iPads in Classrooms

Here is a post about "5 Critical Mistakes Schools Make With iPads" which I think is a great summary of the issues around using tablets in classrooms - and how to avoid them. Schools need to learn from each other and the "late adopters" should not repeat the mistakes of schools who have already gone down this path. Thanks Edudemic for another really good post.

Innovation

Since acquiring an iPad for my birthday in May, I must confess that I haven't spent too much time using it to read books. Of course, it has become my primary tool for reading emails, Facebook posts and using other Web 2.0 sites and apps. Since acquiring a very cheap bluetooth keyboard I can now also type a lot more easily so I now hardly need to use my laptop, iPad does almost all 'casual' tasks just as well. So I figure I should get on and try to read a bit on the iPad too.

First on my reading list is 'Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography' by Walter Isaacson. While I am fascinated by all the techie details and the computer history angle, what really interests me is that here is the biography of a truly innovative man. Steve Jobs, unlike his contemporary Bill Gates, was not a very technical man himself, he got others to carry out his plans and put his ideas into action. But Steve was the creative force behind the devices which are rapidly becoming part of our everyday lives: iPods, iPhones, iPads and indeed the iMac computers. My interest lies in trying to figure out how such creative genius is formed. What do we, as teachers and parents, need to do to nurture innovation in the next generation?


The following video 'Where good ideas come from' by Steven Johnson, gives some insight into the process of having an innovative idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU&sns=em

Johnson emphasises that ideas are not just flashes of inspiration that strike us, they are developed over time and often are aided by input and collaboration with other people. This is an important point which comes out in the Steve Jobs biography as well. All along the way Apple 'begged, borrowed and stole' other company's and individuals ideas. The difference was the passion of Steve Jobs for the products which he was creating. In this short interview he talks about passion and having the correct people around you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuNQgln6TL0&sns=em

In his book 'The World is Flat' (a pre-iPad read), Thomas L. Friedman explains how, in our increasingly globalised and technological world, America is losing its monopoly on innovation. The Indian and Chinese masses, some of whom have been educated in the West to a very high standard, are starting to catch up. The people who were being used for cheap labour are now starting to take their expertise home and create their own products and come up with their own ideas.

So, on to my current book (which I am reading on the Kindle app on my iPad because I find it is easier to download Kindle books than iTunes ones when you live in Dubai) which is 'Creating Innovators' by Tony Wagner. In this book Wagner explores what we need to do to nurture the next generation to become innovators. In Chapter 1 he identifies the following qualities which are necessary for the innovator: curiosity, collaboration, connected or integrated thinking and a bias towards action or experimentation. These are all qualities, he argues, which can be taught.

I see so many opportunities for using our new technologies in our classrooms to help nurture the next generation of innovators. As tools for research, collaborating, connecting ideas and 'doing' things which can already start to make a difference. The world of technology opens doors for our children, lets make sure we help them find out what is on the other side.

Updates to follow...