I recently discovered an interesting comment on a Linked In discussion, part of the ed-tech topics that I often follow.
The conversation asked the question, “Are tablets and iPads the new textbooks?” and the discussion was about an Educause article, E-Books in Higher Education: Are We There Yet? Educause is a non-profit sector organization that aims to help individuals “who lead, manage, and use information technology to shape strategic IT decisions at every level within higher education.”
In the Linked In conversation, Randy Tanner (Linked In profile) described the research of a colleague who is a doctoral candidate at Capella University whose dissertation research investigates the influence of iPads, tablets, and smart phones on pre-schoolers. According to Tanner:
One amazing fact she shared is that the typical 4-year-old is technically more competent with tablets and smart phones than the average adult. Think of the impact to primary school methodology. This isn’t the tech-savvy Millennial Y-generation; this the post-Millennial Z-Gen who may never touch a desktop PC and categorize laptops with 8-track players.
My question is, “Should parents and teachers be proud of the prowess of their children or students, or do these adults need to knuckle down and strengthen their skills of devices that they allow young children to use?”
It will be interesting to read the dissertation abstract. Several companies publish these abstracts after the candidate completes the research and defends the dissertation.
N.B. If you worked at a school that very early on got e-mail (probably your first) through a college or university, it’s probably because of Educause, whose members reached out to the K-12 world before almost anyone else thought about the communications needs of teachers and schools.
Media! Tech! Parenting! 