May
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Pedagogic Value?
May 16, 2008 | Tagged handhelds, ipods, software, technology in the classroom | 2 Comments
I was reading an article in the latest (May 2008) T.H.E Journal and came across a quote that got me thinking. This is from Robert Pleasants, Director of Education for Raybook, a company working to create software for handheld devices. The article describes their efforts to create software for students to use on their ipods. He says they are, “leveraging the cool factor of the ipod…taking learning content they need and putting it on devices they love.” He also says in the article, in relation to web based content vs downloadable content that, “The pedagogic value can get lost in the shadow of what’s cool or neat.” This may be, but what really interested me is that his company is working to, “keep content similar to what’s found on flashcards.”
My thought here is that while flashcards may be useful for some things, is this really what we want a company, who according to the article, is trying to corner the market on handheld software, to focus on? Instead of taking time to create electronic flashcards, why not develop more authentic programs, such as a photo editor to work on the ipod, or a way to mix media on it? Sure, right now it is a novelty to do flashcards and other simple tasks on a handheld device, but how long will we have that going for us? At one time we thought that by putting stuff on TV we could hold kids’ attention because they like watching TV. Am I wrong to worry that we’re not using time wisely in developing real applications for handheld use in the classroom? Or do we need education specific software at all to use these items in our classrooms?
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I think you’re right – while there is a novelty value to anything on iPods right now, it will soon wear off and I think it is really important to have something that allows students to create and develop their ideas rather than complete drills. I tend to think that education specific software isn’t all that necessary – but that will depend on the creativity of the teachers using it I guess. If some educational software – flashcards or not – gets some teachers using handheld technologies who would otherwise note touch them, then I think that’s a good thing. Thoughts?
Thanks for your interest in what we’re doing at Raybook! I thought I’d offer a quick (though belated) response to your post. When using the older click wheel iPods with students, we found that relatively simple flash cards have been the most pedagogically effective way to deliver information to students with the relatively limited capabilities of these devices. The iPhone and iPod Touch, however, have opened the door to so many possibilities, many of which have revealed with the release of the Apple iPhone SDK in the weeks after my interview with T.H.E. Journal. At Raybook, we are now leveraging the many capabilities of the iPhone and iPod Touch (searchability, quiz modes, web linking, interactivity, maps, etc.), but we’re still also trying to make sure that pedagogical value and effectiveness doesn’t get lost as a result of adding new features that have the potential to be more distracting than useful if not used appropriately. I hope I haven’t undersold our products by making them sound like they are just electronic versions of paper flash cards. Thanks again for your interest, and we look forward to hearing more feedback on our products when we release iPhone and iPod Touch products through Apple’s App Store this summer.