Before having children I was always the person who saw other people with their kids and it was the kids playing with the tablet or the smart phone and thinking ‘my children will be much older than that before I let them play with my electronic devices’. I had a rule growing up that the day we got our novice drivers licence was the day we got our first cell phone – mostly so we had something in case of emergencies and I was set on giving the same rule to my children. Fast forward a few years and I am now a mom of two girls (11 months and almost 2 ½) and I am eating my words.
I have had an iPad for just over 6 months now and I have seen a lot of benefit from using it as a teacher to help my students but I was constantly wondering what was out there for my students to use. I started looking at apps for my students (mostly middle school) but when I got some primary students who asked for apps to help with spelling and writing, I searched for those. I found many apps, some not so great and some that are amazing. I actually allowed my 2 year old to start playing around with the apps to see what would happen.
The first time I let her play, I was worried. I worried about her breaking my iPad, I was worried about what would happen when I told her she was all done for the day, I was worried what would happen when she saw me playing on it and thought it was her turn... I wanted her to explore but I didn’t want to worry. Recently I was down in the states doing some shopping and an android tablet was on sale for $80. I will now admit that my 2 year old has her own tablet - she calls it her iPad but it is a lot cheaper – and in turn a lot of my worries are no longer there. With just a few weeks of having her tablet she can now count past 10 by herself, she knows the numbers 1-10 just by sight, she knows almost all her colours, and she is currently having a lot of fun tracing letters and learning what each letter is. As for telling her she is done? We have a great routine where she gets it at night while I am doing the bedtime routine with her sister and when I come downstairs to get her, she turns off the tablet by herself, regardless if she is at the end or in the middle of a game or activity, and comes to bed without complaint.
I will admit, I now know to ‘never say never’ and from seeing everything over the past few weeks, getting my daughter her ‘iPad’ is one of the best purchases I have made in a long time. My hope is that when I try to use game based learning with my students and I get push back (if I get push back) from any parents, I can use the story about my daughter as proof of concept. Something else that I think will help a lot is the ‘why mobile learning’ video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dECs3SRh8Xo). I watched this video and was blown away! I have had students in past classes of mine or past tutoring students who would have greatly benefited from having access to a tablet so I am very excited to see what I will learn in this course.
When writing this blog, I thought that I would see what I could find about children’s apps. I learned that 72% of the best selling apps in Apple’s iTunes App Store in 2012 were aimed at preschoolers and children in elementary school and 52% of children now have access to a smartphone or tablet (found on an infographic through: http://blog.ellucian.com/higher-education-trends/the-thing-57-of-students-cant-go-without-infographic/). I have added my daughter into those statistics. I can also see the huge benefits they are having.
Once final thought – I have noticed that Minecraft is on the agenda. I once had a tutoring student who was obsessed with the game and we would make a deal at the beginning of each session that if he worked hard, he could show me his latest Minecraft progress at the end. I am still in touch with the family so I am excited to see what we will learn and go back to talk to him about it.
I have had an iPad for just over 6 months now and I have seen a lot of benefit from using it as a teacher to help my students but I was constantly wondering what was out there for my students to use. I started looking at apps for my students (mostly middle school) but when I got some primary students who asked for apps to help with spelling and writing, I searched for those. I found many apps, some not so great and some that are amazing. I actually allowed my 2 year old to start playing around with the apps to see what would happen.
The first time I let her play, I was worried. I worried about her breaking my iPad, I was worried about what would happen when I told her she was all done for the day, I was worried what would happen when she saw me playing on it and thought it was her turn... I wanted her to explore but I didn’t want to worry. Recently I was down in the states doing some shopping and an android tablet was on sale for $80. I will now admit that my 2 year old has her own tablet - she calls it her iPad but it is a lot cheaper – and in turn a lot of my worries are no longer there. With just a few weeks of having her tablet she can now count past 10 by herself, she knows the numbers 1-10 just by sight, she knows almost all her colours, and she is currently having a lot of fun tracing letters and learning what each letter is. As for telling her she is done? We have a great routine where she gets it at night while I am doing the bedtime routine with her sister and when I come downstairs to get her, she turns off the tablet by herself, regardless if she is at the end or in the middle of a game or activity, and comes to bed without complaint.
I will admit, I now know to ‘never say never’ and from seeing everything over the past few weeks, getting my daughter her ‘iPad’ is one of the best purchases I have made in a long time. My hope is that when I try to use game based learning with my students and I get push back (if I get push back) from any parents, I can use the story about my daughter as proof of concept. Something else that I think will help a lot is the ‘why mobile learning’ video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dECs3SRh8Xo). I watched this video and was blown away! I have had students in past classes of mine or past tutoring students who would have greatly benefited from having access to a tablet so I am very excited to see what I will learn in this course.
When writing this blog, I thought that I would see what I could find about children’s apps. I learned that 72% of the best selling apps in Apple’s iTunes App Store in 2012 were aimed at preschoolers and children in elementary school and 52% of children now have access to a smartphone or tablet (found on an infographic through: http://blog.ellucian.com/higher-education-trends/the-thing-57-of-students-cant-go-without-infographic/). I have added my daughter into those statistics. I can also see the huge benefits they are having.
Once final thought – I have noticed that Minecraft is on the agenda. I once had a tutoring student who was obsessed with the game and we would make a deal at the beginning of each session that if he worked hard, he could show me his latest Minecraft progress at the end. I am still in touch with the family so I am excited to see what we will learn and go back to talk to him about it.