Judit Klein, Auckland University of Technology Part of CW12
In an age defined by mobility of people and knowledge, mobile technologies offer us new ways of interacting with each other and with content to enable more collaborative and dynamic ways of learning. To be peripatetic is to learn across contexts, a notion originating from Aristotelian philosophy which can be reframed to describe how mobile technologies have bought about a new way of thinking about education.
Many institutions around have embraced the use of iPads as the ‘magical’ tool that will reinvent education. There is of course criticism and scepticism around whether the iPad is just another tool that is forced upon teachers as just another way to do the same thing that will soon become obsolete.
This presentation looked at going beyond the simple ‘logistical’ value of the iPad. Apple Distinguished Educator Dr. William Rankin identified the three key affordances of the iPhone are that it brings together rich media, connectivity and access to the internet, all in a mobile platform.
There are some apps that begin to tap into the intersection of these affordances but current applications of the iPad in tertiary education are only just scratching the surface. Informed by iOS development (creating apps for iPhone and iPad), see the behind the glass screen to the underutilised features of the underlying platform and the implications of a programmed pedagogy. The talk is aimed at both staff and students to explore ways to harness the new ways of working with emerging technologies and practices.