfamiliar with the tool, will find it frustrating, and overwhelming, 

            Taking a proactive approach to technology integration will help to alleviate many of the pitfalls that have plagued school districts that have not properly prepared for all of the problems and issues that can, and most likely will, manifest themselves throughout implementation and beyond.

References

Lapowsky, I (2015).  What schools must learn from LA’ iPad debacle.  Wired.  Retrieved from: http://www.wired.com/2015/05/los-angeles-edtech/