Activity 6 Pros and Cons of 1 to 1 learning with ICT

Today’s generation is full of a bunch of little digital natives. Therefore, today’s classrooms and learning tools need to evolve and change to better appeal to and engage these students. Today’s classrooms are moving away the traditional lecture style classroom setting and educators are now focusing in on engaging and empowering their students by utilizing mobile device technology in the classroom as a valuable learning tool.

Mobile devices like iPads in the classroom help give today’s  tech-savvy generation has the ability to experience things like gaming, blogging, reading eBooks, and even taking virtual field trips right from the comfort of their classrooms. Mobile device technology in the classroom has made learning more interesting and exciting than ever before!

Pros:

-Uniform integration of technology in every class eliminates digital inequality.  The school won’t have to worry about who doesn't and who does have the right devices.

-Since everyone has the same mobile device and is on the same platform teachers know whatever apps they use on their device will work on their student’s devices.

-With all the new technologies like iPhones, iPads, and laptops you can easily introduce stimulating online games and listening exercises. You can play games together, listen to podcasts, watch movie clips, or have a heck of a good time exploring YouTube together! Whatever you choose to introduce, be sure that you always have interactive language activities, discussions, and vocabulary exercises to make the most of your time plugged in.

Cons:

-iPad in the classroom With all the cash-strapped schools nationwide, it will be difficult for them to find the funding to support this method.

-The 1-to-1 model will require both teacher and student training of the device the school decides to use.

-With 1-to-1 there are long-term maintenance costs, but with BYOD the students would be responsible for their own maintenance on their mobile devices.

It has the potential to get boring. If this is the case, the student-teacher match-up may not be a good fit, or perhaps your student is just not cut out for all this student-centered attention. You can battle this by having a lot of tools at your disposal and by over-prepping for lessons. If you find yourself stuck in a boring lesson, try to make the best of it and switch gears!