Is a device like an IPod Touch sufficient
as a 'use anytime' device?
Having worked with schools, learners and teachers for a number of years I am increasingly convinced that a single technology device is just not enough! Various surveys have been done about the use of technology by learners at home and at school as well as attitudes towards technology across the age range.
Some of the more recent research makes interesting reading such as the recent 2009 e-Maturity Study produced by some of the leading researchers in the UK.
What the research like this does not do is to study the actual use of technology by young people and teachers and what the minimum technology they would need to meet their immediate needs. Having observed a large number of lessons where ICT is used it is clear that many do not require the power provided in the majority of the hardware devices that are actually used. Teachers may use their devices to create materials for classroom use but during lessons the technology is mainly used for presentation purposes. Pupils use of technology varies depending on what they are doing but again in the majority of cases the devices are not used for creating content.
It may be that we are all waiting for the right technology to come along e.g suitable sized keyboard, long battery life (longer than a school day) high quality screen etc etc but in fact maybe all you need to be able to do is take notes, perhaps snap a picture and access information. The more heavy weight uses such as creating presentations, editing movies or creating publications need more processing power.
My contention is that we need a ' use anytime' device that is used mainly for the less sophisticated but important tasks such as the researching, note taking and watching with additional resources available 'when needed' to do the more demanding tasks.
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One device or two?
There is no doubt that the iPhone/iPod touch have changed the game. Their implementation is so slick we've reached a tipping point.
Many people were reluctant to use the internet before the web because it was too difficult. Similarly, PDAs and the sort of smart phone I was using five years ago just didn't really realize the dream of an instant access computer in the palm of your hand.
It's true that there are some activities that are difficult on iDevices (I still find it difficult to take notes on one).
However, there are some activities that are difficult on a laptop. Try carrying a laptop around in your pocket and just flipping it open to find out how many electrons are in a coulomb.
iDevices have a near fully featured browser (no flash - which, I believe, is the correct decision), good JS support, local databases (for iTouch users who may not have access to wifi) and fairly strong UX guidelines. These all open up amazing opportunities for developers - and that's just for the webapps.
...but sometimes it feels like that's where we are. Lots of opportunities - and so much to be realized.
Take the integration of iTunesU into the new OS. Surely there must be SOME British schools that could create content for KS students? All it takes is ONE school to upload lessons and homework and then children accross the world have another option if they don't "get" the teaching in their school. And these devices mean that the lessons would be instantly accessible from their pocket. Sort it out will you?
Hmmm... easy to point out what's not there and what they don't do, and ignore the great stuff that is on these devices.
I wouldn't be without the OED in my pocket, mindmapping apps, audio books for those car journeys which cross 10-11am (shudder - "Woman's hour"), rich periodic tables, physics constants, LaTeX docs + loads of coding reference manuals.
If the question was "If a student or teacher could only have one device, which would it be?" then I wonder how you would answer that...
...and now there's the iPad.
If it's done right then this could change everything.
Small enough for notetaking, dock it to a keyboard and it's big enough for homework and projects.
I'd have liked to see an integrated camera, so if a student is handed a paper worksheet it could be photographed, completed (annotated) and returned - with a record kept for the student's revision. Maybe version 2.
I hope we see textbooks in ePub format (actually, I'd like to see free online textbooks with alternative questions/chapters based on interest and ability, but that's another story).
Just a big iPod Touch? Maybe. But when it comes to the UI, size matters.
Devices just got interesting.