EDC 672 - Pre-Assignment 6

Bill Rankin's Mobile Learning presentation

• In what ways did the lecture make you think about your own perspective of education in time? 
• How does his lecture change you view on mobile devices and their use in education?

Bill Rankin's Mobile Learning at ACU: Full Presentation  was an eyeopener for me.  Of course I was aware that technology and the use of it in the classroom were ever so present as they are today, however his reasoning and ideas of how it is we got to where we are today are not only interesting but also quite logical and foreseeable.  He talkes about the cycles of technological change and makes you realize how it is an ongoing circle.  Once we are at the stage where creations of new technologies threaten our existing culture there needs to be a NEW beginning of a cycle by creating technologies that become successful by SOLVING problems or cultural "threats" and thus the cycle begins again.  

I believe that the presentation was quite easy to digest and explained in simple terms.  He provided real life examples of how the use of technology has been implemented since the 3rd century with the use of scroll vs. codex vs. hand printed books vs. printing press vs. internet and beyond. How each one presented/solved a problem for society, wether it was about FINDING or ASSESSING the information each era has its challenges and there is where room for technological growth and development takes place.

We should take advantage of where we are in terms of technology in order to provide our students with the most meaningful learning experience possible.  It is an era were we as teachers are our students' mentors, we need to live and work in relationship with them.  It is not our job to FEED the information to our students as it was done in the past.  Technology and information are not replacing us as their guides.  We now need to adress informational problems of the current age meeting the reality that the students of today face and not how the previous model used to work, and we do this by providing technological tools and mobile devices that aid in the search of information, in the development of ideas, and by hands on usage of technology in real life scenarios both inside the classroom and out.