Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

4.25.11 | Joshua A. Danish says it takes a village to effectively integrate new technologies such as the iPad into elementary classrooms.

As we reported recently, some school districts are investing in iPad2 touchpad tablets in kindergarten classrooms. In an opinion piece published in the Indianapolis Star, Indiana University assistant professor Joshua A. Danish says that though tablets such as the iPad have potential to be a powerful tool for teaching and learning, educators shouldn’t jump the gun.

“Historically, there’s a burst of enthusiasm declaring that each new technology will be a ‘game changer’ for education,” Danish writes. “This has rarely been the case.”

Danish, a former programmer for the educational software industry, now studies how technology can help young children learn complex science and math concepts. He’s also part of a group at Indiana University tasked with exploring the iPad’s best practices for learning and teaching.

Danish says that educators should temper their enthusiasm and pay careful attention to how this technology will be integrated, considering the roles of “the teacher, the curriculum, the administration, the physical arrangement of the classroom and the software.”

He notes that there is very little iPad software that is well designed for a classroom environment. Like the CD-ROM software of the late 1980s and early ‘90s, Danish says much of today’s iPad apps aren’t designed to teach new content, but only to reinforce old content. Teachers are needed now more than ever to help students explore this new technology and help make connections to other areas of the curriculum.

Danish argues schools need to think through how teachers will use the iPads and what support they will provide, answering such questions as:

Will the school allow teachers the free time and access to software that is often necessary to integrate new technology? Will they have access to professional development training to work with these new tools? Will students have ample time to work with traditional media as well as the iPads? … Without effective answers, it is hard to know whether iPads will transform student learning, or simply be added to the list of previous game changers that didn’t deliver on their promise.

Are you using iPads in your classroom? Let us know in the comments.

Plus: An editorial from The Maneater, the University of Missouri student newspaper, argues that the journalism program there should stop requiring students to purchase new technologies like the iPad. “Class curriculums,” they write, “should be designed around content.” When they’ve been required in the past, students say, new technologies have not been well utilized by professors or well integrated into coursework. Read the full story here.