Let me explain - I have an iPad and I love it. I've told many people that there's plenty of times that I could use my iPad and set my laptop aside. This is usually when I'm looking up some information, checking email, or using Google Drive to organize and create documents. And so I guess, to be frank, I was afraid that the iPads would be used the same way. For productivity rather than creation and critical thinking.
The challenge presented was two-fold. We needed to make sure that technology was not being used for technology's sake, but as a tool in a project based learning environment. The other part was to provide enough freedom in management to allow teachers and students to download age appropriate apps when necessary. The problem isn't really a fear that unnecessary apps would be installed and take up space, but rather, that unnecessary apps would be used and not promote critical thinking.
Because they're designed this way, tablets promote app use. It takes a focus for users to refrain from being "App Happy" and downloading every fun, colorful, free app that's out there. Teachers have to think critically when they see a list of apps about how those uses will enhance and enrich the classroom. Additionally, we have to remember that tablets have a web browser and most of what we could do on our computer, we can do on the tablets. Maybe we only need five apps. Maybe we need less than that. It's not about the number, but what we're doing with them, and we have to be careful that we're not downloading and providing "busy work" to the students just because there's a curricular tie.
This is where the project based part comes in. If we treat technology in every student's hand as a whole group learning experience, we've cheapened it. Following the 8 Essential Elements of PBL, providing students with resources, and promoting the use of those resources to solve real world problems is how technology can make an impact on classrooms. It's not about the app, what kind of device, or even the technology at all. It's about the use of critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration present in the classroom when students are working on real world problem solving.
I recently read The Epic BYOD Toolchest, and I thought it was a great resource that focused not so much on the apps, sites, or devices, but on how they are used in classrooms. At the same time, I've developed an app rubric (that could be used for Chrome extensions also) to help with our focus of quality, not quantity.
So after all of this, am I still scared of tablets in the classroom? Not at all. As with all technology, it's not about the stuff, it's about how it's used.
